2011
Conference of the International Network for Economic Methodology
Hosted by TINT, University of Helsinki
September 1-3, 2011
For more information see the INEM website
Models, Mechanisms and Algorithms:
Symposium on Philosophical Perspectives on Synthetic Biology
University of Helsinki
2.-3.5.2011
Tentative programme
Monday 2.5.2011:
Fabianinkatu 33, auditorium XII
Open day
| 10.00 – 10.15 | Welcome and Introduction: Gabriele Gramelsberger (Berlin), Erika Mansnerus (London) |
| 10.15 – 11.00 | Werner Kogge (Berlin): On the Idea of Engineering Biological Machines |
| 11.00 – 11.45 | Axel Gelfert (Singapore): Synthetic biology as thing knowledge |
| 11.45 – 12.15 | Coffee break |
| 12.15 – 13.00 | Tarja Knuuttila (Helsinki) & Andrea Loettgers (Caltech): The Combinatorial Modeling Strategy of Synthetic Biology |
| 13.00 – 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 – 14.45 | Georg Trogeman (Cologne): Programmable Material? |
| 14.45 – 15.30 | Jane Calvert (Edinburgh): New forms of collaboration: Synthetic biology, social science, art and design |
| 15.30 – 16.00 | Coffee break |
| 16.00 – 16.45 | Ursula Dam (Weimar): Are engineers inventing the culture of tomorrow? |
| 17.15 – 18.00 | Adrian Mackenzie (Lancaster): Re-thinking energy through synthetic biology (venue: lecture room K132, Alexandria) |
| 18.00 – 18.30 | Discussion |
Tuesday 3.5.2011
Unioninkatu 40, lecture room 10
Closed workshop day for Helsinki and Berlin projects with their guests
More informal presentations on work in progress
| 10.00 – 10.45 | Gabriele Gramelsberger (Berlin): The simulation approach in biology |
| 10.45 – 11.15 | Coffee break |
| 11.15 – 12.00 | Gry Oftedal: PSBio – A Nordic Project on the Philosophical Foundations |
| 12.00 – 12.45 | Veli-Pekka Parkkinen: Gene knockouts and mechanistic understanding |
| 12.45 – 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 – 14.45 | Jaakko Kuorikoski (Helsinki) & Petri Ylikoski (Helsinki): Why Would a Couple of Philosophers of Social Science Find Systems Biology Interesting? |
| 14.45 – 15.15 | Nina Samuel (Berlin): Images as tools |
| 15.15 – 15.45 | Kathrin Friedrich (Cologne): ‘Do Not Ever Leave the Pathways’- Graphical Notation in Biology |
| 15.30 – 16.00 | Coffee break |
| 16.45 – 17.30 | Peter Bexte (Cologne): The turn of the screw. Standardizations in biology |
| 17.30 – 18.00 | Discussion |
G. H. von Wrightin Explanation and Understanding 40 vuotta myöhemmin
(Explanation and Understanding after 40 years -symposium. Please note: papers&discussion in Finnish)
Tieteiden talo 29.4.2011, sali 505 (yläsali)
Helsinki, Finland
G. H. von Wrightin Explanation and Understanding -teoksen ilmestymisestä on kulunut 40 vuotta. Teoksella oli suuri merkitys suomalaisen tieteenfilosofian kehitykseen ja sen käsittelemät aiheet ovat edelleen ajankohtaisia. Paljon on kuitenkin tapahtunut neljän vuosikymmenen aikana ja monet tieteenfilosofiset näkemykset ovat muuttuneet. Nyt järjestettävässä seminaarissa tarkastellaankin von Wrightin teosta nykyisen tieteenfilosofian näkökulmasta ja arvioidaan sen ajankohtaisuutta. Seminaarin puhujina ovat suomalaiset nuoren polven tieteenfilosofit.
10.15 Kansleri Ilkka Niiniluoto: Avaussanat
10.35 FT Jaakko Kuorikoski: Manipulaatio ja kausaalinen selittäminen
11.45 VTM Tomi Kokkonen: Mielenteoria ja ymmärtäminen
12.45 lounastauko
13.45 dos. Panu Raatikainen: Teon teoria ja historiallinen selittäminen
14.55 dos. Petri Ylikoski: Sosiaaliset normit ja yhteiskuntatieteellinen selittäminen
Interdisciplinary Exchanges as the Object of Philosophical Inquiry
[Symposium website]
Helsinki, Finland
March 3-4, 2011
Organisers: Till Grüne-Yanoff & Uskali Mäki
Funded by TINT & HCAS
The idea of the workshop is to bring together philosophers and other students of science who have an interest in examining episodes of exchange and transfer (of concepts, theories, methods etc) across the boundaries between scientific disciplines or research fields. The goal is to compare disciplinary practices and styles of theorizing and to analyze various interactions, collaborations and confrontations between them.
Speakers
- Marion Vorms (ENS)
- Susan Sterrett (CMU)
- Stephen H. Hellert (Hamline)
- Tarja Knuuttila
- Aki Lehtinen
- Jaakko Kuorikoski
- Uskali Mäki
- Caterina Marchionni
- Diego Rios
- Petri Ylikoski
- Till Grüne-Yanoff
For paper abstracts and more information, please visit the symposium web page
2010
Modelling in the Social Sciences: Interdisciplinary Comparison
Venue: Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, seminar room, Fabianinkatu 24, 00014 Helsinki
Time: 17th -18th June 2010
Organised by Mary Morgan (LSE) and Till Grüne-Yanoff (Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies). Kindly funded by TINT and the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies
The symposium brings together social scientists and philosophers of science to discuss different modelling practices, and analyse the differences, similarities and arguments in these practices. The idea is to hear active researchers report on their use, construction and understanding of models and modelling, and then facilitate a dialogue between them and philosophers on the methodology of modelling. We thereby seek to address the rationale and the philosophical assumptions that underlie modelling practice in the different social science disciplines, rather than the technical details of certain modelling procedures.
For the schedule and online papers, see the symposium’s website:
http://www.mv.helsinki.fi/home/gruneyan/workshop_2010.html
The seminar is open for all but pre-registration is required. Please book your place by contacting Mr Taavi Sundell (taavi.sundell@helsinki.fi).
POS/TINT Summer workshop
Place: Suomenlinna, Piirtamo
Time: June 15th
| 9.20 | KL Ferry from Kauppatori (Market Square) to Suomenlinna (do not miss it!) |
| 10-11 | Till Grüne-Yanoff: Coherent welfarism from inconsistent preferences |
| 11-12 | Clemens Hirsch: Organisations or Rules?: Elaborations on the Ontology of Institutions |
| 12-13.30 | Lunch at Café Chapman |
| 13.30-14.30 | Diego Rios: Multiple Realizability |
| 14.30-15.30 | V-P Parkkinen: Genetic causation, counterfactuals and causal sensitivity |
| 15.30-16 | Refreshments |
| 16-17 | Ekaterina Svetlova: Financial models as non-epistemic tools |
| 17-18 | Caterina Marchionni & Uskali Mäki: When Economics and Geography meet |
| 18 – | Wine and snacks on the rocks of Suomenlinna (weather permitting) |
Please inform Päivi Seppälä about your participation by Wednesday, June 9th.
Suomenlinna map: http://www.suomenlinna.fi/files/1158/SL-map2008.jpg
(The conference room and Cafe Chapman are marked with number 9)
2009
Evolution and the Human Sciences
12-13 November, 2009
University of Helsinki
Day 1: Cognition
Thursday 12th, Main Building, lecture room 5
| Time | Speaker | Presentation title |
|---|---|---|
| 10.00- 10.10 | Matti Sintonen | Opening |
| 10.10- 11.10 | Richard Samuels, Ohio State University | On the evolution of cognitive flexibility |
| 11.20- 12.20 | Ron Mallon, University of Utah | Evolutionary cognitive and social constructionist accounts of racial cognition: towards an integrated account |
| 12.20- 13.40 | Lunch | |
| 13.40- 14.40 | Katja Valli, University of Turku | Does dreaming serve a function? Evolutionary approach to dream consciousness |
| 14.50- 15.50 | Tomi Kokkonen, University of Helsinki | Psychological innateness and evolutionary explanations of human behavior |
| 16.00- 17.00 | Panel Discussion Chair: Anna-Mari Rusanen | |
| 17.00- 19.00 | Drinks at Kaisla | |
| 19.00 | Dinner at Pääkonttori | (registration during the day) |
Day 2: Social Sciences
Friday 13th, Main Building, lecture room 13
| Time | Speaker | Presentation title |
|---|---|---|
| 10.00 – 10.10 | Uskali Mäki | Opening |
| 10.10 – 11.10 | Herbert Gintis, Santa Fe Institute, Central European University | Five principles for the unification of the behavioral sciences |
| 11.20 – 12.20 | Markus Jokela, University of Helsinki | The importance of variation in evolutionary social sciences |
| 12.20- 13.40 | Lunch | |
| 13.40 – 14.40 | Till Grüne-Yanoff, University of Helsinki | Evolutionary game theory between interpersonal comparisons and natural selection: A dilemma |
| 14.50 – 15.50 | Jack Vromen, Erasmus University Rotterdam | Is reciprocity-based cooperation “ultimately” altruistic or selfish? A red herring |
| 16.00 – 17.00 | Petri Ylikoski, University of Tampere | Evolution and explanatory integration in the social sciences |
| 17.00- 19.00 | Drinks |
Modeling the World – Perspectives from Biology and Economics
[Conference Web Page]
28-30 May, 2009
University of Helsinki
Organized by Michael Weisberg (University of Pennsylvania) and Uskali Mäki (Academy of Finland) with TINT [Trends and Tensions in Intellectual Integration], sponsored by the Academy of Finland
Much of biological and economic theorizing takes place by modeling, the indirect study of real-world structures by the construction and examination of models. Indeed books about biological and economic theory are really books about models, many of which are highly idealized and chosen for their explanatory power and analytical convenience, rather than fit with known data sets. Philosophers of science have recognized these facts and have developed literatures about the nature of models, modeling, idealization, and model testing for both of these disciplines. Remarkably, however, there is almost no overlap between the “modeling in biology” and “modeling in economics” literatures. The purpose of this conference is to change this. TINT is proud to host the first ever conference on modeling in biology and economics.
The goal of this conference is to cross-polinate and help unify the literatures on biological and economic modeling. Discussions will be focused on how theorists use idealized models to describe and explain real-world target systems. This covers issues of model/world relations, model/use relations, and the functions and manipulations of idealizations in modelling.
The conference will consist of a number of invited target papers to be given by Peter Godfrey-Smith, Kevin Hoover, Ilkka Hanski, Uskali Mäki, Robert Sugden, Michael Weisberg, and William Wimsatt. A number of contributed papers on the conference topic will also be accepted. If you are interested in contributing a paper, please send a detailed abstract to Uskali Mäki <uskali.maki@helsinki.fi> by 15 December, 2008.
Speakers:
Maximizing, Satisficing, and Entrenchment
William Wimsatt (University of Chicago)
Evolutionary Models and Cultural Change
Peter Godfrey-Smith (Harvard University)
Three-Sex Mating (and other models without targets)
Michael Weisberg (University of Pennsylvania)
Explanations in search of observations
Robert Sugden (University of East Anglia)
Identity, Structure, and Causation in Economic Models
Kevin Hoover (Duke University)
Simple and complex models in population ecology – an ecologist’s perspective
Ilkka Hanski (University of Helsinki)
Truth and falsity in modeling
Uskali Mäki (Academy of Finland)
Natural Selection and the Moniac: the diverse relations between models and mechanisms
Brett Calcott and John Matthewson Australian National University
Templates vs. Mechanisms? The Lotka-Volterra model reconsidered
Tarja Knuuttila (University of Helsinki) and Andrea Loettgers (California Institute of Technology)
The Virtue of Simplicity or the Vice of Complexity? – Theoretical and Statistical Modeling in Ecology
Jan Sprenger (Tilburg University)
When idealization goes too far … A realist perspective on the role of assumptions in economic models
Bart Engelen (University of Leuven)
Trading off explanatory virtues in economics
Rogier De Langhe (Ghent University)
Modelling and the Epistemic Import of How-Possibly Explanations
Emrah Aydinonat (University of Helsinki) and Petri Ylikoski (University of Tampere)
Models as a Product of Interdisciplinary Exchange: The Case of Evolutionary Game Theory
Till Grüne-Yanoff (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Study)
Models and Fiction
[Abstracts]
Workshop, Wednesday, May 27th.
Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies, Fabiankatu 24, Seminar Room 136
For further questions, please contact till.grune@helsinki.fi
| Time | Speaker | Presentation title |
|---|---|---|
| 9.30 – 10.30 | Roman Frigg, London School of Economics | “Fiction and Scientific Representation” |
| 10.30 – 11.30 | Tarja Knuuttila, Academy of Finland | “How does fiction help us understanding scientific models? The case of economic modeling” |
| 11.30 – 12.00 | Coffee | |
| 12.00 – 13.00 | Michael Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania | “Models, Maths, and Fictions” |
| 13.00 – 14.00 | Lunch | |
| 14.00 – 15.00 | Till Gruene-Yanoff, Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies | “Messy Model Metaphysics” |
| 15.00 – 16.00 | Uskali Mäki, Academy of Finland | “Are Theoretical Models Vaihingerian Fictions?” |
| 16.00 – 16.30 | Coffee | |
| 16.30 – 17.30 | Peter Godfrey-Smith, Harvard University | “Models, Mongrels, and Third Things” |
| 18.00 – 19.30 | Drinks, Oluthuone Kaisla | |
| 19.30 | Dinner, Ravintola Kosmos |
The Purpose of Social Theory
The aim of this small conference is to make sense of social theory. It addresses questions like: What is the current state of social theory? What social theory should be like? What is the relation between empirical research, substantial theory and social theory? What is the relation between social theory and philosophy?
Time: Friday April 24th
Place: University of Tampere, Pinni B 1096
10.15 Opening: Uskali Mäki
10.30 Lars Udéhn (Stockholm): The types and uses of social theory
11.30 Risto Heiskala (Tampere): What and how do we know about society?
12.30-13.30 Lunch
13.30 José Noguera (Barcelona): The normative uses of social theory
14.30 Petri Ylikoski (Tampere): The role of philosophy in social theory
15.30-16.00 Coffee
16-18 Parallel sessions (student presentations)
18- Dinner
The event is organized by
* Institute for Social Research (YTI), University of Tampere,
http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/yty/english.html
* Department of History and Philosophy, University of Tampere,
http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/historia/english.php
* Trends and Tensions of Intellectual Integration -project, University of Helsinki,
http://www.helsinki.fi/filosofia/tint/index.htm
* Finnish National Doctoral School in Social Sciences (SOVAKO),
http://www.uta.fi/laitokset/isss/tamcess/sovako/english/index.php
* Social Theory Finland Research Network,
http://www.jyu.fi/ytk/laitokset/yfi/tutkimus/yttv
For further information about the event, please contact Petri Ylikoski (petri.ylikoski@uta.fi).
2008
Models, Mechanisms, and Interdisciplinarity
Workshop 31.10.-1.11.2008
University of Helsinki
Guest speaker: Robert C. Richardson (University of Cincinnati)
Registration: Registration required for Saturday (email: paivi.a.seppala@helsinki.fi)
Friday. October 31, 2008
University Main Building, auditorium XI
| 10.15 – 11.15 | Matti Sintonen Genes and the New Mechanical Philosophy |
| 11.15 – 12.15 | Tarja Knuuttila Indirect representation, multidisciplinary templates and underlying mechanisms |
| 12.15 – 13.30 | Lunch |
| 13.30 – 14.30 | Robert C. Richardson On modeling in systems biology |
| 14.30 – 15.30 | Erika Mansnerus Explanatory and predictive functions of simulation models in infectious disease epidemiology |
| 15.30 – 16.00 | Refreshments |
| 16.00 – 17.00 | Caterina Marchionni The virtues of generality in economic modelling |
| 17.00 – 18.00 | Till Grüne-Yanoff Are economic models tools for theoretical isolation? |
Saturday. November 1, 2008
Hotel Arthur (Vuorikatu 19)
| 10.15 – 11.15 | Uskali Mäki How to illuminate the black box? Challenges of unification and interdisciplinarity |
| 11.15 – 12.15 | Tomi Kokkonen Innateness in biology and psychology: Explanatory black boxes and conceptual confusions in interdisciplinary approach to developmental mechanisms |
| 12.15 – 13.30 | Lunch |
| 13.30 – 14.30 | Emrah Aydinonat Evolution of Money: Perspectives from Neurobiology and Economics |
| 14.30 – 15.30 | Jaakko Kuorikoski Explanatory (ir)relevance of mechanistic detail: The case of neuroeconomics (w. Petri Ylikoski) |
| 15.30 – 16.00 | Refreshments |
| 16.00 – 17.00 | Aki Lehtinen Robustness analysis and the Duhem-Quine thesis |
| 17.00 – 18.00 | Petri Ylikoski Explanatory presuppositions and disciplinary boundaries |
Mechanisms and Everyday Reasoning
Workshop Friday, 13.06.2008, 10.30 – 17
Culture and Congress Centre Verkatehdas, Hämeenlinna
| 10.30-11.30 | Petri Ylikoski ja Jaakko Kuorikoski: “Intentional fundamentalism” |
| 11.30-12-30 | Samuli Pöyhönen: “Essentialist reasoning and social categories” |
| 12.30-14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00-15.00 | Annika Wallin: “Decision making in natural environments” |
| 15.00-16.00 | Johannes Persson: “Decisions and the importance of knowing how” |
| 16.00-17.00 | Uskali Mäki: “How economics claims to correct the common sense” |
Models as Isolating Tools or as Credible Worlds?
(Workshop Monday, 10.03.2008, University of Helsinki)
(workshop web site)
Speakers
- Till Grüne-Yanoff
- Tarja Knuuttila
- Jaakko Kuorikoski
- Aki Lehtinen
- Uskali Mäki
- Robert Sugden
- Jesus Zamora Bonilla
2007
Modeling, Simulation and Computational Science:
Perspectives from different sciences
(Workshop 29–30 November 2007, Helsinki)
(workshop web site)
Speakers
- Tapio Ala-Nissilä (Laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology )
- Till Grüne-Yanoff (Department of Social and Moral Philosophy, University of Helsinki)
- Timo Honkela (Laboratory of Computer and Information Science, Helsinki University of Technology)
- Paul Humphreys (Department of Philosophy, University of Virginia)
- Aapo Hyvärinen (Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, University of Helsinki)
- Tarja Knuuttila (Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki)
- Ismo Koponen (Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki)
- Arkady Krashenninikov (Accelerator Laboratory, University of Helsinki)
- Jaakko Kuorikoski (Department of Social and Moral Philosophy, University of Helsinki)
- Otto Lappi (Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki)
- Andrea (Loettgers California Institute of Technology)
- Erika Mattila (Economic History Department, London School of Economics)
- Gualtiero (Piccinini Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri)
- Anna-Mari (Rusanen Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki)
- Oron Shagrir (Department of Philosophy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
- Petri Ylikoski (Academy of Finland)
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact:
Anna-Mari Rusanen ( anna-mari.rusanen@helsinki.fi )
Friday 21.09.2007, 13-16
Mini workshop, organized jointly by TINT and
Helsinki School of Economics
Prof. Richard Whitley (University of Manchester):
“The Development and Technological Use of Formal Knowledge in Business and Management Studies”
Discussants: Prof Uskali Mäki, Dr Kristina Rolin and Prof Marja-Liisa Kakkuri-Knuuttila, possibly others.
Location:
Helsinki School of Economics, Main Building, Room C-350
Runeberginkatu 14-16, 00100 Helsinki
Mechanisms in the Sciences: Concepts, Discovery, Explanation
(workshop web site)
Workshop on 30-31 August, Helsinki
Speakers include
- Carl Craver (Washington University)
- Peter Hedström (Nuffield College, University of Oxford)
- Daniel Steel (Michigan State University)
- Mika Kiikeri (University of Tampere)
- Tomi Kokkonen (University of Helsinki)
- Jaakko Kuorikoski (University of Helsinki)
- Uskali Mäki (Academy of Finland)
- Johannes Persson (Lund University)
- Anna-Mari Rusanen (University of Helsinki)
- Matti Sintonen (University of Helsinki)
- Petri Ylikoski (Academy of Finland)
Interdisciplinary Relations in the Social and Cognitive Sciences
(see conference web site for themes and paper abstracts)
Helsinki, 15-16 June 2007
Inaugural Conference of TINT, sponsored by the Academy of Finland
Speakers and papers include
- James Johnson (University of Rochester)
Theories of Mind and Models of Strategic Interaction: Game Theory among the Political Scientists. - Dan Sperber (CNRS, Jean Nicod Institute, Paris)
How to articulate the cognitive and the social sciences - Stephen Turner (University of South Florida)
Cognitive Science and ‘the Social’: Is there a Revolution in the Offing? - Erik Angner (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Behavioral Economics as Cognitive Science? - Caterina Marchionni (Erasmus university of Rotterdam)
Is Geographic Economics a Form of Economics Imperialism? - Kyu Sang Lee (Ajou University)
Early Development of Experimental Economics at the Interdisciplinary Crossroads - Janne Hukkinen (Helsinki University of Technology and the University of California at Santa Barbara)
Cognitive turn in sustainability: Social-ecological system as a conceptual blend of practical and scientific knowledge - Jaakko Kuorikoski (University of Helsinki) and Petri Ylikoski (Academy of Finland)
Dissecting Explanatory Power – A Fieldguide to Assessing Competing Explanations - Aki Lehtinen (Academy of Finland) and Jaakko Kuorikoksi (University of Helsinki)
Economics imperialism and solution concepts in political science - Tarja Knuuttila (University of Helsinki)
Neural networks as computational templates: The dissemination of self-organising maps across disciplinary boundaries - Uskali Mäki (Academy of Finland)
Varieties of Interdisciplinary Encounters and of Scientific Progress
Interdisciplinary Encounters
Seminar led by Uskali Mäki, four sessions on Thursdays, April/Mat 2007
| Time: | 13 – 16 |
| Place: | S20A ls 334d |
| First session: | 12 April |
| Last session: | 3 May |
| Format: | Critical dscussion of readings |
2006
POS Workshop: Overconfidence and understanding
[ Saturday 2.12.2006, 14-17; S20A, sr244 ]
Programme:
- Johannes Persson (Lund University): Overconfidence and epistemic risk I
- Annika Wallin (Lund University): Overconfidence and epistemic risk II
- Petri Ylikoski (Academy of Finland): Illusions in understanding
- Jaakko Kuorikoski (Academy of Finland): Two kinds of mechanisms