International Conference: Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation 5 (PSX5)

22-23 September 2016.
University of Belgrade Belgrade, Serbia

Organized by the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, and the Center for the Studies of Bioethics, Belgrade

This conference series is intended to give a home to philosophical interests in, and concerns about, scientific experimentation. The fifth conference will focus on philosophical exploration of various aspects of the relationship between experimentation and policy. For instance, are there epistemically optimal ways of organizing a scientific laboratory? Is there a set of policies concerning division of cognitive labor that can ensure that small, large, or mega laboratories produce relevant scientific knowledge in the most efficient way? Recent philosophical studies have addressed these and similar questions and produced interesting results, often with the help of computer simulations and quantitative methods of analysis. Also in biomedical and related sciences the conduct of experiments and data they produce often raise a number of dilemmas relevant to public policy decisions. Philosophical approaches to such dilemmas may have far-reaching consequences.

Submissions of abstracts on any aspect of the relationship between policy and experiments are welcome. They should be in the form of an extended abstract (1000 words) submitted through EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=psx5). The deadline for submissions is 15 June, 2016.

(Accommodation will be provided for overseas participants and graduate students for three nights).

 

Keynote Speakers

Helena Siipi (University of Turku, Finland)

Kevin Zollman (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)

 

The Department of Philosophy is part of the Faculty of Philosophy, the founding school of the University of Belgrade (since 1838). Philosophy is studied and taught at this institution through three seminars: 1) Logic, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science, 2) History of Philosophy, and 3) Ethics, Aesthetics and Philosophy of Politics. Its faculty publishes articles in some of the most prestigious philosophy and logic journals. The Department of Philosophy has been running the international conference series "Conditionals" in cooperation with the German Research Foundation (DFG), and international workshops on philosophy of physics, modal epistemology and philosophy of cognitive sciences.

The Center for the Study of Bioethics (CSB; www.csb.eu.com) is a scientific institution that was founded in Belgrade but that is global in scope. It gathers the world`s leading bioethicists, including Peter Singer, John Harris, Arthur Caplan, Nick Agar, Erik Parens, James Hughes, Anders Sandberg and others (http://www.csb.eu.com/ljudi_en.html). CSB has a lot of experience in organizing international scientific conferences, including conferences in Belgrade in collaboration with Oxford University and The Hastings Center. CSB is the seat of the European Division of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and the Cambridge Working Group for Bioethics Education. It organizes weekly seminars, mostly on bioethics related themes. A number of CSB members are involved in the areas of research ethics and philosophy of science.

 

Organizers

Slobodan Perović (Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Belgrade: sperovic@f.bg.ac.rs)

Vojin Rakić (Director of the Center for the Study of Bioethics: vojin.rakic@csb.eu.com)

 

Previous PSX conferences:

PSX4 - http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr/Events/All/Conferences/others/other_conf_2013-14/04-11-14_psx4/04-11-14_psx4.html

PSX3 - http://phys.colorado.edu/psx

PSX2 - http://www.uni-konstanz.de/philosophie/index.php?article_id=329&clang=1

PSX1 - http://www.pitt.edu/~pittcntr/Events/All/Conferences/others/other_conf_2010-11/Experimentation_15-15_Oct_2010/Experimentation_15-16_Oct_2010.htm

The venue: Rektorat Univerziteta u Beogradu, Studentski Trg 1, Sala 16 (Rectorate of the University of Belgrade, Student Square 1, Lecture hall 16), The building is also known as ‘Kapetan Mišino zdanje’.  

 

September 22, 2016

9:15 Opening addresses: Slobodan Perovic (Head of the Department of Philosophy), Vojin Rakic (Director of the Center for the Study of Bioethics), Zivan Lazovic (Vice-Rector of the University of Belgrade)

9:30 – 10:30 Keynote: Helena Siipi (University of Turku)

10:30 – 11:20 Animal Models and Extrapolation
Michael Wilde (University of Kent)

11:30 – 12:20 Overcoming the Experimenter’s Regress in Biomedical Research
Romina Zuppone (Universitat de Barselona)

Lunch break

14:00 – 14:50 Towards a Unified Regulation Policy for Deception in Experimental Social Science Separate from the Medical Sciences
Gil Hersch (George Mason University)

15:00 – 15:50 From Turing Patterns to Biological Explanation
Maria Serban (University of Copenhagen)

16:00 – 16:50 Some Experiments Are Representations: Archetypal Educational Laboratory Experiments as Scientific Research
Brandon Boesch (University of South Carolina)

17:15 – 18:00 Visit to the Collection of Early Experimental Psychology Instruments (at the Laboratory for Experimental Psychology)

19:00 Dinner

 

September 23, 20016

9:30 – 10:30 Keynote: Kevin Zollman (Carnegie Mellon University)

10:30 – 11:20 What is the Value of Epistemic Democracy in Big Science?
Vitaly Pronskikh (Fermilab)

11:30 – 12:20 Importance of External Experimental Data Repositories for Science Policy Vlasta Sikimic (University of Belgrade)

Lunch break

14:00 -14:50 Deduction, Induction, and Statistical Inference
Kevin Kelly and Konstantin Genin (Carnegie Mellon University)

15:00 – 15:50 Argumentative agent-based model of scientific inquiry
Dunja Seselja, Christian Strasser, Annemarie Borg (Ruhr-University, Bochum)

16:00 – 16:50 The Role of Abduction in Chaining Multiple Experiments
Anton Donchev (New Bulgarian University)

Practical information

Most conference attendees who are not from Serbia will be staying at the studio apartments Konak Kralj Aleksandar (Bulеvаr Krаlја Аlеksаndrа 75-The King Alexandar Boulevard 75).  

There is an exchange office at the airport where you can buy local currency (Serbian dinar-RSD). There are plenty of exchange offices throughout the city, but we recommend that you exchange at least some money to local currency at the airport because you can pay for the taxi or whatever else only in local currency.  

Here is the map of the airport to help you navigate: http://www.beg.aero/passengers/airport_map/airport_map.153.html  

There are several options to get to the city from the airport. An airport shuttle van line A1 will drive to Slavija square for approx. 10 Euros, from where you can take a taxi to your studio apartments or walk. The city bus line 72 will get you to Zeleni Venac from where you can also take a taxi to your hotel. It’s a 40 minute drive through the suburbs and it will cost you less than 2 Euros. Here is a link with more details about the buses: http://www.beg.aero/passengers/to_and_from_the_airport/bus_transport.326.html

We`d recommend taking a taxi because it can get you directly to your hotel. Taxi service from the airport is strictly regulated. It will probably cost you about 1800 RSD (about 15 Euros). Please get a voucher from the info desk and pay for it depending on the zone you are going into and then you can pay the cabby with the voucher.  Please don't go directly to a taxi without it. Here is the link with instructions how to use this taxi service: http://www.beg.aero/passengers/to_and_from_the_airport/taxi/from_belgrade_airport.327.html  

The address you should give to a cabby is Konak Kralja Aleksandra or Student Hall "Lola" (Bulеvаr Krаlја Аlеksаndrа 75). You then check in at the main entrance. We arranged also that someone will be there to assist you. As soon as we obtain your arrival timetables, everything should be fine.