HUGIN OG MUNIN




Åbent netværk for videnskabsfilosofi og videnskabshistorie


NYHEDSBREV NR 218 - 19. NOVEMBER 2006




Nyt om aktiviteter indenfor Videnskabshistorie og Videnskabsfilosofi og tilgrænsende områder f.eks. Videnskab, teknologi og samfund, Forskning i forskning, Videnskabsteori, Videnskabsetik, Videnskabssociologi, Bioetik, Forskningspolitik, Naturfilosofi, Videnskabsformidling.

Redaktør: Marie Svarre Nielsen, CNV.
Annoncering af møder i Hugin og Munin, tilmelding, afmelding, og andet:
E-mail odinsravne@gmail.com







Natravn

OPSLAG

Galathea 1, 2 og 3



Forskning, formidling og 160 års dansk ekspeditionshistorie




20. november,
kl. 14-17,
Auditorium G2,
bygning 1532,
Ny Munkegade,
Aarhus Universitet.


Program mm. se: Galatea seminar




Alle er velkomne!

Tilmelding er nødvendig til Laura S. Thomassen, senest onsdag d. 15. november på e-mail: laura[@]si.au.dk eller tlf. 8942 3509.

Betaling kr. 25 for kaffe, te og kage sker ved registrering på dagen. Husk penge.

Abstracts:

Skibet er ladet med forskning, formidling og eventyr
Annette Bruhn, Marin Økologi, AU

Hidtil har havet kunne optage halvdelen af den ekstra CO2, vi mennesker har udledt i atmosfæren. Kan havet blive ved med det?? Hvordan påvirker biologien i havet ligevægten mellem CO2 i atmosfæren og i havet? Og hvordan påvirker samme ligevægt livet i havet? Det er nogle af de store spørgsmål, der stilles, i projektet: Det globale kulstofkredsløb på Galathea 3's rute fra nord til syd. Bag projektet, der er et af de få gennemgående projekter på Galathea 3, står forskere fra fem store danske forskningsinstitutioner. Jeg vil fortælle lidt om Kulstofprojektet, men også forsøge at give en stemningsberetning fra hverdagen på et forskningsskib ladet med eventyrlystne forskere, formidlere, journalister og sømænd.


Globalisering i fortid og nutid
Anders Emil Rasmussen, Antropologi og Etnografi, AU

"I dette nye årtusind, i disse tider med globalisering, internet og…" Sådan starter mange avisartikler og tv-programmer i tidens dagspresse, og tit gives der indtryk af, at fænomenet globalisering er noget ganske nyt og dermed helt særegent for netop den tid, vi lever i. Globalisering er dog langt fra et nyt fænomen. Ideer og kultur har også i andre tider bevæget sig hurtigt over lange afstande. Der gives to eksempler på globalisering: Lapita-kulturens spredning af særlig materiel kultur over det vestlige Stillehav for mere end 3000 år siden er et eksempel på globalisering i fortiden, som er forbundet med nutiden. Havgående kanoer spillede en vigtig rolle i denne kultur som transportmiddel. I nutidens globalisering i samme region har kanoerne fået en helt anden betydning som identitetsskabende kulturarv, samtidig med at deres praktiske værdi er blevet mindre. Afslutningsvist vil jeg med udgangspunkt i eget feltarbejde tale om antropologens rolle i felten og om objektiveringen af kultur og tradition.


Galathea - en mytologisk skikkelse
Michael Sterll, Historie, KU

I 1840 kendte enhver dansk latinskoleelev nereiden Galathea, mens enhver dansker i dag har hørt om Galathea 1, 2 og 3. Fra at være en ganske perifer skikkelse i den græske mytologi er Galathea i dag blevet en central størrelse i dansk nationalmytologi. Christian VIII's forestillinger om at slå sit halve kongeriges navn fast som andet end en af Napoleonskrigenes mange tabere synes at være lykkedes. Da Corvetten Galathea stævnede ud i 1845, var naturhistorie kun en beskeden del af projektet, og unge danske naturhistorikere stod ikke i kø for at få en plads ombord. Karakteristisk nok var den mand, der kom til at stå for størstedelen af rejsens botaniske resultater, skibets nyudnævnte reservekirurg. Den udgivelse, der igennem mange år kom til at tegne billedet af Corvetten Galathea's Rejse omkring Jorden, er stort set blottet for naturhistorie, men hvad var så rejsens mål, og hvor meget naturhistorie kom der ud af det? I foredraget vil jeg komme ind på selve rejsen og dens resultater, men også på samtidens forståelse af naturhistorie og på den efterfølgende mytologisering.


På jagt efter søslangen med Galathea 2
Kristian Hvidtfelt Nielsen, Steno Instituttet, AU

Den anden Galathea-ekspedition (1950-52) kombinerede forskning med formidling, ligesom det er tilfældet med Galathea 3. Formålet var at vise det danske flag og skabe god publicity for Danmark efter anden verdenskrig og det danske samarbejde med Nazi-Tyskland. Ekspeditionen eksperimenterede med nye formidlingsformer, såsom dokumentarfilm af det videnskabelige arbejde om bord. Det tætte samarbejde mellem forskere og journalister blev bl.a. muliggjort af et fælles ønske om at fange den store søslange. Selv om det ikke lykkedes, blev ekspeditionen alligevel vurderet som en stor succes, såvel forsknings- som formidlingsmæssigt.

OPSLAG

Dynamics of Reason


On the philosophy of MICHAEL FRIEDMAN




11.-12. december
Carlsberg Akademi
København


REGISTRATION:
REGISTRATION BY MAIL 24TH OF NOVEMBER AT THE LATEST: kvr[@]ruc.dk



PROGRAMME:


11TH OF DECEMBER

9.00 - 9.30 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

MORNING SESSION: "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY"

9.30 - 10.45 MICHAEL FRIEDMAN
"HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND THE DYNAMICS OF REASON"

10.45- 11.00 BREAK

11.00 - 12.15 ALFRED NORDMAN

12.15 - 13.15 LUNCH

AFTERNOON SESSION: "KANT AND CASSIRER ON PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE"

13.15 - 14.30 KLAUS FROVIN JØRGENSEN
"KANT'S SCHEMATISM AND CONSTRUCTION IN INTITION"

14.30 -14.45 BREAK

14.45 -16.00 CLAUS FESTERSEN
"FRIEDMAN, CASSIRER, AND THE DYNAMICS OF MATHEMATICS"

16.00 -16.15 BREAK

16.15- 17.30 MORTEN HAUGAARD JEPPESEN
"A BLIND, BUT INDISPENSABLE FUNCTION"



12TH OF DECEMBER

MORNING SESSION: "NEW INTERPRETATION OF CASSIRER'S PHILOSOPHY"

9.30-10.45 STEVE LOFTS
"THE LIMITS OF REASON: DECONSTRUCTION AS A SYMBOLIC FORM"

10.45-11.00 BREAK

11.00-12.15 ESTHER OLUFFA PEDERSEN
"CASSIRER'S INTERPRETATION OF KANT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SYMBOLIC FORMS"

12.15-13.15 LUNCH
AFTERNOON SESSION: "A PRIORI PRINCIPLES IN EMPIRICAL SCIENCES"

13.15-14.30 AUD SISSEL HOEL
"TECHNIQUES OF IDEATION: A DYNAMIC APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF MEDIATION"

14.30-14.45 BREAK

14.45-16.00 MICHAEL FRIEDMAN
"THE DYNAMICS OF REASON RECONSIDERED"






ORGANIZED BY:
THE DANISH RESEARCH SCHOOL IN PHILOSOPHY HISTORY OF IDEAS AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE (PHIS),
LEARNING LAB DENMARK, THE DANISH UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION &
SECTION FOR PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE STUDIES, ROSKILDE UNIVERSITY CENTER.

ABSTRACTS:

MICHAEL FRIEDMAN
Professor of Humanities, Dept. of Philosophy, Stanford University

"HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND THE DYNAMICS OF REASON"
On my approach to post-Kuhnian philosophy, the relationship between history and philosophy of science plays a central role. In particular, by tracing out the development of scientific philosophy from Kant to the present, together with the developments in the sciences themselves during this same period, I hope to defend a relativized version of the Kantian constitutive a priori appropriate to our own time. Since the particularities of the historical development are essentially contingent, however, it might seem that no such notion of historically relativized transcendental constitutive principles is possible. I show how my historical argument contains an answer to this problem.


ALFRED NORDMAN
Professor of philosophy, Technische Universität, Darmstadt

The title and abstract will be published as soon as possible.


KLAUS FROVIN JØRGENSEN
Assistant professor, Section of Philosophy and Science Studies, Roskilde University

"KANT'S SCHEMATISM AND `CONSTRUCTION IN INTUITION'"
Kant's general notion of schema has in recent years been subject to an increasing interest and analysis. The increasing amount of work on this important area of the Kantian epistemology owes a great debt to Friedman's analysis of Kant's understanding of geometry and physics. Now, according to Kant a concept can be schematised by an agent precisely when the agent has access to a rule-governed cognitive procedure which puts him in a position where he in a confident way can subsume objects under the concept. Schematism can taken as a foundation for most of Kant's epistemology ranging from empirical concepts and pure concepts to mathematical concepts. Such an interpretation of Kant's theory of knowledge is not compatible with a Platonic view of mathematics. According to one such view, mathematics is abstract and timeless but can be described using classical first order logic. Now, Kant's philosophy of geometry has been critized for many obscurities. But it was Russell claimed that it was the lack of modern logic that caused these problems and Friedman has continued this analysis. In my talk I will try to discuss some of the problems which arise when one takes Russell's approach and compare it with an interpretation of Kant's theory of knowledge centered around Schematism. Within such an interpretation the notion of construction and construction in intuition cannot be given up. It is the at the heart of Kant's theory but, on the other hand, incompatible with a timeless and Platonic view of mathematics.


CLAUS FESTERSEN
M.Sc., Ph.d.-student, Section of Philosophy and Science Studies, Roskilde University

"FRIEDMAN, CASSIRER, AND THE DYNAMICS OF MATHEMATICS"
In his recent book Dynamics of Reason (2001) Michael Friedman articulates and defends an hierarchical account of physical theories against the naturalistic challenge of Quine's anti-apriorist conception of scientific knowledge. In particular, Friedman argues that our physical theories should not be viewed as a flat web of interconnected beliefs in which all parts function symmetrically and, for this very reason, equally face the tribunal of experience (to use Quine's figure of speech). Instead, a physical theory consists of three asymmetrically functioning parts. The first level contains the purely mathematical part of the theory and constitutes what Friedman designates the space of logical possibilities. The third level uses these mathematical representations to formulate properly empirical laws describing concrete empirical phenomena. However, according to Friedman, for this to be possible in the first place, coordinating principles are necessary whose function is to set up an assignment between the mathematical part and concrete empirical phenomena in such a way that the laws have definite empirical meaning. These coordinating principles comprise the second part of the theory and constitute the space of empirical possibilites. Therefore, Friedman argues against the naturalistic predicament, they are best viewed as relativized (i.e. theory-specific) a priori principles. The second major point of Friedman's book is to explain how this neo- Kantian conception of physical theories enables us to understand and characterize the historical development of mathematical natural science as a progressive, rational process. Here, however, Friedman mainly tries to clarify the inter-theoretical development of the relativized a priori principles. In other words, he focuses his attention on describing the dynamics of the space of empirical possibilities. For that reason, from my point of view, he neglects to give a much needed account of the dynamical expansion of the space of logical possibilities. Friedman's most explicit reason for this omission is that he considers an explanation of the rational character of this development to be more or less unproblematic. But, a closer look at the history of mathematics reveals that such an account does not only face minor obstacles. Therefore, in my talk I want to show how we (at least) can begin bypassing these obstacles with the help of Cassirer's most mature conception of mathematics and its rational development articulated in his still quite unknown book Ziele und Wege der Wirklichkeitserkenntnis published posthumously 1999. In this way, I hope to contribute to the completion and refinement of Friedman's project.


MORTEN HAUGAARD JEPPESEN
Associate Professor, Ph.D., Department of the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus

"A BLIND, BUT INDISPENSABLE FUNCTION"
Right at the outset of Critique of Pure Reason Kant makes two basic epistemological claims. First that all cognition must begin with an object being given to the mind through intuition, and second that this intuitively given is not in itself sufficient for cognition, but is further dependant upon being taken up and worked through by discursive concepts belonging to the understanding. The role of the imagination is, as it were, to `glue' these two together - especially in the form of what Kant calls `schemata'; but the notion of such schemata has often been met with suspicion. For - given Kant's own epistemological premises - it is not at all obvious that this unification of intuitions and concepts can actually be achieved. In this paper I will examine and (try to) defend the role of imagination in Kant's First Critique.


STEVE LOFTS
Associate professor, Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies King's University College at the University of Western Ontario

"THE LIMITS OF REASON: DECONSTRUCTION AS A SYMBOLIC FORM"
This paper will provide a reading of Cassirer's Philosophy of Symbolic Forms from the perspective of Derrida and post-structuralism arguing: 1) that the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms is a form of structuralism; 2) that the dynamics of reason found in Cassirer's philosophy continuously lead reason to its limits, in fact to its own deconstruction; and finally 3) that this autodeconstruction of reason should to be understood as a symbolic form.


ESTHER OLUFFA PEDERSEN
Ph.d.-student, Section of Philosophy, University of Copenhagen

"CASSIRER'S INTERPRETATIONS OF KANT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SYMBOLIC FORMS"
In the Kant-monograph Kants Life and Work, published 1918, Cassirer presents some very intriguing interpretations of Kant's critical philosophy. A new line of thought is laid on the Critique of Pure Reason through the introduction of the metaphor of the torch of critical reason. By bringing in this picture Cassirer comes at odds with the traditional neo-Kantian understanding of Kant's first critique as an explanation of the conditions of possibility of natural science. He develops this unorthodox interpretation even further in the discussion of Kant's third critique, The Critique of Judgement. It is my aim in the paper to show how Cassirer's interpretation of Kant through the looking glass of the metaphor the torch of critical reason leads up to and to a high degree determines the theoretical questions asked in the project of The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Thus my thesis is that a critical reassessment of the Kantian concept of experience in the first critique and a reading of the third critique as laying a more profound ground for critical philosophy were major factors for Cassirer's commencement on the project of the cultural philosophy of symbolic forms. Another important impetus to the project, off course, was the development of modern science, both the humanities and the natural science. These threads will be connected in an effort to show how Cassirer in the Philosophy of Symbolic Forms both was a faithful successor and a sharp critique of the Kantian heritage.


AUD SISSEL HOEL
Associate Professor, Department of Art and Media Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

"TECHNIQUES OF IDEATION: A DYNAMIC APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF MEDIATION"
At present there is much talk about the material aspects of the media. There is, however, a tendency in the current academic discourse to regard these material aspects in isolation from, and even in opposition to, the meaning aspect. I present an alternative approach in which the material aspects are understood as intrinsically related to the meaning aspect; the different media are regarded as different media technologies that involve different material logics. The workings of the different media are explained, not in terms of presentation or representation, but in terms of articulation. They intervene in the world they express, and thus make it exist ("stand out"). The different media are assumed to form different "families" that open up different dimensions of meaning: language, image, number. The approach is inspired by Cassirer, and consists in a further development, or rather, transformation, of his philosophy of symbolic forms. The impetus to this transformation is found in Cassirer's own texts, more precisely in his text "Form und Technik" (1930). The observation that "logos" lies dormant in all tools or instruments prepare the way for a parallel in function between instruments and symbolic forms of expression. Next, this observation prepares the way for a new approach to the problem of "accordance with the world".


MICHAEL FRIEDMAN

"THE DYNAMICS OF REASON RECONSIDERED"
I respond to the points that have come up during the conference, and re-evaluate my approach in light of them.

OPSLAG

Årsmødet i Nationalkomiteen for videnskabshistorie og videnskabsfilosofi.





26-27. januar 2007
Københavns Universitet,
KUA, lokal. 23.0.49



Tilmelding

Enhver interesseret, som ønsker at holde et foredrag inden for videnskabsteori og videnskabshistorie, har mulighed herfor i løbet af lørdagen. Henvendelse skal ske inden den 1. december til Hanne Andersen eller Jan Faye.

Tilmeldingen til konferencen fredag den 26. januar koster 150 kr., som inkluderer morgenmad, formiddagskaffe med wienerbrød, frokostbuffet med vand, samt eftermiddagskage, te eller kaffe.

Desuden kan konferencedeltagerne erhverve bogen Arven efter Kuhn, redigeret af Hanne Andersen og Jan Faye, Roskilde Universitetsforlag 2006, på konferencen. Bogen indeholder bidrag af alle foredragsholderne og kan erhverves for 165 kr. mod normalprise på 248 kr. Samlet pris er i så fald 315 kr.

Sidste tilmeldingsfrist er den 5. januar 2007. Henvendelse skal ske til:
Jan Faye, Institut for Medier, Erkendelse og Formidling, Københavns Universitet, KUA, Njalsgade 80, 2300 København S.
Email: faye[@]hum.ku.dk

PROGRAM:


Fredag den 26. januar:
Arven efter Kuhn


8.45-9.30 Indskrivning og morgenmad
Helge Kragh: Velkomme

9.30-10.00 Helge Kragh: Kuhn og videnskabshistorien

10.00-10.30. Finn Collin: Kuhn og videnskabsfilosofien

10.30-10.45. Kaffepause.

10.45-11.15. Heine Andersen: Kuhn og sociologien

11.15-11.45. Jan Faye: Kuhn og fysikken

11.45-12.15. Claus Emmeche: Kuhn og biologien

12.15-13.15. Frokost

13.15-13.45 Frank Hansen/Kirsten Simonsen: Kuhn og geografien

13.45.-14.15 Kirsten Hastrup: Kuhn og antropologien

14.15 -14.45. Simo Køppe: Kuhn og psykologien

. 14.45-15.15. Frans Gregersen: Kuhn og sprogvidenskaben

15.15-15.45. Søren Kjørup: Kuhn og de æstetiske fag

15.45-16.00 Kaffepause

16.00-17.00 Rundbordsdiskussion


Lørdag den 27. januar:
Ph.d.-projekter og frie foredrag.


9.00 - 9.45 Anja Skaar Jacobsen: Léon Rosenfeld og videnskabshistorien før Kuhn

9.45-10.30 Hans-Henrik Hjermitslev: Anti-darwinisme i Danmark omkring år 1900

10.30-10.45 Pause

10.45-11.30 Christian Baron: Sociobiologien og dens arvtagere: et videnskabsteoretisk case studie

11.30-12.15 Mats Fridlund: Explosive knowledge: The democratization and popularization of science and the history of terrorist bomb-making"

12.15-13.15 Frokost

13.15-14.00 Kristine Lynning: Kampen om dannelsesbjerget - historiske debatter om naturvidenskabernes rolle i det danske gymnasium

14.00-14.45 Mads Vestergaard: Interventionismen - naturvidenskabens succes som forandring af verden

14.45-15.00 Pause

15.00-15.45 Majken Lolck: Torsk og atommissiler - om baggrunden for den første internationale iskerneboring i Grønland

OPSLAG

Science café


A Nano Science Café amidst the Dinosaurs




Weds 22 Nov,
Time: 17.00 - 19.00
Tuborg Havnevej 7,
Hellerup.
Entrance is free.
Sign up here: nano@experimentarium.dk

Eksperimentariet indbyder til debatarrangement om den nanoteknologiske udvikling. Arrangementet løber af stablen den 22. november kl. 17-19. I skyggen af skeletter af fortidens dinosaurer vil der blive mulighed for at høre oplæg af danske og britiske eksperter og stille spørgsmål til, hvordan vi som borgere og samfund kan forholde os til mulighederne og farerne ved nanoteknologien.

Læs mere om arrangementet her: Science café

Panel:

Professor Anja Boisen - Department of Micro and Nano Technology at DTU

Mickey Gjerris - Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment

Jonathan Wood - Editor of the UK publications Materials Today and Nano Today and winner of FameLab (the UK science equivalent of American Idol)

Nano amidst the Dinosaurs will be moderated by:
Melanie Smallman - Managing Director of Think-Lab, the UK's first science communication practice

OPSLAG

The Strong Programme and the Emergence of the Edinburgh-school




Tirsdag, den 28. november, kl. 19.45
i auditorium 10, på H. C. Ørsted Instituttet,
Universitetsparken 5, København


Foredrag ved Vidar Enebakk
Post doctoral research fellow, Forum for University History

Se:
Vidar Enebakk
UNIVERSITY HISTORY IN NORWAY

Efter foredraget inviterer Selskabet på et traktement for 25 kr. i Institut for Matematiske Fags frokoststue.

Personer, der ikke er medlemmer, er velkommen til at komme til et arrangement før beslutning om evt. indmeldelse. Vedr. indmeldelse, kontakt sekretæren.

Arrangør:
Videnskabshistorisk Selskab
Danish Society for the History of Science
www.math.ku.dk/videnskabshistorie
Sekretær Donald B. Wagner

Since the mid-1970s the so-called Edinburgh-school has been central in the development of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK). The most famous contribution by far was the formulation of the "Strong Programme" by David Bloor in Knowledge and Social Imagery (1976). At the heart of the programme was the much debated principle of symmetry, which by several critics has been associated with relativism and irrationalism promoting anti-scientific attitudes and "social constructivism gone mad".

Unfortunately, I will argue, much of this subsequent critique, especially during the Science Wars in the 1990s, has been directed towards straw-men - not really taking into account what Bloor has really written or argued. In my talk I will challenge this interpretation by focusing on Bloor's background, the pre-history of the Strong Programme, and on the emergence of the Edinburgh-school more generally. The approach, thus, is historical, focusing on the decade from the establishing of the Science Studies Unit in Edinburgh in 1966 towards the publication of Knowledge and Social Imagery in 1976. First, I will try to elaborate the many and heterogeneous sources of inspiration for Bloor's formulation of the Strong Programme. Second, I will focus more closely on the relation between Bloor and Imre Lakatos in relation the history of mathematics. And finally, I'll be focusing on how Bloor is related to the broader Popper-Kuhn-debate. Hopefully such a historical reconstruction can contribute to a better understanding of what the Edinburgh-school and the Strong Programme was all about.

OPSLAG

Bildung in Engineering


A dream in the heads of humanists or a simple necessity?




International Research Conference
Tuesday 15 May 2007 at
University of Aarhus, Institute of Business and Technology,
Birk Centerpark 15, 7400 Herning, Denmark
The Unimerco Lecture Theatre (room 2002)


Download Research Conference Invitation


The conference is related to two recent publications within the field of philosophy of science and technology. In particular, the conference relates to the second publication which is the outcome of an international research project.

1. Jens Christensen, Lars Bo Henriksen, Anette Kolmos (eds.) (2006)
Engineering Science, Skills and Bildung.
Aalborg Universitetsforlag, Aalborg.

2. Steen Hyldgaard Christensen,
Martin Meganck, Bernard Delahousse (eds.) (2007)
Philosophy in Engineering. Academica, Aarhus.


Target groups of the conference
• Practicing engineers in general
• Teachers of and researchers within any engineering specialist do main of knowledge
• Teachers or prospective teachers of philosophy of science for engineering students
• Researchers within the field of philosophy of science, technology and ethics
• Educational policy makers related to engineering
• People interested in the philosophy of technology
+45 97 20 83 11 / Birk Centerpark 15 / DK 7400

Aim of the conference
The conference is aiming at a continuation of meta-disciplinary research on engineering. Thus a new international and interdisciplinary research project entitled Engineering Design in Context will be organized and later on launched as an outcome of the conference.

Engineering
has traditionally been linked to the advent of the industrial society. To display an image of engineers as applied scientists has historically been an important means to gain social respectability and influence for the engineering profession. However, the consequence of this strategy has been that engineering has become too narrowly defined with an almost exclusive focus on engineering science, resulting in the present crisis in engineering education and a tendency towards a "de-engineered" society. The two books therefore raise the question "What is the proper role of the engineer in the global knowledge society"? To answer this question necessitates the construction of a new concept of occupational Bildung in engineering education and a recontextualisation of engineering as a profession. Philosophy in Engineering offers a broad perspective on the role of engineering in the 21st century and contributes to a critical reappraisal of engineering as a profession. The book thus approaches engineering from an inter- and meta-disciplinary perspective encompassing historical, epistemological, ethical and global aspects of engineering. The American philosopher of science and technology and editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics, Carl Mitcham, wrote about Philosophy in Engineering: "Having developed initially in the contrasting forms of cultural criticism by non-engineers and philosophical apologetics by engineers themselves, the philosophy of technology is becoming increasingly a theme of genuinely interdisciplinary reflection. European philosophers especially have been leaders in this synthesis. The present book, with contributions by scholars from half of the EU countries, takes interdisciplinary analysis by and about engineers and engineer- ing to new levels of achievement and in the process has created a volume that will undoubtedly have a significant influence on further teaching and research."

Conference fee
The full fee for the conference is DKK 1.500 (EURO 198), which includes:
1) a copy of the book Philosophy in Engineering
2) a CD-ROM with PowerPoint presentations of the main topics of the book
3) a course description and a course plan for courses in philosophy of science for engineers targeting engineering students in their third year of studies
4) lunch and coffee during the conference

OPSLAG

On the scientific roots of the concept of God




Tirsdag den 21. nov.
Kl. 11:15 - ca. 12:15
Auditorium A
NBI, Blegdamsvej 17
København


Guest lecture by:
Anil A. Bhalekar
Department of Chemistry, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Amravati Road Campus, Nagpur-440 033, Maharashtra, India.


Arranged by Bjarne Andresen, NBI & Claus Emmeche, CPNSS.

Abstract:
On critically examining the innumerable descriptions and explanations about the concept of God in Indian philosophy and religion it gets revealed that those thinkers have given the name of God to the laws of probability and the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The point is that the entropy production is responsible for the structured-creation or growth in the universe, during these processes the first law of thermodynamics is meticulously followed and all the processes in the universe follow the laws of probability.

References:
1. Shreemad-Bhagvad-Geeta, Geeta Press, Gorakhpur, India.
2. Shreemad-Bhaagawat-Purana, Geeta Press, Gorakhpur, India.
3. Shree-Purusha-Sukta, in Rigvediya writings.
4. I. Prigogine and R. Defay, Chemical Thermodynamics, D. H. Everett (Transl.), Longmans Green, London, 1954.
5. T. L. Hill, An Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics, Dover, New York, 1986. 2
6. P. W. Bridgman, The Nature of Thermodynamics, Peter-Smith, Gloucester, MA, 1969.

LYKØNSKNINGER

Filosofiske doktorgrad til


Frederik Stjernfelt




Til lykke til Frederik Stjernfelt med tildeling af den filosofiske doktorgrad for afhandlingen:

Diagrammatology. An Investigation on the Borderlines of Phenomenology, Ontology, and Semiotics.

Forsvaret fandt sted den 17. november på Ålborg Universitet.

Contents:

Preface

Introduction

I. DIAGRAMS - PEIRCE AND HUSSERL

1. Let's Stick Together - Peirce's Metaphysics of the Continuum 25

2. The Physiology of Arguments - Peirce's Extreme Realism and the Continuum in his Theory of Signs 47

3. How to Learn More - An Apology for a Strong Concept of Iconicity 79

4. Moving Pictures of Thought - Diagrams as Centerpiece of a Peircean Epistemology 127

5. Everything is Transformed - Transformation in Semiotics 161

6. Categories and Diagrams - the Grasping of Ideal Objects in Husserl and Peirce 187

7. Mereology - Parts and Wholes in Phenomenology and Semiotics 211 8. Diagrammatical Reasoning and the Synthetic A Priori 227

II. BIOSEMIOTICS, PICTURES, LITERATURE

9. Biosemiotics as Material and Formal Ontology 253

10. A Natural Symphony? - Actuality of von Uexküll's Bedeutungslehre 285

11. Man the Abstract Animal - Diagrams, Abstraction, and the Semiotic Missing Link 305

12. The Signifying Body - Making Sense of "Embodiment" 323

13. Christ Levitating and the Vanishing Square - Diagrams in Picture Analysis 343

14. Into the Picture - Husserl's Picture Theories and Two Picture Types 359

15. Small Outline of a Theory of the Sketch 395

16. Who is Michael Wo-Ling Ptah-Hotep Jerolomon? - Literary interpretation as Thought Experiment 403

17. Five Types of Schematic Iconicity in the Literary Text - an Extension of the Ingardenian Viewpoint 425

18. The Man Who Knew Too Much - Espionage in Reality and Fiction: Regional Ontology and Iconicity 447 Perspective 469

APPENDIX - Peircean Continuity between Mathematics and Philosophy 471 Bibliography 519
Notes 543

LYKØNSKNINGER

Ny forening:


Danish Association of Science and Technology Studies - DASTS




Foreningens hjemmeside: www.dasts.dk

Til lykke til alle med interesse for STS med oprettelsen af foreningen: Danish Association of Science and Technology Studies - DASTS. Meget passende er dagens stafet-interview netop med en af initiativtagerne.


Bedste ønsker fra Marie Svarre Nielsen.

STAFETTEN

Stafet-interview med


Brit Ross Winthereik





Fag: Antropologi og videnskabs- og teknologistudier (STS)
Ansættelsessted: Center for Information and Communication Technologies, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet


Hvad er den sidste fagrelaterede bog, du har læst?

Det er P. Lehoux (2006) "The Problem of Health Technology". Bogen diskuterer teknologier, der p.t. anvendes i sundhedsvæsenet - lige fra implantater til medicin og informationsteknologi. Forfatterens motivation for at skrive bogen er ønsket om at nuancere den herskende opfattelse, at man gennem metoder indeholdt i konceptet medicinsk teknologivurdering (MTV) kan afgøre om en teknologi er "god" og fortjener udbredelse eller ej. Forfatteren udfordrer ideen om, at MTV-projekter skaber et objektivt, rationelt fundament for politisk beslutningstagning, og ideen om at et sådant fundament kan skabes i en kompleks virkelighed med mange interessenter. Hun ser kritisk på det at MTV er blevet ophøjet til at være en slags "regulerende videnskab" og bruger indsigter fra STS til at diskutere betingelserne for videnskabelig intervention i politiske beslutningsprocesser. En af bogens helt store styrker er dens gode og præcise formidling af klassiske STS-pointer. Dertil kommer dens forslag til et alternativt program med 5 principper, som forskere og politikere kan bruge som inspiration til at analysere forholdet mellem sundhedsteknologier, sundhedsudbydere, industri, patienter og politikere.

Er der en bog, du vil anbefale?

Det er en bog jeg varmt vil anbefale til alle med interesse for - fænomenet at nye sundhedsteknologier opfindes i en lind strøm, mens de offentlige kasser, der skal financiere sundhedsvæsenet, afmagres. - hvordan indsigter fra STS kan inddrages som grundlag for politiske beslutningsprocesser.

Hvad er den mest interessante artikel, du har læst inden for de sidste par måneder?

Det er nok genlæsningen af M. Berg og S. Timmermans' (2000) "Orders and Their Others: On the Constitution of Universalities in Medical Work", som jeg skulle bruge til en forelæsning. Artiklen er dels en kritik af standardiseringsregimet, der ser "orden", dvs. formalisering, som noget man bør efterstræbe i medicinsk praksis, dels er det en kritik af (nogle former for) STS, der ser "uorden", som naturgivent og standardisering af praksis som en overgreb på denne naturens (u)orden. Forfatterne foreslår at man ser på hvordan orden og uorden, det formelle og det uformelle altid optræder i par (som hinandens parasitter).

Hvad er den sidste konference, du har været til?

Årsmødet for The European Association of Studies of Science and Technology (EASST 2006) i Lausanne.

Er der et eller flere nyhedsbreve eller andre net-aktiviteter, du vil anbefale?

Jeg kan ikke umiddelbart komme på nogle, udover selvfølgelig den netop opstartede hjemmeside for Danish Association of Science and Technology Studies (www.dasts.dk)

Er der et eller flere tidsskrifter, du vil anbefale?

Health Care Analysis, som har nogle meget læsværdige artikler med grundige (filosofiske, antropoplogiske, sociologiske) analyser om problemer og løsninger i sundhedsvæsenet.

Giv et bud på et centralt spørgsmål for forskningen i dit felt.

Hvordan kan man designe sociotekniske arrangementer, der på en gang konstruerer autonome patienter og tager højde for kompleksiteten i autonomi-begrebet (at autonomi praktiseres gennem en aktørs relation til andre aktører).

Giv et bud på en udbredt misforståelse.

Jeg giver to: For det første at STS er det samme som socialkonstruktionisme, manifesteret i argumenter a la "du kan jo prøve at se om tyngdekraften er en konstruktion ved at springe ud fra Rundetårn". Og for det andet at STS er en deskriptiv tilgang, der ikke er anvendelsesorienteret. Jeg mener der er masser af eksempler i STS-literaturen på at STS kan bruges til at intervenere med, idet den ændre betingelserne for en given praksis eller debat og kommer med alternative løsninger. "Problemet" med STS for dem, der mener STS ikke er anvendelsesorienteret er nok, at STS ikke tilbyder lette løsninger (fx "færdigpakkede" begrebssæt).

Ville du tage imod en tidagestur til månen?

Ja.

Har du en helt?

Babapappa og hans familie. De kan allesammen noget forskelligt og der er ingen, der prøver at ændre de andre. De er gode mod dyr og legemliggør i bogstaveligste forstand mediering og transformation.

Hvem vil du give stafetten videre til?

Lene Koch på Institut for Folkesundhedsvidenskab pga. hendes arbejde visioner om at skabe et rum for den underafdeling af STS man kunne kalde Science, Technology and Medicine.

HUGIN OG MUNIN

HUGIN og MUNIN er et elektronisk nyhedsbrev for aktiviteter indenfor videnskabsteori, videnskabsfilosofi, videnskabshistorie, videnskabssociologi og tilgrænsende emneområder. Det udsendes af Center for Naturfilosofi og Videnskabsstudier, Københavns Universitet, for at styrke kontakten mellem grupper og enkeltpersoner indenfor de nævnte fagområder.

Hugin og Munin - tanke og erindring - er de to vise ravne, der sidder på Odins skuldre og hvisker ham alle tidender i øret. Han sender dem ud ved daggry, og ved morgenmåltidet er de hos ham igen med nyheder fra hele verden.

Ravnene er her valgt som vartegn for den filosofiske eftertanke og den historiske erindring.