IIITH co-hosted the annual lecture series of Philosophy of Science India along with University of Hyderabad, NIAS Bangalore, IIT Ropar and IIT Jammu. The event was held online as a weekly webinar on IIITH’s Zoom platform from 22 August to 15 December and all lectures were open to the public. The institute invited distinguished philosophers from prestigious universities around the world to speak on topics related to evidence, models and explanations in an effort to study the ways in which scientists employ these notions and inquire into the nature of scientific understanding.
Highlights of the event included the inaugural lecture by Prof Harold Kincaid from University of Cape Town on objectivity in social science research, Prof Heather Douglas from Michigan State University on trust in scientific evidence, Prof Wendy Parker from Virginia Tech on explaining climate change and Prof Paul Humphreys from University of Virginia on predictive failures in deep neural network models.
Each lecture was followed by an hour of active discussion led by faculty from IIITH and the other institutes. Delegates to the webinar included research scholars, students and citizen scientists from India and abroad. The academic deliberations and the opportunity to be introduced to theoretical and applied issues in the contemporary practice of science was highly appreciated. IIITH is taking a lead role in building the philosophy of science community in India by proposing to organize an on-campus workshop in 2021 provided the COVID-19 situation is fully under control.
More details at: https://philsciindia.wixsite.com/lecture-series