Please note that Patrick McGivern's paper on Tuesday, as advertised earlier today, has a new improved time. It now commences at 11 a.m. (same location)
School of History and Philosophy @ UNSW presents: Patrick McGivern (University of Wollongong) What are ‘Levels’? It is common in philosophy and in science to distinguish between different levels of explanation, levels of organization, and levels of reality. Philosophical interest in levels typically focuses on questions about the relationships between levels: for instance, do higher-level theories ‘reduce’ to lower-level ones? Are higher-level phenomena ‘emergent’? But comparatively little is said about what a ‘level’ is and why we should think that there are different levels to begin with. In many cases, it appears that the existence and structure of levels is supposed to be obvious, and the only interesting issues concern the relationships between levels. In this talk, I’ll defend a different view. I’ll present an account of levels based on the concept of the scale at which a theory applies. On this account, levels are discovered rather than being posited ahead of empirical inquiry. I’ll then examine some differences between a scale-based account of levels and more traditional conceptions of levels, and in particular how questions about reduction other inter-theoretic relations are affected by thinking in terms of scales. Patrick McGivern lectures in the School of English Literatures and Philosophy, University of Wollongong. His research interests include the structure of explanation in science, arguments about reduction and emergence in philosophy of mind, and the relationship between cognition and computation. When? Tuesday 27 April, 11 a.m. Where? Room 308B, Morven Brown Building, University of New South Wales (map ref: C20, http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/Maps/pdf/kensington.pdf) A light lunch is provided. No bookings are required, and all are welcome. For further information, please contact Joanne Faulkner, [email protected], 9385 2287 Dr. Joanne Faulkner ARC Research Fellow School of History and Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Room 338, Morven Brown Building University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052 Australia [email protected] +61 2 9385 2287 http://hist-phil.arts.unsw.edu.au/staff/joanne-faulkner-633.html Treasurer, Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy: http://www.ascp.org.au I am a member of the National Tertiary Education Union. In support of the NTEU’s enterprise bargaining team, all NTEU members at UNSW are engaged in a work ban outside normal working hours. I therefore will not respond to emails or phone calls or engage in other work duties outside of my normal working hours (9am-5pm AEST, Monday to Friday). A recent NTEU survey found that all UNSW staff reported working outside normal working hours e.g. at weekends. I support the NTEU’s bargaining team in their current negotiations with UNSW management to secure a new enterprise agreement with improved conditions for all staff, including: a fair pay increase; better regulation of workloads; protection of recreation leave conditions; improved carer’s leave, and; increased security for casual and fixed-term contract staff. For further information on the NTEU’s claims and bargaining campaign at UNSW, please see www.universitybargaining.com.au_______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list: http://sydphil.info 950 subscribers now served. To UNSUBSCRIBE, change your MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS, find ANSWERS TO COMMON PROBLEMS, or visit our ONLINE ARCHIVES, please go to the LIST INFORMATION PAGE: http://sydphil.info
