Logic and Philosophy of Science Group Talk (Collin Rice, Bryn Mawr)

The Logic and Philosophy of Science Group is pleased to welcome guest speaker Collin Rice, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bryn Mawr College.

Prof. Rice’s research areas focus on philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and philosophy of cognitive science, as well as some topics in philosophy of physics, logic (probability and symbolic), epistemology, modern philosophy, and ethics.

Talk Title

Holistic Distortions, Universality, and Limiting Behaviors

Talk Abstract

In this talk, I will first argue against various attempts to justify idealizations in models that explain by showing that they are eliminable or isolable distortions of irrelevant features. In response, I develop a view in which idealized models are characterized as holistically distorted representations of their target system(s). I then suggest an alternative way that idealized modeling can be justified by appealing to universality classes. In support of this approach, I argue that cases of modeling stable limiting behaviors are better accommodated by the universality account.

About the Logic and Philosophy of Science Group

One of five departmental Research Interest Groups, the Logic and Philosophy of Science Group focuses on general issues such as scientific realism, testability, inference, psychological bias, and various topics in the special sciences, including quantum mechanics, evolutionary biology, etc.