Conference on Scientism, January 23-25
All you need is science? Scientism and our multifaceted knowledge of reality

The conference is the first in a series organized by the Abraham Kuyper Center for Science and Religion at VU University in Amsterdam. Part of the Center’s activities is a large scale philosophical study on the topic of ‘Science beyond scientism’. The project is funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF).

The first international conference of the Abraham Kuyper Center will be devoted to the philosophical study of scientism. It will be held at VU University Amsterdam from January 23rd to 25th 2014.

Topics

Questions to be addressed are:

• How can scientism best be defined?
• How does it relate to (philosophical) naturalism, physicalism, logical positivism and other philosophical neighbors?
• How should the rise of scientism (especially in academia) be explained, what is its ‘pull’?
• What arguments can be given in favor of scientism?
• Why should scientism be deemed unsatisfactory, and, if so, what problems does it cause?
• How does scientism make a difference to the ways in which scientific research is conducted?
• What fields of research can be discerned where scientism makes a difference for the interpretation of data, theory choice etc.?
• What alternatives to scientism can be distinguished, and how should we evaluate them?
• What tasks and possibilities do disciplines like epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics and theology have here?

Keynote Speakers

• Susan Haack (University of Miami)
• James Ladyman (University of Bristol)
• Alexander Rosenberg (Duke University)
• Michael Stenmark (Uppsale University)

For more info, please see the conference booklet.