Basic Ideas in Sciences (4) - NATURAL LAW#

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS#

The Concept of Law in Science. The Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea) has organized a series of interdisciplinary conferences on basic concepts in science. These concepts are more or less fundamental in several sciences with high importance in classical and contemporary philosophy. In the past, we considered the concepts of symmetry, complexity, and causality. The fourth (4) conference of this series will be organized at the Klaus Tschira Foundation in Heidelberg. The conference topic is dedicated to the concept of law in science. In classical tradition, natural laws were considered as eternal truths of the world. Galileo and Newton even proclaimed them as “thoughts of God” represented by mathematical equations....

Organisers: Professor Jurgen MITTELSTRASS (Konstanz), Professor Klaus MAINZER (MUNICH)

Conference Rationale #

The conference topic is dedicated to the concept of law in science. In classical tradition, natural laws were considered as eternal truths of the world. Galileo and Newton even proclaimed them as “thoughts of God” represented by mathematical equations. In Kantian tradition, they became categories of human mind. David Hume criticized their ontological status and demanded their reduction to habituations of sentiments and statistical correlations of observations. In main stream 20th century science, laws were often understood as convenient instruments only or even deconstructed in Feyerabend’s “anything goes”. But, the Newtonian paradigm of mathematical laws and models seem also to be extended to the life sciences (e.g., systems biology). Parallel to the development in natural sciences, a change of public meaning of laws in society can be observed over the last centuries. In economics, experimental, statistical, and behavioral approaches are favored. In any case, the ontological basis of laws, sometimes blamed as “Platonism”, seems to be lost. In the beginning of the 21st century, the question arises: Are laws still important concepts of science? What is their contemporary meaning and task in different disciplines? Are there already alternative concepts or do laws remain an essential concept of science?

The draft programme.

PARTICIPATION IS BY INVITATION. NUMBERS WILL BE LIMITED to 30#

To request an invitaion to participate - please send an email with your name, address and a brief outline of your field of interest to the organisers to admin@acadeuro.org. The organisers will make a final decision on participants to ensure a balance of expertise.

DEADLINE FOR REQUESTS is 01 MAY, 2012#