Duesseldorf, 11-12 November 2011

At the Faculty of Philosophy, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf

Workshop description: Scientific explanations bear a close relation to two further concepts: causality (explanations provide causes) and unification (explanations subsume many events under a few principles). A third related concept is expectation (explanations make events expectable). One central question to be addressed at this workshop is whether these concepts stand in irresolvable conflict or whether there is an overarching account of explanation that does justice to all of them. Equally welcome are contributors to other issues in the philosophy of explanation, causality and unification, for example issues concerning conceptual questions of the explication of these concepts, or concerning problems and results that arise from their application to specific scientific disciplines.

The workshop is organized as part of the DFG (German Research Foundation) research group FOR 1063 Causality, Laws and Explanation at the Interface of Science and Metaphysics.

Invited speakers:
Kevin Kelly (CMU Pittsburgh)
Kenneth F. Schaffner (Pittsburgh)
Jon Williamson (Kent)
Margaret Morrison (Toronto)
Peter Sprites (CMU Pittsburgh)
Henk de Regt (VU Amsterdam)
Eric Weber (Ghent)
Matti Sintonen (Helsinki)
Theo Kuipers (Groningen)
Victor Gijsbers (Leiden)
Michael Baumgartner (Konstanz)
Andreas Huettemann (Cologne)

Link to the workshop’s site