Category archives: Philosophy of science

The marketization of science and the ‘marketization’ of science studies (& 2)

The marketization of science and the ‘marketization’ of science studies (& 2)

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

In the previous entry, I presented some critical thesis by historian Ylva Hasselberg regarding the applicability of economic theoretic tools to the study of the social construction of scientific knowledge. To those claims, I think we can respond with the following arguments. In the first place, we have to make a clear and emphatic distinction […]

Why emergent levels will not save free will (& 2)

Why emergent levels will not save free will (& 2)

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

In the first entry of this series, I briefly explained Christian List’s attempt to vindicate the ontological and scientific reality of intentional action as a real emergent phenomenon. In a nutshell, intentional, deliberate and often ‘rational’ action is not a fiction (as some skeptics like Alex Rosenberg have defended ), but a totally legitimate inhabitant […]

Why emergent levels will not save free will (1)

Why emergent levels will not save free will (1)

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

Christian List, a German professor in the London School of Economics, is one of the most prolific and intelligent authors in the new generation of philosophers of social science. He has authored and co-authored a formidable number of extremely interesting papers in areas like social choice, formal epistemology, judgment aggregation, deliberative democracy or political philosophy […]

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (3): Science doesn’t do it itself, it has to be done

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (3): Science doesn’t do it itself, it has to be done

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

[Read Part 1 & Part 2] VIOLETA: You know the shape of the classical Italian coffee-pot, like the one Faustino has just braught. It consists of two truncated cones or pyramids, joined by their narrowest parts. I claim that the structure of the maps of values of a scientific discipline has a structure similar to […]

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (2): From value pluralism to the unity of scientific values

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (2): From value pluralism to the unity of scientific values

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

[Read the first part here] LORENZO: Alright, Violeta, we may admit that the members of a scientific discipline may agree to assess the conjectures and models each of them is proposing according to some consensual rule, and we may also admit that this rule may be impartial , in the sense that it will often […]

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (1): Individualism, values and preferences

The Italian coffee pot, a dialog on values in science (1): Individualism, values and preferences

Philosophy of science

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

LORENZO: We are very thankful to you, Faustino, for your invitation to see today’s football match in your home. This morning, in the Philosophy of Science Congress, you have been one of the few recalling that our national team plays the quarter-finals of the World Cup. FAUSTINO: You are welcome. I am very glad to […]