Dear all,
our next speaker in the Philosophy
of Science Colloquium organized by the Institute Vienna
Circle is Iulian Danut Toader (IVC), who will give a talk on
March 19, 4.45-6.15 pm.
All are welcome!
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Philosophy of Science Colloquium
TALK: Iulian Danut Toader (IVC)
Philosophy of Science Colloquium
The Institute Vienna Circle holds a Philosophy of Science
Colloquium with talks by our present fellows.
Date: 19/03/2026
Time: 16h45
Venue: New Institute Building (NIG),
Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, HS 3C
Abstract:
Contemporary scientists extol the virtues of conservatism,
the view that
advocates the preservation of the theoretical status quo and
castigates everything beyond this as unfounded speculation.
More
generally, conservatives emphasize that science has been
almost always
cumulative, and scientific progress has been almost always
made
through evolution, rather than revolution. They further
suggest that
contemporary science should be cumulative, and that it
should make
progress through evolution, rather than revolution.
In this talk, I provide a brief historical-conceptual
analysis of
conservatism as a norm that urges us to preserve the
theoretical
status quo, extend its intended domain of resiliency to the
furthest
extent possible, and only allow changes if we have stronger
reasons to
accept some theoretical alternative. I then focus on a
specific
expression of conservatism - the so-called principle of
permanence -
which has been extremely influential since mid-19th century
in both
mathematics and physics, in an attempt to determine, more
precisely,
the kinds of normativity that conservatism is thought to
have.