Symposium: Between Science and History
On Friday 8 June 2012, the Leiden Institute for Philosophy organises a symposium on the relation between scientific knowledge and historical knowledge in several disciplines:"Between Science and History: Historians and Scientists on Science and its History".
Between Science and History: Historians and Scienctists on Science and its History
The symposium 'Between Science and History' at the Institute for Philosophy will be held in the context of the NWO-sponsored programme Philosophical Foundations of the Historiography of Science.
Date: Friday, 8 June 2012
Time: 9:00–17:30
Location: Matthias de Vrieshof 2, room 002
Route description
Admission to the symposium is free.
Registration is encouraged but not necessary.
You can register by sending an e-mail to Jeroen Bouterse.
Theme and Topics
Historians and scientists will compare perspectives on several topics in history of science, fostering a better understanding of the ways in which historians and scientist interpret the historical record.
The programme features double presentations on the significance of canonical scientists:
Christiaan Huygens
by Vincent Icke and Floris Cohen
Charles Darwin
by Carel ten Cate and Ana Sevilla
Albert Einstein
by Erik Verlinde and Jeroen van Dongen
The programme further consists of lectures about the relation between scientific knowledge and historical knowledge in several disciplines (e.g. economics, social sciences, law), directly dealing with questions such as:
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What kind of knowledge is required for good historiography of science?
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To what extent can historians neglect the current state of scientific knowledge?
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To what extent does scientific knowledge belong to a specific time and place?
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Can historical knowledge be of aid to present-day scientists?
The day will conclude with a panel discussion.
Programme
| 9.00 | Opening
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| 9.15 |
A scientist and a historian: Albert Einstein |
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Erik Verlinde (Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam) |
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Jeroen van Dongen (History and Foundations of Science, Utrecht University)
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| 10:10 |
Polymers past and present: Linking the history of a scientific discipline with its current state |
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Marijn Hollestelle (Foundation for the History of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology)
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| 10:35 | Coffee break
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| 10:55 |
Complementary science as a vocation |
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Matthew Paskins (University College London)
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| 11:20 |
The significance of legal history for present-day legal scholarship |
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Jan Hallebeek (European Legal History, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
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| 11:45 |
No doctrines, please, we’re historians of economics |
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Floris Heukelom (Economics and Business Economics, Nijmegen University)
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| 12:10 | Lunch break
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| 13:10 |
A scientist and a historian: Charles Darwin |
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Carel ten Cate (Animal Behaviour, Leiden University) |
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Ana Sevilla (Institute of Philosophy, Leiden University)
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| 14:05 |
Scientists’ motives and historical motifs: The excluded middle between ‘scientist’s history of science’ and ‘professional historiography’ in the history of taxonomy |
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Joeri Witteveen (History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge)
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| 14:30 |
About being in the wrong station: social scientists’ aversion to history |
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Ruud Abma (Social and Behavioural Science, Utrecht University)
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| 14:55 | Coffee break
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| 15:15 |
A scientist and a historian: Christiaan Huygens |
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Vincent Icke (Astronomy, Leiden University) |
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Floris Cohen (Comparative History of Science, Utrecht University)
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| 16:10 |
Museum Boerhaave: What do old instruments and modern science have to say to each other? Dirk van Deft (Boerhaave Museum, Leiden; Material Heritage of the Natural Sciences, Leiden) |
| . | |
| 16.40 |
Panel discussion
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| 17:20 | End |