Talks

(Starred talks are invited, the rest are peer-reviewed)

*2024. “Imagination and Creativity.” Advanced Concepts Team, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands, April 12.

*2024. “Things I’ve Learned about Scientific Imagination.” Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, Paris, France, March 26.

*2024. “In Terms of Imagination, Science is Bad Comedy Improv.” ICARUS seminar (Imagination, Creativity, Affect, Reverie, Utopia, Senses), Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France, March 25.

*2024. “Lessons for and about Scientific Imagination.” University of Toronto Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind, Toronto, Canada, February 10-11.

*2023. “AI increases Scientific Understanding but does not Understand.” Lingnan-Cambridge Workshop on AI in Science, Cambridge, UK, Dec. 1-2.

2023. “Not Taking but Making: A New Sense of Abstraction for Philosophy of Science.” Philosophy of Science Around the World, November 5, 11, and 17.

*2023. “AI Increases Our Understanding but Doesn’t Understand.” Artificial Researchers and Scientific Discoveries, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany, September 11–13.

2023. “Hasok Chang’s Understanding of Understanding.” Congress on Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 24-29.

2023. “Practical understanding and the genre conventions of scientific article writing” Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto, Canada, May 27-29.

2023. “An Unexpected Window: Platonic Thought Experiments in Chemistry” Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto, Canada, May 27-29.

*2023. “Epistemology of Genre.” National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan, March 1.

*2023. “Why are Modern Scientific Papers Written Like That? Ask Virginia Woolf!” University of East Anglia, UK, February 2.

*2023. “Cognitive science and imagination.” Hokkaido University, Japan, January 16.

*2022. “Aesthetic value as a non-empirical guide in experimental physics.” Theoretical Virtues and Non-Empirical Guides in Scientific Theory Development, Aarhus University, Denmark, November 23-24.

*2022. “A consequentialist account of thought experiments.” Workshop on thought experiments, imagination, and embodied knowledge, University of Macerata, Italy, November 16.

*2022. “Can Machines Design Beautiful Experiments, and Does it Matter?” The Aesthetic Nature of Scientific Experiments, British Society of Aesthetics Conference, Cambridge University, UK, September 8-9.

2022. “Scientific narratives are modernist narratives.” The Epistemic Role of Narratives in Science, Zurich, Switzerland, September 1-2.

2022. “AI Increases Understanding by Increasing Ability.” Part of the symposium “Assisted Discoveries, Understanding and the Aims of Science,” British Society for Philosophy of Science, Exeter, UK, July 6-8.

2022. “Scientists are Internalists about the Epistemology of Imagination: A Case Study from Space Science.” The Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice, Ghent, Belgium, July 2-4.

2022. “Reconciling Internalism and Externalism about Constraints on Imagination.” Imagination and Its Constraints, University of Parma, Italy, June 7-8.

2022. “Internalism about Imagination and Space Science.” Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Online, May 16-20.

*2022. “How Smart Must AI Be Before We Can Blame It?” Fu Jen Catholic University Conference on AI and Autonomy, Taipei, Taiwan, May 12.

*2022. “How Scientists Use Imagination in their Reasoning.” Mind and Judgment Workshop, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 25.

*2021. “Responsibility and AI.” Lab meeting of the Concepts and Cognition Lab, University of Princeton. Online, November 15.

*2021. “Getting water from moon rocks: The role of imagination in space instrumentation.” International Speaker Series, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, October 15.

2021. “Guilty Artificial Minds.” The 24th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. Virtual conference, October 23-27.

*2021. “How to do Epistemology of (Scientific) Imagination.” The Science and Philosophy of Imagination, University of Bristol, UK, September 16-17.

2021. “Scientific Articles are Modernist Stories.” Congress of the Society for the Philosophy of Science, University of Mons, Belgium, September 8-10.

*2021. “Can Machines Design Beautiful Experiments, and Does it Matter?” The Aesthetic Nature of Scientific Experiment Workshop, Cambridge University, UK, September 3.

2021. “Pragmatic Understanding Can Do on Its Own.” British Society for the Philosophy of Science, University of Kent, UK, July 7-9.

2021. “Guilty Artificial Minds.” 1st European Experimental Philosophy Conference. Prague, Czech Republic, June 17.

*2021. “Tools of Imagination: Some Metaepistemology.” Surrogative Reasoning in Science Workshop, University of Salzburg, Austria, June 10.

2021. “Metaepistemology of Tools that Extend the Power of the Scientific Imagination.” The Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (CSHPS) virtual congress, University of Alberta, Canada, 29 May to 2 June.

*2021. “Counterpossible Reasoning in Biology: An Empirical Study.” Modal Modelling in Science: Modal Epistemology Meets Philosophy of Science, KTH Stockholm, Sweden, May 29-30.

*2021. “Counterpossibles in Biology: The Vacuity Thesis is False.” Lake Geneva Biological Interest Group, University of Geneva, Switzerland, May 25.

*2021. “One More Time from the Top: Metaepistemology of Imagination.” Second annual online imagination conference, May 18-19.

*2021. “NASA’s Minipublics: How NASA Uses Imagination to Shape the American Space Imaginary.” HPS Matters: HPS Seminar, Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds, UK, May 12.

2021. “Inclusivity in the Education of Scientific Imagination.” Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM, Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas San-Antonio, April 23-24.

2021. “What is Pragmatic Understanding, and how does it relate to Explanatory and Objectual Understanding?” 3rd Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe) annual workshop, ​Radboud University, the Netherlands, April 15-17.

2021. “Playing the Blame Game with Robots.” ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Virtual conference, March 9-11.

*2021. “Metaepistemology of Cognitive Tools.” Philosophy of Science & Methodology colloquium, University of Tübingen, Germany, February 16.

*2021. “Epistemological Anarchy and Scientific Imagination.” Graduate Seminar on the Epistemology of Imagination, Hokkaido University, Japan, January 7.

*2020. “Guilty Artificial Minds: An Experimental Study of Blame Attributions for Artificially Intelligent Agents.” Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center for Foundational Research Colloquium, University of Tubingen, Germany, Nov. 25.

*2020. “Imagination and Thought Experiments.” Lecture for the Science Tools project, University of Salzburg, Germany, Nov. 9.

*2020. “On Pragmatic Understanding: Its Nature and Relation to Explanatory and Objectual Understanding.” Understanding Progress, in Science & Beyond, University of Iceland, Iceland, October 20.

*2020. “Artificial Responsibility: Blaming the Computer.” Artificial Intelligence in Industry and Finance (5th European Conference on Mathematics for Industry in Switzerland). Online AI-ethics conference, Winterthur, Switzerland, September 3.

2020. “Telling Stories in Science: Feyerabend and Thought Experiments.” HOPOS Biennial Conference, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, June 23-26.

*2020. “Reconciling the Cognitive Science and Epistemology of Imagination.” Science and Philosophy of the Imagination, University of Bristol, UK, June 22-23.

2020. “The Function of Surprise in Science.” Interdisciplinary Workshop on Surprise, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, June 10-12.

*2020. “Knowing by Imagining: Commentary on Deb Marber.” First annual online imagination conference, May 20-21.

2020. “Could a Robot Do Value-Free Science?” Quad Conference, Shanghai, May 18-20.

*2020. “A Practice-Based Study of Scientific Understanding.” Higher Seminar Series Talk, Linköping University, Sweden, May 6.

*2020. “Is the Turn toward Understanding a Feminist Turn?” Philosophy of Science Annual Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 20-25.

*2020. “Meta-Epistemology of Cognitive Tools.” Conference, “Scientific and Epistemic Tools: Models, Thought Experiments and Analogical Reasoning,” University of Salzburg, Austria, March 6-7.

*2019. “Chemical Imagination.” MetaMetaPhysical Club Workshop, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, December 13.

*2019. “Metaphor and Understanding.” Faculty Colloquium of the Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, December 11.

*2019. “Competing Epistemologies of Scientific Imagination.” Quodlibeta Faculty Colloquium, University of Geneva, Switzerland, October 23.

2019. “Telling Stories in Science: Feyerabend and Thought Experiments.” Open Epistemologies: Mach, Bachelard, Feyerabend, University of Lisbon, Portugal, September 20-21.

2019. “In Favour of a Joint Epistemology of Philosophical and Scientific Thought Experiments.” British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, Durham University, UK, July 17-19.

*2019. “The Role of Imagination in the DEKI Account of Modelling.” Workshop on Imagination in Scientific Modelling, University of York, UK, June 3.

*2019. “Philosophy of Imagination: Anarchy Style.” Philosophy of Science Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 15-19.

*2019. “What Can the Study of Imagination Tell Us about Creativity?” Creativity Across the Arts and Sciences, University of Bristol, UK, April 16-17.

*2019. “The Epistemic States Required for AI Responsibility.” Digital Society Initiative, Zurich, April 10.

*2019. “Epistemic Pluralism about Thought Experiments.” Lake Geneva Biological Interest Group, University of Geneva, Switzerland, April 4.

*2019. “A Material Theory of Thought Experiments.” Workshop on Fiction, Understanding, and Thought Experiments, Paris IJN/ENS, France, February 22-23.

*2019. “What is Epistemology of Imagination?” National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia, February 15.

2018. “Mental Models, Scientific Imagination and Epistemological Anarchy.” Philosophy of Science Association, USA, November 1-4.

2018. “Looking Inside the Black Box: A New Kind of Scientific Visualization.” Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), University of Ghent, Belgium, June 29 – July 2.

2018. “Are there Thought Experiments in Chemistry, and If Not, Why Not?” UK Integrated HPS workshop, University College London, UK, June 20-21.

*2018. “Locating Objectivity in Models of Science.” Center for Logic, Language and Cognition, University of Turin, Italy, May 25.

*2018. “A New Way to Defend the Value Free Ideal for Science.” CamPoS seminar series, University of Cambridge, UK, May 16.

2018. “Understanding and Knowledge: Cases of No Overlap.” Understanding Understanding, University of Tübingen, Germany, May 4.

*2018. “The Value-free Ideal as an Imaginary Model of Science.” Philosophy of Science Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 16-20.

2018. “The Content-Dependence of Imaginative Resistance.” Philosophy of Imagination Conference at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, March 15-16.

*2018. “Imagination and Narrative in Science.” Narrative Science Research Group, London School of Economics, UK, March 13.

*2018. “A Framework for Doing Epistemology of (Scientific) Imagination.” Leeds HPS seminar, UK, March 7.

*2018. “How Scientists Use Imagination to Learn about the World.” Lecture for the Royal Institute of Philosophy, St. Mary’s University, UK, February 27.

*2017. “A New Kind of Scientific Visualization: Taking Snapshots from inside the Black Box.” Lebanese American University, Lebanon, November 24.

*2017. “A Different Use for Scientific Thought Experiments.” Aarhus philosophy colloquium, Denmark, November 8.

*2017. “Epistemology in Two Minds: Should we Bother with a Dual Systems Account of Imagination?” Imagination and Knowledge Workshop, University of Konstanz, Germany, September 28-29.

2017. “Desiderata for Epistemic Representations: Results from an Ethnographic Study of a Computational Systems Biology Lab.” UK Integrated HPS workshop, University of Nottingham, UK, June 22.

*2017. “Thought Experiments and Computer Simulations are Metaphorical Experiments.” Conference on Simulation and Thought Experiments. University of Geneva, Switzerland, June 8-9.

*2017. “‘A Diagram Is a [Computer] Model’: Imagination as a Mediator between Visual and Formal. Imagination in Science Conference, University of Leeds, UK, June 6.

*2017. “An Account of Imagination for Epistemology of Thought Experiments.” Philosophy of Science Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 24-28.

2017. “A Framework for Epistemology of the Imagination.” Nordic Network for Philosophy of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, April 20-21.

*2017. “Imagining Our Way to Three Kinds of Understanding.” University of Iceland, Iceland, March 8.

*2017. “A Dual Systems Account of Scientific Imagination.” Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics, UK, February 6.

2016. “Empirical Philosophy of Imagination.” Evidence and Imagination Conference at the University of Graz, Austria, November 3-5.

*2016. “To Formal Models and Back Again.” University of Macerata, Italy, October 18.

2016. “Imagination in the Lab.” Quadrennial Fellows Conference of the Center for Philosophy of Science, Lund University, Sweden, July 11-13.

2016. “Scientific Understanding and the Role of Imagination.” Summer Seminar on Understanding, part of the Capstone Conference for the Varieties of the Understanding Project, Fordham University, USA, June 20-25.

2016. “Scientists’ Attitudes toward Imagination.” Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), Rowan University, USA, June 17-19.

2016. “Some Empirical Constraints on the Epistemology of Imagination.” Mind and Brain Conference, New College of the Humanities, UK, March 25-26.

2016. “Empirically Disambiguating Imagination from Supposition.” Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, USA, March 10-12.

*2015. “The Epistemology of the Imagination.” University of Pittsburgh, USA, September 29.

*2015. “Subjective Elements of Scientific Representation: Empathizing with Black Holes.” Philosophy of Science Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 13-17.

*2015. “Empathy and the Scientific Method.” University of Waterloo, Canada, March 4.

2015. “Imagination in Social Scientific Discovery.” Conference on Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, Jan 30-31.

*2014. “Evolutionary Theory, Causal Completeness, and Theism – Eliot Sober and ‘Guided’ Mutation.” University of Toronto, Canada, April 22.

*2014. “Imagination: A Sine Qua Non of Science.” Philosophy of Science Conference. Inter-University Centre, Croatia, April 16.

*2013. “A New Role for Thought Experiments.” University of Konstanz, Germany, June 14.

*2013. “Thought Experiments, Kant, and Theory Proliferation.” University of Bielefeld, Germany, June 11.

*2013. “A Solution to the Problem of Coordination.” University of Bonn, Germany, May 28.

*2013. “Thought Experiments and the Connection between Theory and Experience.” University of Macerata, Italy, May 8.

2012. “The Cognitive Science of Thought Experiments: Paul Thagard’s Skepticism.” The Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science. University of Waterloo, Canada, May 26-29.

*2012. “Paul Thagard: A Refutation.” Thought Experiments in Science: Four Blind Spots – An International Workshop, University of Toronto, Canada, March 23.

2011. “Can Bayesian Network Modeling Solve Problems in the Philosophy of Science?” 14th Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. Nancy University, France, July 19-26.

2011. “What Can Philosophy Learn from the Clock-in-the-Box Thought Experiment?” The Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, University of New Brunswick, Canada, May 29-31.

2011. “The Notion of a ‘Very Generalized Logic’ in Thought Experiments.” Philosophy of Science Colloquium, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, January 18.

2010. “Thought Experiments: Arguing with John Norton.” Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference, University of Waikato, New Zealand, December 5 –9.

2010. “The Role of Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem in the Establishment of Conventionalism in Modern Philosophy of Science.” History of the Philosophy of Science Conference at the Central European University, Hungary, June 24-27.

2010. “The Role of Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem in the Establishment of Conventionalism in Modern Philosophy of Science.” The Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Concordia University, Canada, May 28-31.

2009. “Philosophical Conceptual Analysis: The Move from Use to Meaning.” Second Conference on Concept Types and Frames in Language, Cognition, and Science, Heinrich Heine University, Germany, August 24-26.

2009. “Charity as a Bridge from Use to Meaning.” University of Western Interdisciplinary Student Symposium on Language Research. University of Western Ontario, Canada, March 6-7.