Philosophical Approaches to Science and Technology

UCLouvain, Belgium

General Description

In recent years, the cultural role of science in society has profoundly changed, and the neutrality of science – both epistemological and social – has increasingly been called into question. This calls for critical normative and conceptual analysis: epistemological study aimed at improving our understanding of what science actually says and what scientists actually do, supplemented by normative evaluation of how the products of science, especially contemporary technology, interact with the social world.

Programme

Since most ESST students are not trained philosophers, training is focused around two tools designed to get students up to speed in contemporary philosophy of science: the CEFISES weekly research seminar, covering current research interests of the centre’s members (mostly presented by external speakers), and mini-conference meetings every few weeks, where ESST students present twenty-to-thirty minute updates on their work in progress and receive feedback from faculty, graduate students and postdocs. All theses are supervised by one of three philosophers of science – Prof. Alexandre Guay, Prof. Charles Pence or Prof. Peter Verdée – with co-supervisors from other fields where necessary. No more than 2–3 students are admitted per year.

Research Centre

Founded in 1958 by Prof. Jean Ladrière, the Center for Philosophy of Science and Societies (CEFISES) operates within the Institut supérieur de philosophie at UCLouvain, focused on philosophical questions arising in the formal, natural and social sciences and their ethical and social relations, including interactions between philosophy and history of science and the impact of technoscience on contemporary society.