Workshop

Workshop Modal Epistemology meets Philosophy of Science

Scientists make modal claims, including claims of objective possibility. These possibility claims are often based on, or justified with reference to, the use of scientific models. However, it is far from obvious that any scenario or system that can be modelled is objectively possible. Some constraints must be plausibly in place; but, what are these constraints, how are they justified, and are they reliable trackers of modal truth? This raises questions of the kind treated by epistemologists of modality. Meanwhile, many contemporary epistemologists of modality are eager to stress that the basis for much of our modal knowledge is to be provided by science, and they strive to provide theories of modal justification that respect this fact. Yet, there has so far been very little interaction between philosophers of science who study modelling and epistemologists of modality. This workshop aims to take a step towards remedying this by bringing together researchers from both fields.

Workshop organized in collaboration with the project "Towards a Methodology of Modal Modeling for Science", located at KTH, Stockholm.