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clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS)
@clpskuleuven.bsky.social
1K followers 1.5K following 19 posts
The Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at the Institute of Philosophy (@kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social) focuses on #logic and #philsci, with a concentration on the philosophies of the special sciences • https://hiw.kuleuven.be/clps #philsky
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clpskuleuven.bsky.social
In the new #openaccess companion on student notes from Latin Europe (@leuvenup.bsky.social), our own Lorenz Demey, together with collaborators, contributes a chapter arguing that student notes hold great promise as sources for intellectual #history 👇 lup.be/book/student... #HPS #earlymodern #philsky
Book cover of "Student Notes from Latin Europe (1400–1750): A Research Companion," edited by Xander Feys, Maxime Maleux, Andy Peetermans, and Raf Van Rooy. Published by Leuven University Press. The cover features a partial diagram of concentric celestial spheres and an anatomical drawing of a human head labeled with Latin terms for sensory faculties. The design is minimalist in beige and gray tones. There is also an open access logo and the logo of Lueven University Press in the bottom left corner.
November 9, 2025 at 6:39 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Some of philosophy’s most famous paradoxes are arguments by reductio—though not every reductio earns the title of “paradox.” Drawing on the writings of al-Fārābī, Boaz Schuman will offer an answer to why that is in today's CLPS seminar! 👇 hiw.kuleuven.be/clps/events/... #philsky #histphil #logic
Webpage from KU Leuven’s Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) announcing the next CLPS seminar by Boaz Schuman titled "Al-Farabi on Reductio and Paradox." The event is scheduled for November 7, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (CET) in room HIW1-01.20. Abstract: Zeno’s paradoxes are not paradoxes. Or anyway, Zeno didn't mean them to be. Instead, he presents them as arguments by reductio, with the aim of showing that things like multiplicity and motion are impossible. More recently, and in a similar vein, McTaggart's paradox is not a paradox either: it is an argument, again by reductio, for the unreality of time as we commonly think of it. But what’s going on here? Why do such arguments by reductio get rebranded as paradoxes? And why specifically these ones, and not others? Why for example don’t we speak of the “Pythagorean incommensurability paradox”, or the “Paradox of infinite primes”? Is there a principle at play here? And if so, what is it? To answer these questions, I examine the taxonomy of reductio in the logical works of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (ca. 870–950). This points to a framework for understanding what al-Fārābī calles a paradoxical or “innovative” opinion (رَأْي بَدِيع, ra’y badī’). I'll show how this framework sheds light on—and justifies—the practice of rebranding some conclusions reached by reductio as paradoxes.
November 7, 2025 at 11:43 AM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Research funds are scarce & competition is fierce. A recent paper by @andreasdeblock.bsky.social & colleagues explores how this competition shapes science—its practices, risks & ethics—and proposes ways to make funding fairer & more effective👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #AcademicSky #HPS #scipol 🧪
Screenshot of a PNAS article titled “The costs of competition in distributing scarce research funds,” authored by Gerald Schweiger, Adrian Barnett, Peter van den Besselaar, Lutz Bornmann, Andreas De Block, John P. A. Ioannidis, Ulf Sandström, and Stijn Conix. Edited by Neil Shubin. Published December 2, 2024, in volume 121, issue 50, article e2407644121.
November 2, 2025 at 11:45 AM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
In the context of our present global juncture, philosophers are examining the rise of populist movements & their threats to democratic values. Griet Galle & colleagues have edited a trilingual collective volume addressing these issues. Check it out! 📙👇 lit-verlag.de/isbn/978-3-6... #philsky #polphil
Cover of Forum Philosophie International 73: The Challenges of Populism (edited by the Association Internationale des Professeurs de Philosophie; publisher: LIT Zürich). The title appears in three languages—English, German, and French. Below the title is a cartoon showing two political scenes: on the left, a politician (next to a bodyguard) asks “Do you want clientele politics…” while addressing a small, serious audience; on the right, the same politician continues, “…or populism for everyone?” while cheerfully engaging with an enthusiastic crowd. Cartoon by Jan Tomaschoff.
October 24, 2025 at 1:48 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
New paper in @philscijournal.bsky.social! Sacha Ferrari, Wouter Lammers & Sylvia Wenmackers built an agent-based model to explore how the structure of scientific #networks shapes the public uptake of science—especially under uncertainty & affinity bias👇 doi.org/10.1017/psa.... #philsci #philsky #HPS
Screenshot of the first page of a Philosophy of Science article titled “How the Structure of Scientific Communities Could Affect the Public Uptake of Uncertain Science.” Authors: Sacha Ferrari, Wouter Lammers, and Sylvia Wenmackers. Affiliations: Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science and Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium. The page includes journal branding from the Philosophy of Science Association and publication details (2025, DOI: 10.1017/psa.2025.11).
October 20, 2025 at 3:32 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Tomorrow we will host the conference "The Dānešnāme and Its (Structural) Aftermath," organized by Shahab Khademi & Marco Signori. Join us for a stellar lineup of speakers reflecting on Avicenna’s intellectual legacy! Details for online participation 👇 www.kuleuven.be/lectio/event... #philsky #HPS
Poster for the international conference “The Dānešnāme and Its (Structural) Aftermath,” held at KU Leuven from 15–17 October 2025. The event is convened by Shahab Khademi and Marco Signori, with participants including Kasra Abdavi Azar, Hassan Amini, Hanif Amin-Beidokhti, Amos Bertolacci, Godefroid de Callataÿ, Gholamreza Dadkhah, Zahra Donyai, Carina Dreyer, Mohammad Javad Esmaeili, Ali Golbaz, Husayn Ibrahim, Jules Janssens, Sakineh Karimi, Behnam Khodapanah, Joep Lameer, István Lánczky, Ivana Panzeca, Amir Hossein Pournamdar, Ahmed H. al-Rahim, Laura Tribuzio, Francesco Omar Zamboni, and others. The conference is part of the FIS Project SPACE (The System of Philosophy in Arabic: Charting the Encyclopaedias, 2024–2029), led by Amos Bertolacci at IMT Lucca. Logos of KU Leuven, Lectio, De Wulf-Mansion Centre, Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, and the SPACE Project appear at the bottom. The poster has a dark green background with white and gold accents and features a small image of Arabic manuscript text.
October 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
The Church–Fitch paradox of knowability derives the omniscience thesis from the knowability thesis. In response, dynamic conceptions of knowability have been proposed. In a new 📃, Jan Heylen offers a critical examination of the dynamic approach 👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #philsky #logic
Screenshot of a journal article header from Synthese, volume 206 (2025), article 75. The paper is titled “The dynamic approach to knowability” and authored by Jan Heylen. The page includes the DOI link https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-025-05159-4
October 13, 2025 at 1:10 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Is our world driven by technology—and is #technology itself neutral? Is #AI really disruptive? A new book by @lodelauwaert.bsky.social & Bartek Chomanski examines technologies from hammers & drills to autonomous cars & ChatGPT 🤖👇 link.springer.com/book/10.1007... #philsky #philtech #HPS
Book cover of "We, Robots: Questioning the Neutrality of Technology, Ethical AI and Technological Determinism" by Lode Lauwaert and Bartek Chomanski, published by Springer. The design features large white and dark blue text on a bright orange background.
October 6, 2025 at 1:14 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
If you are in Leuven tomorrow, join us for the first CLPS seminar of the academic year! Our speaker will be @augustenahas.bsky.social (IHPST, University of Paris 1–Sorbonne), who will present on negative feedback, equilibrium explanations, and their relationship to causation & #teleology #HPS #HPbio
Screenshot of the KU Leuven Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) website showing details of a seminar titled CLPS Seminar: Auguste Nahas, Equilibrium Explanations and Teleology. The event is scheduled for October 3, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Europe/Brussels time) in room HIW1-01.20. Speaker: Auguste Nahas (IHPST, University of Paris 1-Sorbonne). Abstract Teleological explanations have two distinctive features that have been deemed problematic. First, they reverse the usual explanatory order of causal explanations by explaining a phenomenon in virtue of a consequence it brings about. Second, they involve normative considerations in so far as the goal sets standards of hypothetical requirement: there are good and appropriate ways of achieving a goal. Two possible strategies present themselves for making sense of these features. The eliminative strategy aims to show how these features may be translated without loss to an ordinary causal language that cites neither consequences nor normative facts. A naturalist strategy aims to show that these two distinctively teleological features are no impediment to its legitimacy as a form of explanation. Unfortunately, scholars intent on making sense of teleology are not always explicit about which strategy they are pursuing. A notable ambiguity in this area concerns negative feedback and equilibrium explanations, which have long been deemed candidates for teleology. However, it is not clear if these explanations fall into the eliminative or the naturalist strategy. In this paper, I review two prominent accounts of goal-directed behavior in terms of negative feedback and equilibrium seeking, to evaluate whether they lead to an eliminativist or reductive account of teleological explanation. I argue these modes of explanations can be rendered in two ways, one of which is fully eliminative, while the other preserves the consequence-explanatory character of teleology at the expense of its normative character.
October 2, 2025 at 2:20 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Some argue that generics (e.g., "ravens are black") express existentially quantified rather than strong generalizations. In their recent paper, @olivierlemeire.bsky.social & CLPS colleagues counter this, defending the traditional view of generics 👇📃 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... #philsky
Screenshot of a Mind & Language journal article titled 'Generics are not existentially quantified' by Olivier Lemeire, Jan Heylen, and Leander Vignero, published online 29 May 2025, with DOI link https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12564
September 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
Hello, #AcademicSky! We are the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at KU Leuven. Our senior and junior researchers focus on #logic, #epistemology & #philsci. We’re here to share our work and connect with logicians and philosophers of science worldwide—help us spread the word! #philsky
Cobblestone pathway leading to the red-brick Institute of Philosophy building at KU Leuven in Belgium (home of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science), framed by ivy-covered walls, arched windows, and lush greenery with purple wisteria flowers in the foreground.
September 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM