ECitS 2012
Centre for Reasoning, University of Kent, 5-7 September 2012
Organisers: Phyllis Illari and Federica Russo
Causality is a vibrant and thriving topic in philosophy of science. It is closely related to many other challenging scientific concepts, such as probability and mechanisms, which arise in many different scientific contexts, in different fields. For example, they are relevant to both causal inference (finding out what causes what) and causal explanation (explaining how a cause produces its effect). They are also of interest to fields as diverse as astrophysics, biochemistry, biomedical and social sciences. There has also been an explosion of interest in evidence, most obviously in biomedical contexts with the rise of ‘evidence-based medicine’, but also elsewhere, such as in social science. What is evidence? How do we decide what our best sources of evidence are?
This conference will examine the relation between causality and evidence. This involves questions about the foundations of the sciences, e.g. what is evidence and how does it contribute to causal knowledge? But it also involves questions about specific applications, e.g. how should we best deal with the many problems of evidence given by expert witnesses in court; and questions about policy-making, e.g. what constitutes evidence of causation that is relevant to the design of socio-economic and public health policies?
These questions are all of immense current concern. Pressure on health systems from ageing populations, the obesity epidemic, coupled with severe financial constraints on public policy, means governments are demanding answers with increasing urgency.
**Confirmed Speakers**
Iain Chalmers
Mathias Frisch
Sandra Mitchell
Paolo Vineis
**Timetable**
• 15 May 2012: deadline for submission of titles and abstracts of papers for presentation at the conference
◦ Please submit only once: EITHER a long abstract (1000 words max) for presentation, OR a short abstract (300 words max) for a poster presentation.
◦ Send your abstract in doc, dock, txt, rft or pdf format.
◦ To be emailed to Phyllis Illari (phyllisillari@hotmail.co.uk) or Federica Russo (f.russo@kent.ac.uk)
◦ please say whether you would be willing to submit your paper to the volume (information below).
• 15th June 2012: notification of acceptance.
• 15th July 2012: deadline for receipt of early-bird registration
◦ Early-bird registration fees: 30 pounds sterling.
◦ Late registration fees: 60 pounds sterling.
◦ You will be invoiced for payment, which may be made by credit card, debit card, cheque or bank transfer.
◦ Details of registration and payment are on the website.
• 5-7th September 2012: Conference.
**Submission**
- Papers presentation
- Poster presentation
Please submit only once: EITHER a long abstract (1000 words max) for presentation, OR a short abstract (300 words max) for a poster presentation.
Send your abstract in doc, dock, txt, rft or pdf format.
Abstracts will be refereed by the CitS steering committee:
Isabelle Drouet, Phyllis Illari, Bert Leuridan, Julian Reiss, Federica Russo, Erik Weber, Jon Williamson
**Publication**
A special issue on the topic 'Evidence and Causality in the Sciences' has been secured with Topoi.
Schedule:
1 November 2012: Deadline for submission
31 January 2013: Notification of acceptance
1 May 2013: Final version of manuscripts
**Further information**
We are very grateful to the Mind Association, the British Society for the Philosophy of Science, and the Centre for Reasoning for providing financial support.
Dr Phyllis Illari
Postdoctoral Fellow
Philosophy
University of Hertfordshire
Causality in the Sciences volume
Causality in the Sciences Conference Series
