The Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) runs a full and varied programme of conferences throughout each academic year. CPNSS conferences address cutting-edge issues in philosophy of science, philosophy of the social sciences and related disciplines, and are attended by some of the field’s top researchers. On this page you’ll find details of forthcoming conferences as well as an archive of those held at CPNSS over the past few years.
Forthcoming Conferences
Previous Conferences
AI, Animals, and Digital Minds Conference
3 June, 11:00 am – 6:00 pmWhere: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), LAK 2.06 When: Monday, June 3rd from 11-6pm After Effective Altruism Global: London, which many attendees are also attending What: This conference follows in the footsteps of the October 2023 Artificial Intelligence, Conscious Machines, ...
The Demise of the Global Market Economy and the Rise of a Two-sphere World
16 June 2023, 9:30 am – 5:00 pmAbout this event There is a perceived growing divide between a US-led and an a China-led sphere in technology, trade, and finance, driven both by geopolitics and by trends towards growing national self-reliance. Are we seeing the demise of the Global Market Economy? Geopolitical tensions have increa...
The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties – Part 4
8 December 2022, 3:00 pm – 6:15 pmWe are delighted to announce the speakers for Sessions 3 & 4 of The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties workshop (https://phil-stat-wars.com). Both sessions will be held on Thursdays from 15:00 to 18:15 pm London time/10:00 am – 1:15 pm EST, on December 1 and 8 respectively. Session 3 (M...
The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties – Part 3
1 December 2022, 3:00 pm – 6:15 pmWe are delighted to announce the speakers for Sessions 3 & 4 of The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties workshop (https://phil-stat-wars.com). Both sessions will be held on Thursdays from 15:00 to 18:15 pm London time/10:00 am – 1:15 pm EST, on December 1 and 8 respectively. Session 3 (M...
Imre Lakatos Centenary Conference
2 November 2022, 6:00 pm – 4 November 2022, 5:30 pmOn 2-4 November 2022, this conference will celebrate the life and work of Imre Lakatos, a central figure in the history of LSE Philosophy and a major influence on philosophy of science and philosophy of mathematics worldwide, on the centenary of his birth. All lectures and contributed paper sessions...
The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties
22 September 2022, 3:00 pm – 23 September 2022, 6:00 pmWhile the field of statistics has a long history of passionate foundational controversy, the last decade has, in many ways, been the most dramatic. Misuses of statistics, biasing selection effects, and high-powered methods of big-data analysis, have helped to make it easy to find impressive-looking...
Natural Kinds in the Mind Conference
5 September 2022, 10:00 am – 6 September 2022, 5:30 pmOn 5–6 September 2022, this conference will bring together international researchers working in philosophy of science to examine the natural kind approach to mental phenomena. Recent years have seen the rise of a new methodology in philosophy of psychology, which starts from the claim that parad...
Book launch: John D. Norton – The Material Theory of Induction
13 January 2022, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pmOn 13 January, LSE Philosophy will host the launch of the first volume in the BSPS Open book series: The Material Theory of Induction, by John D. Norton. Further information is available on the event web page.
Freedom and Reason: A workshop in honour of Christian List
25 June 2021This one-day workshop will bring together scholars from around the world to celebrate the work of Professor Christian List, who recently moved from LSE to the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at LMU Munich. Confirmed speakers include Jonathan Birch, Zsuzsanna Chappell, Franz Dietrich, Ch...
8th LSE-Bayreuth Student Philosophy Conference
7 May 2021 – 8 May 2021The 8th annual LSE-Bayreuth Student Philosophy Conference will take place 7-8 May 2021 online via Zoom, hosted by the University of Bayreuth. Further information is available on the conference webpage.
The Challenges of Open Access Publishing in Philosophy
13 January 2021, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pmThis workshop brings together philosophers and experts involved in open access publishing to share and debate their experience. All are welcome!
Postgraduate Conference on Science & Society
11 September 2020 – 13 September 2020From 11–13 September this online student conference will address philosophical issues in science and society, and the interactions between them. Submissions are currently being accepted from postgraduate students from any university, with a deadline of 1 September. Further information is availab...
Trade and Financial Markets Post-Brexit. What next?
19 February 2020, 9:00 am – 12:00 pmOfficially the UK Government and the European Commission enter the coming negotiations post-Brexit in a spirit of mutual respect and with the ambition to maintain a close relationship between Europe and the UK, although obviously not as close as before. However, both the UK and the EU have expressed...
Lakatos Award Expert Workshop with Henk W. de Regt
21 November 2019, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pmThis half-day workshop will address issues raised by Henk W. de Regt’s Lakatos Award-winning book, Understanding Scientific Understanding. Further information, including the full programme, can be found on the workshop web page.
Workshop on Individual and Collective Attitudes
3 October 2019, 3:30 pm – 5 October 2019, 6:00 pmThis three-day interdisciplinary workshop will addresses attitudes in various ways, ranging from philosophical to formal aspects, and from normative to empirical aspects. This event is jointly organised by the French-German research project Collective Attitude Formation (ColAForm) and by the LSE Cho...
7th LSE-Bayreuth Student Philosophy Conference
2 May 2019 – 3 May 2019The annual LSE-Bayreuth Student Philosophy Conference gives the opportunity for students from LSE and the University of Bayreuth to present their work in a friendly and supportive environment, and to receive commentary on their papers from LSE and Bayreuth academics. Further information is available...
BSc Philosophy, Politics and Economics Showcase
1 May 2019, 9:30 am – 12:00 pmThis summer, the first cohort of the BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics will graduate. This is an important occasion for our 4th year students. But it is also quite momentous for everybody involved in conceiving of, designing and delivering the programme. So to mark this occasion, there is go...
Preference-based modeling in economics
10 November 2018, 9:30 am – 6:00 pmThe Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics will host a one-day workshop on the interpretation of (revealed) preferences and preference-based modeling in economics. The methodology of revealed preference approaches and their associated behavioral interp...
Lakatos Award Expert Workshop with Sabina Leonelli
25 October 2018, 2:00 pm – 6:30 pmA half-day workshop addressing issues raised by Sabina Leonelli’s Lakatos Award-winning book, Data-Centric Biology: A Philosophical Study. Featuring Sabina Leonelli, Samir Okasha, Samuel Schindler, James Nguyen and Michela Massimi. Free and open to all.
Lakatos Award Expert Workshop with Craig Callender
24 October 2018, 2:00 pm – 6:30 pmA half-day workshop addressing issues raised by Craig Callender’s Lakatos Award-winning book, What Makes Time Special? Featuring Craig Callender, Carl Hoefer, Huw Price, Heather Dyke and Alastair Wilson. Free and open to all.
Financial Regulations Post Brexit
12 September 2018, 9:00 am – 12:30 pmNow it is official. The UK has given up the idea of passport for the financial industry in favour of “regulatory flexibility”. The Chequers Statement says that a deal should “provide regulatory flexibility where it matters most for the UK’s services-based economy, and where th...
Probability and the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
2 July 2018, 10:00 am – 6:00 pmA workshop that brings together philosophers of physics exploring the nature of probability in quantum theory and in the Everett interpretation. Further information is available on the conference webpage.
Workshop on the Report of the International Panel on Social Progress
8 June 2018, 9:15 am – 5:10 pmThe International Panel on Social Progress unites many of the world’s leading researchers from social sciences and the humanities in a single effort: developing research-based, multi-disciplinary, non-partisan, action-driven solutions to pressing challenges of our time. This workshop will engage s...
Workshop on Risk and Aggregation in Ethics
2 March 2018 – 3 March 2018This two-day workshop organised jointly with the Department of Philosophy, University College London will bring together philosophers to discuss problems of risk and aggregation in ethical theory. Further information is available on the conference webpage.
Workshop on The Philosophy of Social Evolution
23 February 2018, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pmHow does social behaviour evolve in the natural world? How can social evolution theory shed light on the origins of new levels of biological organization? How can W. D. Hamilton's concept of "inclusive fitness" help us to understand cooperation in microorganisms, insects and humans? This half-day wo...
Philosophy, Politics and Economics Conference in honour of Luc Bovens
7 December 2017On 7 December, this conference will bring together scholars from around the world to celebrate the work of Prof Bovens and his contributions to philosophy, politics and economics. Further info is available on the conference webpage.
Health and Disease: Can the Biostatistical Theory Be Defended? (CPNSS Symposium)
6 December 2017, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pmFeaturing Christopher Boorse (University of Delaware), Daniel Hausman (University of Wisconsin-Madison & LSE) and Elselijn Kingma (Southampton University).
Foundations of Quantum Theory Book Workshop: Cats, Fleas and Symmetries
4 December 2017A workshop on Klaas Landsman’s Open Access book, The Foundations of Quantum Theory, with talks by Klaas Landsman, Jeremy Butterfield and Bryan Roberts. For more information, visit the Workshop Website.
The Ant Trap: An Expert Workshop
10 November 2017, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pmThis half-day workshop will explore some of the issues raised by Brian Epstein’s Lakatos Award winning book, The Ant Trap. It accompanies the Lakatos Award lecture on 9 November and follows Biological Identity: An expert workshop on Thomas Pradeu’s book The Limits of the Self: Immunology...
Biological Identity: An Expert Workshop
10 November 2017, 10:00 am – 1:00 pmThis half-day expert workshop will consider questions of biological identity with reference to Thomas Pradeu’s book The Limits of the Self: Immunology and Biological Identity, winner of the 2015 Lakatos Award. It accompanies the Lakatos Award lecture on 9 November and is followed by The Ant Tr...
Quantum Investigations (Rédei-Fest)
27 October 2017A conference on the foundations of quantum theory, in honour of Professor Miklós Rédei. For more details, visit the Conference Webpage.
Quantum Investigations in Algebraic Approach: Opening Lecture and Reception
26 October 2017, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pmAn opening lecture by Miklós Rédei, in advance of a one-day conference in his honour. Followed by a wine reception, in the Senior Common Room on the 5th floor of the Old Building (OLD) at LSE. Further information about the lecture and conference are available on the Conference Webpage.
Bridging the Gap: Scientific Imagination Meets Aesthetic Imagination
5 October 2017, 9:30 am – 6 October 2017, 6:00 pmWhy, how, and when do scientists imagine, and what epistemological roles does the imagination play in scientific progress? This conference aims to connect work on artistic and scientific imagination, and to advance our understanding of the epistemic and heuristic roles that imagination can play. Fur...
Reasons, Rationality, and Intentional Agency
29 September 2017, 9:30 am – 30 September 2017, 6:45 pmThis two-day interdisciplinary workshop will bring together philosophers, economists, and scholars from neighbouring disciplines to discuss issues ranging from new approaches to rational choice theory at one end of the spectrum to contributions concerning the metaphysics of intentionality and agency...
Origins of Consciousness Workshop
7 June 2017, 10:00 am – 5:00 pmThis one-day, interdisciplinary workshop will bring together philosophers, neuroscientists, experimental biologists and evolutionary biologists to discuss the origins of consciousness. Pre-registration is required. Further information is available on the conference website.
Fifth LSE Graduate Conference in Philosophy of Probability
2 June 2017 – 3 June 2017This conference will bring together researchers and graduate students in Philosophy, Psychology/Cognitive Science, Physics, Medicine, Computer Science and related fields to discuss issues in the philosophy of probability. Keynote speakers: Maria Carla Galavotti (University of Bologna) Anna Mahtani (...
Philosophy of Language for Decision Theory
25 May 2017 – 26 May 2017This two day workshop will explore the connections between philosophy of language and decision theory. Confirmed speakers include Richard Bradley, Chloé de Canson, Julien Dutant, Paul Egré, Terry Horgan, Rosanna Keefe, Harvey Lederman, Christian List, Ofra Magidor, Anna Mahtani, Daniel Rothschild ...
Workshop on Determinism, Probability and Agency
19 May 2017, 1:45 pm – 7:15 pmOn 19 May, this workshop will bring together faculty and graduate students to investigate the connections between probability, determinism and agency. Further information is available on the workshop website.
History of Postwar Social Science Workshop
2 December 2016This one-day workshop has been organised by Roger Backhouse and Philippe Fontaine and is supported by by the CNRS European Scientific Coordination Network (GDRE #711).
Emergence and the Limit: A Workshop in Philosophy of Physics
25 November 2016Recent literature on emergence in physics and on foundational issues in statistical mechanics has stressed the importance or lack thereof of the thermodynamic limit. In this workshop we will consider various case studies portraying either emergent behaviour or other important issues in statistical m...
Workshop on Scientific Imagination and Epistemic Representations
28 October 2016, 10:00 am – 5:15 pmMany philosophers of science dismiss imagination as ill-suited for scientific reasoning. The notion of imagination that they assume often coincides with that of irrational or unconstrained thought that enables us to escape reality. This idea disregards the fact that imagination seems also to provide...
Foundations 2016
16 July 2016 – 18 July 2016The LSE is hosting the The UK and European Conference on Foundations of Physics, to take place this year on 16-17 July 2016. Visit the conference website for more information.
Reasons and Mental States in Decision Theory
9 June 2016, 2:15 pm – 10 June 2016, 7:00 pmOn 9–10 June this workshop will explore whether, and how, we can make progress in decision theory by modelling a decision-maker’s reasons and/or mental states. Further information is available on the conference website.
Workshop: New work on responsibility
8 June 2016, 10:00 am – 4:00 pmAttendance at this one-day workshop is open to University of London Research Students and staff only. To register, please email Alex Voorhoeve.
Society for the History of Recent Social Science 2016 Conference
3 June 2016 – 4 June 2016This two-day conference will bring together researchers working on the history of post-World War II social science. #HISRESS16
Lakatos Award Workshop on Geometry and Physics
4 May 2016, 9:45 am – 6:30 pmGordon Belot and David Malament together with Fay Dowker and Klaas Landsman will participate in a 1-day workshop on geometry and physics, in honour of their winning of the 2014 Lakatos Award. #LSELakatos
In Search of Smart, Sustained and Inclusive Growth (CPNSS + REBOOT conference)
4 April 2016Sustained growth has been elusive globally since the Global Financial Crisis, and economies have become increasingly reliant on credit. Growth in the US or singular countries such as the UK has not created a general growth impetus either to the Eurozone, Japan or emerging countries, which are now a...
50 Years of Worrall: Science, Structure and Rock ‘n’ Roll
18 March 2016, 9:00 am – 5:30 pmCelebrating John Worrall’s 50 Years at LSE. Further details can be found on the conference webpage.
Explanation, Normativity, and Uncertainty in Economic Modelling
16 March 2016, 12:30 pm – 17 March 2016, 5:30 pmThis conference will bring together philosophers and economists to explore philosophical aspects of economic modelling. Further information is available on the conference webpage.
Decision Theory with a Human Face
5 February 2016This one day workshop will focus on Richard Bradley’s new book Decision Theory with a Human Face. Confirmed speakers include Anna Mahtani, Katie Steele, Wlodek Rabinowicz, Jim Joyce, and Franz Dietrich. Further information is available here.
History of Postwar Social Science Workshop
4 December 2015, 10:00 am – 4:30 pmProgramme: 10.00 – 10.50: Newton Mangled on a Bissett Home-made, Electrical Computer: The Cold War, Social Science and Geography Trevor Barnes (University of British Columbia) Coffee break 11.20 – 12.10: How Realism Waltzed Off: Kenneth Waltz and the Cybernetic Turn in International Relations Th...
Decision Making under Severe Uncertainty
19 June 2015 – 20 June 2015This workshop will take place under the joint auspices of the Managing Severe Uncertainty project based at the LSE and the DUSUCA project based at GREGHEC (HEC Paris, CNRS). Further details for this event will be announced soon,
Decisions, Games and Logic 2015
17 June 2015 – 19 June 2015The Eighth Workshop in Decisions, Games and Logic (DGL) will be taking place 17-19 June 2015. The DGL workshop series aims to bring together graduate students, post-docs and researchers from philosophy, economics and logic working on formal approaches to rational individual and interactive decision ...
Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences (2 day workshop)
30 January 2015 – 31 January 2015Scientific Discovery in the Social Sciences Friday 30th – Saturday 31st January 2015, all day Lakatos Building, room 2.06, LSE Conference Website This interdisciplinary conference explores issues arising from scientific discovery in the social sciences. Keynote talks will be given by speakers from...
History of Postwar Social Science Workshop
12 December 2014, 10:00 am – 4:30 pmSchedule 10.00 – 10.50: Taming Maxwell’s Demon: Economists, historians of science, and the Bush Report on American science policy. Harro Maas (Utrecht University) & Roger Backhouse (University of Birmingham) Coffee break 11.20 – 12.10: The Rise and fall of central planni...
Real Estate Bubbles, lessons learned by Japan, Uk, Sweden and China
1 December 2014Full programme available here.
4th LSE Graduate Conference in Philosophy of Probability
27 September 2014, 8:00 am – 5:00 pmFor details, see here.
International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) Annual Conference 2014
7 July 2014, 12:00 am – 9 July 2014, 12:00 amInternational Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry (ISPC) Annual Conference 2014 Monday-Wednesday; 7-9th July 2014; Lakatos Building LAK 2.06 Happily we have set up joint sponsorship of the meeting with the Centre for Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) at the LSE. The meetings will be in the Lect...
Philosophical Problems in Personalised Medicine (registration required)
29 May 2014 – 30 May 2014The notion of “personalized medicine” has recently received a lot of attention. While the term is being used in a number of different ways, the core idea is that therapies in the future will be increasingly targeted to the individual, often genetic, characteristics of patients. This development ...
London Foundations Conference: Foundations of Quantum Theory
14 May 2014, 12:00 amTitle: London Foundations Conference; Foundations of Quantum Theory Time: tbc After successful meetings in previous years at Senate House and Imperial college; the next London Foundations Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Theory will take place at the Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and ...
Towards a Sustainable Financial System
21 March 2014Organising Committee: Ulf Dahlsten (Lead organiser, LSE), Jon Danielsson (LSE), Roman Frigg (LSE), Jean-Pierre Zigrand (LSE) Further information is available on the conference programme.
Workshop: Rationality & Consistency
20 March 2014, 4:00 pm – 4:30 pmLondon School of Economics; Lakatos Building; LAK.206 16:00: Welcome coffee 16:15
Rethinking Theory Construction in Social Science
11 March 2014, 9:45 am – 5:20 pmTitle: Rethinking Theory Construction in Social Science Date: Tuesday 11th March 2014 Time: 9:45am – 17:20pm Location: Room B.07; 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields; LSE Speakers: Prof. Mark Addis (Birmingham City University); Prof. Fernand Gobet (University of Liverpool); Prof. Leonard Smith (LSE)...
How We Feel: what neuroscience can and can’t tell us about our emotions (CPNSS LSE Literary Festival lecture)
1 March 2014, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pmIs neuroscience better than philosophy to cope with anxiety in the face of the world’s economic crisis? What can a brain scan or a Caravaggio painting reveal about the deep seat of guilt? Can ancient remedies fight sadness more effectively than anti-depressants? What do poetry and joy have in comm...
History of Postwar Social Science Workshop
6 December 2013, 10:00 am – 4:30 pmHistory of Postwar Social Science Workshop December 6; 2013
Relativity Meets Quantum Theory
28 November 2013 – 29 November 2013The two great scientific developments in our fundamental understanding of space, time and matter in the 20th century are relativity theory and quantum theory. What happens when relativity meets quantum theory? Understanding this question is one of the great challenges in the foundations of physics o...
Colloquium: Measuring Well-Being in the UK, Europe and OECD countries
20 June 2013, 2:00 pm – 6:15 pm2:00-3:15 Erik Schokkaert “Beyond GDP. Measuring social progress in Europe” Abstract. In this paper we study the measurement of social progress. Recently, it has become widely accepted that focusing exclusively on income growth may lead to a too narrow-sighted measure of social progress. Peo...
Nancy Cartwright’s Farewell Conference
3 June 2013, 1:45 pm – 5:00 pmNancy Cartwright’s Farewell Conference Monday; 3rd June 2013; 1:45pm – 5pm in LAK 2.06 Speakers: Luc Bovens; Roman Frigg; Mary Morgan; Hakan Seckinelgin; Eleonora Montuschi and Mary Kaldor. The Department of Philosophy; Logic; and Scientific Method and the Centre for Philosophy of Natura...
Daniel Dennett Book Launch “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking”
23 May 2013, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pmIn this lecture, one of the world’s most original thinkers will show how he designs, uses and dismantles the thinking tools that have illuminated his theories of meaning, mind, and evolution. The big difference between human minds and the minds of other animals is our equipping ourselves with ...
History of Postwar Social Science Workshop
22 February 2013, 10:00 am – 4:30 pm22 February 2013 History of Postwar Social Science Workshop Speakers: Edward Gitre (Seattle University); B
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