October 26-28, 2018

Analogy is a powerful, yet controversial, tool of scientific reasoning. Indeed, many achievements in the history of science and mathematics have been driven by analogical inferences. Moreover, one can formulate conjectures about domains into which one does not have empirical access just based on analogy with other known domains. Nonetheless, from a logical point of view analogical inferences do not yield conclusions with certainty. So, what is that justifies the use of analogy in science and mathematics? And how reliable is analogical reasoning? This conference, taking place at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy and supported by the Humboldt Foundation and META at the Politecnico di Milano, addresses such open philosophical problems. Invited keynote speakers are Paul Bartha (British Columbia), Mazviita Chirimuta (Pittsburgh), Silvia de Bianchi (Barcelona), Michele Ginammi (Salzburg), Silvia Jones (Munich), Jennifer Juhn (Lake Forest).

For more information visit: www.lmu.de/analogicalreasoning2018