Date: November 25-26, 2024 Venue: Sala Consiglio, VII Floor, Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano (Leonardo)
Analogies in physics and beyond will examine the circulation of models within and across the sciences. Leading contemporary epistemologists will analyse the process of exchanging scientific knowledge from one field to another, detailing the challenges that often stand in the way of such transfers, as well as the opportunities that emerge from current research. The overarching aim is to dig deeper into the creative side of scientific thinking while tackling the philosophical questions that successful exchanges raise.
The first day of the conference will be devoted to case studies in contemporary physics, with talks on symmetry-breaking, quantum mechanics and black hole thermodynamics. The second day will move past physics to discuss relevant examples of analogies in biology, economics, robotics and AI. For its theme and ambition, the conference aims to be useful not only to specialists in epistemology but also to scientists and educators interested in the cognitive and social foundations of scientific research.
Organizing Committee: Antoine Brandelet, Annapaola Ginammi, Francesco Nappo, Giovanni Valente – Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano
Programme
Analogies in Physics (25 November)
9 h 00 – Welcome
9 h 30 – A Word of Introduction
9 h 45 – Rocco Gaudenzi (Verona): Analogies in Formation, Action and Motion. The Fascinating Case of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
10 h 50 – Patricia Palacios (Salzburg): TBA
12 h 00 – Lunch Break
14 h 00 – Karim Thébault (Bristol): Three Roads From Quantum Analogy
15 h 05 – Michael Cuffaro (Munich): Analogies and Disanalogies Between Classical and Quantum Physical Computation
16 h 10 – Coffee Break
16 h 45 – Stephan Hartmann (Munich): TBA
17 h 50 – Karen Crowther (Oslo): Analogue Confirmation of Hawking Radiation
18 h 50 – End of First Day
20 h 00 – Conference Dinner
… and Beyond (26 November)
10 h 00 – Edoardo Datteri (Milano): Similarity in Interactive Biorobotics
11 h 05 – Francesco Guala (Milano): Extrapolation, Analogy, and Comparative Process Tracing
12 h 15 – Lunch Break
14 h 00 – Tarja Knuuttila (Vienna): Analogies, Templates and Models in Synthetic biology
15 h 05 – Mena Leemhuis (Bolzano): Analogical Proportions: What can you do with them in AI?
16 h 10 – End of the Workshop
Participation is free of charge.
Funding: The conference is funded by Italian Ministry of University and Research within the PRIN 2022 project Analogical Reasoning in Contemporary Physical Theories (ID: 2022F4Z8YH, Principal Investigator: Giovanni Valente).
Speakers’ Slides: Cuffaro Michael E. – Gaudenzi Rocco – Hartmann Stephan – Leemhuis Mena –Karim Thébault
