Date: February 18, 2026 Time: 3:00 PM Venue: Sala Riunioni Edificio 29, Piazza Leonardo Da Vinci 26, Milan
Abductive Minds: Essays in Honor of Lorenzo Magnani – Volume 1
About this book This book, the first of two volumes, provides novel perspectives on the study of abduction, by analyzing both Magnani’s ample investigation of the subject and discussing its rising importance in today’s epistemology and philosophy of science. Notwithstanding the long history of the concept, which has been studied since its analysis in Aristotle’s Organon, in the last fifty years, it has known a resurgent interest in the epistemological literature since it is an ampliative inference deemed to be at the core of creative leaps and acts of discovery. For these reasons, different open questions still bother interested researchers: which constraints affect abductive reasoning when a hypothesis is evaluated or selected? Should we adopt a unified view on abduction or maintain a pluralistic perspective regarding its forms and functions? What kinds of models can be used in abductive reasoning? This last question, in particular, shows how the topics of the two parts of the volume are intrinsically connected and ensures they are of great importance to those interested in epistemology, philosophy of science, mathematical logic and AI.
Scientific Cognition, Semiotics, and Computational Agents: Essays in Honor of Lorenzo Magnani – Volume 2
About this book This book, the second of two volumes, focuses on scientific cognition, computationalism, and scholars’ reception of what Lorenzo Magnani named “eco-cognitive” views on the mind. The authors of these chapters address complex questions, which regard, in part, Magnani’s contributions in the field of model-based science, the role of inferential models in mathematics, the transformations and possible applicability of Charles Sanders Peirce’s and Immanuel Kant’s concepts and insight into current understanding of scientific progress, and the still unsolved questions regarding the methodological steps that take researchers to scientific discoveries. Some contributions also address the problematic understanding of artificial agents as “intelligent,” how cognition can be discussed within the limits of computationalism, and how the eco-cognitive perspective on the mind also affects the conception of scientific reasoning and socially constructed phenomena. The book is of great interest to those interested in epistemology, philosophy of science, mathematical logic and AI.
Editor: Selene Arfini
The event will be held in Italian.
