The event will take place in a hybrid format, and participation is free of charge. To register, please email mahdi.khalili@unibe.ch by Friday, 20 June 2025, indicating whether you plan to attend in person or online.
For practical information and keynote abstracts, visit: philosophie.unibe.ch/realism.
This conference is part of the project Extending the Scope of Causal Realism, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Additional funding for the Promotion of Early Career Researchers is provided by the University of Bern.
Organizing team: Matthias Egg, Mahdi Khalili, Frederick Britt
Program
Monday, 30 June
08.50 – 09.00 Welcome Address
09.00 – 10.15 Peter Vickers, Durham University
Five Epiphanies in the Quest for Scientific Truth
10.15 – 10.30 Coffee Break
10.30 – 11.15 Chrysi Malouchou Kanellopoulou, University of Edinburgh
To what Extent does Vickers’ Consensus-Based Approach Need Selective Realism?
11.15 – 12.30 Stathis Psillos (online) & Kosmas Brousalis, University of Athens
The ‘Localist’ Turn in the Scientific Realism Debate: A Critique
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch Break
14.00 – 14.45 Ludwig Fahrbach, University of Cologne
Beyond the Stalemate: New Directions in the Realism Debate
14.45 – 15.30 Yuyou Wu, University of Leeds
Dissolution or Enrichment? Evaluating the Impact of an Emerging Framework in Cognitive Science on the Scientific Realism Debate
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee Break
16.00 – 16.45 Bruno Malavolta e Silva, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Deflationary Scientific Realism
16.45 – 18.00 Kyle Stanford, University of California, Irvine
What’s Left of the Scientific Realism Debate?
Tuesday, 1 July
09.00 – 10.15 Leah Henderson, University of Groningen
What the ‘Local’ Approach to the Scientific Realism Debate is Good for
10.15 – 10.30 Coffee Break
10.30 – 11.15 Yukinori Onishi, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI
Epistemological Analysis of the Scientific Realism Debate
11.15 – 12.30 Anjan Chakravartty, University of Miami
Stances, Worldviews, and Philosophical Transformation
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch Break
14.00 – 14.45 Bobby Vos, University of Toronto
Explication as a Pathway to Philosophical Progress: The Case of the Scientific Realism Debate
14.45 – 15.30 Bruno Borge, University of Buenos Aires
Beyond the Impasse: Collaborative Epistemology and the Shared Ground of Realist and Empiricist Stances
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee Break
16.00 – 16.45 Mahdi Khalili, University of Bern
Is Stance Voluntarism Useful for Philosophical Debates?
16.45 – 18.00 Sandy Boucher, University of New England
The Stance-Dependence of Arguments for Scientific Realism
Wednesday, 2 July
09.00 – 10.15 Curtis Forbes
To be (or not to be) a Scientific Realist: Empirical Grounds for Prudential Reasons
10.15 – 10.30 Coffee Break
10.30 – 11.15 Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam, California State University, Northridge
On Stance-Transcendent Justification of Stance Choice: A Pluralist Perspective
11.15 – 12.45 Panel Discussion: Lessons and Prospects for the Debate
12.45 – 13.00 Closing Remarks