Vincenzo Crupi » Altro

Copernican Revolution: Work in progress on a classic case-study

enzo — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 15:31:12 +0000

The London School of Economics will host a conference for the centenary of Imre Lakatos in November. I will be giving a talk on A predictivist vindication of early Copernicanism. HERE is the extended abstract, just accepted : )

UPDATE: A pre-print of the full paper (The case of early Copernicanism: Epistemic luck vs. predictivist vindication) is now available HERE.

Explanatory power in Geneva, rationality in Bratislava

enzo — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 09:42:39 +0000

These days I’m involved in two great events. One talk is called One, but not the same: Probabilistic confirmation and explanatory power within a conference on explanatory power at the University of Geneva (full program HERE). Afterwards, I’ll be talking about Rationality and reasoning research (A guide for the perplexed) at the 2018 conference of the East European Network for Philosophy of Science (full program HERE).

Reasoning and argumentation in Munich

enzo — Fri, 26 May 2017 07:19:44 +0000

Next week (June 1) I’ll be in Munich once again for a very interesting workshop on Reasoning and argumentation in science organized at the Center for Advanced Studies by Ben Eva, Karolina Krzyżanowska, and Stephan Hartmann. My title: Reasoning and argumentation in the experimental study of reasoning and argumentation (coauthored with Katya Tentori). Check out full program HERE.

Clinical reasoning talk in Lausanne

enzo — Sat, 06 May 2017 16:09:01 +0000

Fabrizio Elia and I have been invited to give a talk on Clinical reasoning in internal medicine at the 2017 Congress of the Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine.

Reasoning Club Conference in Turin

enzo — Tue, 02 May 2017 12:17:11 +0000

The Fifth Reasoning Club Conference will take place at the Center for Logic, Language, and Cognition in Turin on May 18-19, 2017. The Reasoning Club is a network of institutes, centres, departments, and groups addressing research topics connected to reasoning, inference, and methodology broadly construed. It issues the monthly gazette The Reasoner. The full program of the 2017 conference is available HERE.

Entropy models and scoring rules

enzo — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:33:47 +0000

The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Priority Program New Frameworks of Rationality is taking place next week again in Etelsen (Bremen). This year I’ll be presenting with Katya Tentori new bits of data and theory on “Entropy models and scoring rules“. Full program HERE.

Rationality and reasoning: two talks in Pavia and Bologna

enzo — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 07:30:17 +0000

I’ll be giving a talk twice in a row in January, Tuesday 24 at the IUSS in Pavia and Wednesday 25 at the Cogito Center in Bologna. Title and abstact below.

Rationality and Reasoning Research: A Guide for the Perplexed

Abstract. Diagnoses of irrationality often arise in the empirical investigation of human reasoning. How can such diagnoses be disputed and assessed? I will articulate a principled classification of different cases relying on a view of experimental work from a philosophy of science perspective. We will then see that much fruitful research done with classical experimental paradigms was triggered by normative concerns and yet fostered scientific progress in properly psychological terms. The framework outlined provides new insight into many cornerstone examples, including Wason’s selection task, the conjunction fallacy, so-called pseudodiagnosticity, and more besides. My conclusion will be that normative considerations retain a constructive role for the psychology of reasoning — contrary to recent complaints in the literature — but not the one that “normativist” cognitive scientists have often assumed. In particular, the approach I propose does not blur the is-ought distinction.

two visiting opportunities in Turin

enzo — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 08:09:21 +0000

The Center for Logic, Language, and Cognition (LLC), University of Turin, seeks applications for two 1-month visiting fellowships in 2017. Preferably, the period of stay is meant to be May 2017. One visitor will be an established scholar and one an early career researcher (PhD or postdoc). Although the fellowships are non-stipendiary, we will provide convenient accommodation and cover travel expenses to reach and leave Turin from anywhere in Europe. Candidates will have to submit a short description of a research plan. We have a special interest in topics of concern of the European Non-Categorical Thinking Project, which is outlined below. Selected candidates will address a research topic that is related to the project and involves potentially fruitful interactions with one or more members of LLC.

Applications should be sent by email to andrea.iacona@unito.it by January 31, 2017.

The European Non-Categorical Thinking Project

For creatures like us, it is natural to think non-categorically – in terms of the possible, the probable, and the conditional. This fact prompts the following philosophical questions. Is non-categorical thinking indispensable, in any sense, to all practical and intellectual life? How should we think of reality and our cognitive relations to it in light of our answers to that question? Is our non-categorical thought an instrument that we need only because of our ignorance of how the world categorically is, or when we think non-categorically do we sometimes track a corresponding (probabilistic, modal or conditional) non-categorical reality? What are the best systematic (formal) representations of non-categorical thinking and how do these relate (normatively or otherwise) to our non- categorical thought? Has the practice of natural science settled some of these questions and if some of the questions are so settled how does that bear on the others? Can we look to the case of mathematics to find models of what practical and intellectual indispensability (of a way of thinking) might amount to and the epistemological and metaphysical implications of these models? The central purpose of the project is to develop questions about modalities, conditionals, and probabilities – in the context of a unified theoretical framework: one that will promote applications of research programmes that have been successful in one sphere of non-categorical thought to the neighbouring regions.

LLC hosts a research community that includes philosophers, psychologists, and computer scientists. It organizes a regular seminar series, as well as other activities such as workshops, conferences, and reading groups. The successful candidate is expected to take part in these activities. The official language of LLC is English, so Italian is not required. In an effort to improve balance in our research community, we encourage applications from under-represented academic groups.

Logic and reasoning in Munich

enzo — Sun, 13 Nov 2016 13:56:57 +0000

Back again to Munich in a few days, where Luis Rosa and Andi Kapsner organized a great event on The relevance of logic to human reasoning. Title of my talk: Rationality and reasoning research: A guide for the perplexed. Full program HERE.

Paper for EPSA 2015 proceedings

enzo — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:55:25 +0000

Generalized confirmation and relevance measures

Abstract. The main point of the paper is to show how popular probabilistic measures of incremental confirmation and statistical relevance with qualitatively different features can be embedded smoothly in generalized parametric families. In particular, I will show that the probability difference, log probability ratio, log likelihood ratio, odds difference, so-called improbability difference, and Gaifman’s measures of confirmation can all be subsumed within a convenient biparametric continuum. One intermediate step of this project may have interest on its own, as it provides a unified representation of graded belief of which both probabilities and odds are special cases.

Preprint available HERE.