<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="margin:24px 0px 32px"><div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><font size="4"><b>Social Ontology and Empirical Inquiry: Conflicts and Connections</b></font></div><div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><a href="https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/event/social-ontology-and-empirical-inquiry-conflicts-and-connections/" target="_blank">https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/event/social-ontology-and-empirical-inquiry-conflicts-and-connections/</a></div><div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">April 11, 2026 - April 12, 2026</span></div><div style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-size:12pt">Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh</span></div></div><div id="m_4979718940664891242m_-8345017896665113673gmail-post-9638"><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)">We are pleased to announce a two-day interdisciplinary workshop hosted by the </span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Center for Philosophy of Science</span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> at the </span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(20,24,39)">University of Pittsburgh</span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)">, focusing on the intersection of social metaphysics and empirical research in the social sciences.</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">The workshop aims to foster dialogue between philosophers and social scientists who are interested in the nature of social reality and in how conceptual and empirical approaches to understanding it can be fruitfully integrated.</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">Social scientists and philosophers have long sought to clarify what it means for entities such as races, genders, institutions, and social structures to exist and to act. Meanwhile, empirically-oriented social scientists have developed increasingly sophisticated methods for measuring, modeling, and explaining such phenomena. This workshop will bring these conversations together to explore the conflicts and connections between conceptual–theoretical frameworks and empirical–methodological practices in the study of the social world.</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">Organizing Committee</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Kareem Khalifa</span><span style="font-size:12pt">, UCLA</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Edouard Machery</span><span style="font-size:12pt">, University of Pittsburgh</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Mark Risjord</span><span style="font-size:12pt">, Emory</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">David Thorstad</span><span style="font-size:12pt">, Vanderbilt</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder"><br></span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">Guiding Questions</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">What kinds of things are social entities—individuals, groups, institutions, norms, and categories such as race and gender?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">How can such entities be both socially constructed and real?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">What is the relationship between social ontology and social measurement?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">How should metaphysical theories about the nature of the social world inform, or be informed by, empirical research designs?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">Do social explanations involve forms of causation, mechanism, or structure that differ from those in the natural sciences?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-size:12pt">How can philosophical analysis of social kinds enrich empirical debates about classification, comparability, and operationalization?</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder"><br></span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">Confirmed Keynotes</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">The program will include keynote talks and panels by both philosophers and social scientists, including scholars such as:</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Petri Ylikoski</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> (University of Helsinki)</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Brian Epstein</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> (Tufts University)</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;color:rgb(20,24,39)">Aliya Saperstein</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> (Stanford University)</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder"><br></span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">Format</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">The workshop will include:</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:bolder">30-minute contributed presentations</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> (20 minutes presentation + 10 minutes Q&A)</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:bolder">Keynote lectures</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> by invited speakers</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span role="presentation" style="font-size:12pt;font-weight:bolder">A roundtable discussion</span><span style="font-size:12pt"> on future directions in social ontology and empirical research</span></div><hr style="margin:25px 0px;width:785.035px;height:1px"><div style="line-height:1.2;margin:0px 0px 0.75em;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-weight:700">Call For Abstracts</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">Submission Instructions</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Please submit an </span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:bolder">anonymized abstract of no more than 500 words</span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> (excluding references) to<br></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(20,24,39)"><a href="mailto:empirical.social.ontology@gmail.com" id="m_4979718940664891242m_-8345017896665113673gmail-LPlnk416996" title="mailto:empirical.social.ontology@gmail.com" target="_blank">empirical.social.ontology@gmail.com</a></span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;color:rgb(0,0,0)">.</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 16px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">by </span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">January 15, 2026 (midnight anywhere on earth).</span></div><div style="line-height:1.5;margin:0px 0px 28px;font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px">Notifications of acceptance will be sent by </span><span style="letter-spacing:0.5px;font-weight:bolder">February 15, 2026.</span></div></div></div>
</div>
</div></div>