[PhilPhys] Next Week - Lunch Time Talks - Mike Dietrich 10/29 and Aliya Dewey 11/1

[Center for Phil Sci]

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our Lunch
Time Talks.  Attend in person, Room 1117 on the 11th floor of the Cathedral
of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh or visit our live stream on
YouTube at *https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg>*.





*LTT: **Mike Dietrich*



Tuesday, October 29th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT



Title: Does species diversity matter for biological research?
Abstract:
Most biologists will admit that their choice of research organism has
important consequences for their work and their findings.  Should we be
concerned then if the range of organisms used in research is
narrowing?  From 1970 to 2015 most of the fields in modern biology have
shown a decline in the number of species that they consider in their
research.  In this paper, we consider both how to characterize this decline
and how to explain it.  We propose that three factors are contributing to
these trends in organism use and changes in research biodiversity:
preferences for model organism use in biological research, preferences for
human-based research with medical translations, and preferences for single
species research over comparative research.



*Can’t make it in-person? This talk will available online through the
following:*



Zoom:  https://pitt.zoom.us/j/96053378053





*LTT: **Aliya Dewey*



Friday, November 1st @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT



*Title: Design explanation in behavioural neuroscience*
Abstract: Explanation in behavioural neuroscience is often thought to be
mechanistic—to explain stimulus-response pairs by describing a mechanism
(working parts “causally between” stimuli and responses). I suggest that
behavioural neuroscientists in fact want a richer form of explanation—one
that explains task-performance pairs by describing some kind of
correspondence between the mechanism and the structure required to perform
the task. In other words, they want an explanation for how a mechanism
realises competent task performance as such. Using a detailed case study of
sound localisation in the barn owl (*Tyto alba*), I argue that this form of
explanation—which I call “design explanation”—integrates mechanistic,
minimal model, and constraint-based forms of explanation.



*Can’t make it in-person? This talk will available online through the
following:*



Zoom:  https://pitt.zoom.us/j/92798130196
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