[PhilPhys] Tuesday - Daian Tatiana Flórez Quintero - Technological Incommensurability & Artifactual Kinds

[Center for Phil Sci]

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to join us for our Lunch
Time Talk.  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>*.


*Lunch Time Talk -   Daian Tatiana Flórez Quintero*
Meet Daian:  https://youtu.be/iswxCrMFQ5E
<https://youtu.be/iswxCrMFQ5E>

*Tuesday, November 19th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT*

Title: Technological Incommensurability & Artifactual Kinds

Abstract:
Contemporary philosophers remain captivated by the siren songs of Scylla
(physics) and Charybdis (biology), despite the remarkable progress achieved
by engineering sciences in our time, which continues to be
underappreciated. This is one of the motivations that has driven me to
explore whether a semantic phenomenon akin to the one Kuhn discovered
occurs in the domain of technology. Another motivation stems from observing
the immense conceptual richness of technology, which has been overlooked by
philosophers for decades. One reason for this neglect is that, among both
laypeople and scholars, has prevailed a perspective that equates technology
with the mere production of material objects and artifacts.
My goals are twofold. First, I will defend the claim that there is
incommensurability in technology. Second, I will argue that the semantic
changes characteristic of incommensurability occur specifically in a
special type of kind terms—which Kuhn insightfully identified in his
unpublished work as *artifactual kind terms*. To support both theses, I
will present a historical argument that supports the existence of kind
terms in the engineering sciences. Specifically, I will show that the term
“concrete” not only exhibits the archetypal characteristics of kind terms,
but that the semantic changes occurring in the transition from Roman to
contemporary engineering exemplify technological incommensurability. To
argue that there is incommensurability in technology, I will advance a
formulation of such thesis, which is subsidiary of the one given by Kuhn in
the 1980s. Secondly, I will explore the characteristics of artifact kind
terms and show how technological terms, such as ‘unit element’ or
‘concrete’, qualify as genuine kind terms.

Can’t make it in-person? This talk will available online through the
following:
Zoom:  *https://pitt.zoom.us/j/91677465974
<https://pitt.zoom.us/j/91677465974>*
YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
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