Conference: The Foundations of Conceptual Engineering
A conference on The Foundations of Conceptual Engineering at NYU, on Sept 14 and 15, 2018. To attend, please register by following this link no later than August 31, 2018.
One dimension of cognitive success is getting it right, i.e gaining knowledge of facts. Another dimension of cognitive success is using the right concept, i.e. framing a topic in the right way. This view, if correct, tasks inquirers with critically examining the concepts they are using and perhaps replacing those concepts with new and better ones. This task is often known as “conceptual engineering”.
The idea that conceptual engineering is an important task for inquirers in and outside philosophy has recently gained traction. Some philosophers think conceptual engineering is an important task for inquirers to pursue. The conference is focused on foundational issues in connection with conceptual engineering. Topics to be addressed include the following:
- What are the semantic mechanisms that underlie conceptual engineering?
- What are concepts, and which role (if any) do they play in conceptual engineering?
- How can a theory of conceptual engineering be integrated with large-scale semantic theories?
- Which precise changes does a language undergo when its speakers engineer concepts?
- Is conceptual engineering something that speakers can ever purposefully bring about?
- What is the relation between changing concepts and changing reality?
The planned conference will focus especially on the semantic foundations of conceptual engineering and push towards a better understanding of the process.
The conference is organized collaboratively by members of NYU (Vera Flocke and David Chalmers) and members of the research project ConceptLab, located at the University of Oslo (Herman Cappelen and Andrew Peet).
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individual
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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
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group
One dimension of cognitive success is getting it right,
i.e gaining knowledge of facts.
Another dimension of cognitive success is using the right concept,
i.e. framing a topic in the right way.
One dimension of cognitive success is getting it right,
i.e gaining knowledge of facts.
Another dimension of cognitive success is using the right concept,
i.e. framing a topic in the right way.
| Acceptable to the patient (or advocate) and ethical? Achieving concordance - agreed relevant to the context, issue, problem? Logical consistency, coherence and permanence? Holistic bandwidth is tested - semantic scope? Conceptual Engineering instantiated in software, argumentation? AI? Conceptual Spaces? Topic is person-centred (patient, student, carer...) Testing: Concepts with positive :: negative are switched - re-framed? Other dichotomies? Conceptual slide-rule? Known 'semantic drift' in vocabulary - concepts: disuse, archaic, new, re-purposed? |
Assessment is comprehensive?
Knowledge of 'conceptual engineering' how to - rules, laws (mechanisms)?
Concepts were measurable (as were previously defined) quantifiable?
Flagged interdisciplinary use of concept? Transdisciplinary?
Visual tools - representation, diagrams?
Reversible quality: 'engineering' disassembly? Conceptual dependency on threshold(s)? Engineering concepts: tolerance, project, professionalism, failure, risk, benefits, techne? 'Conceptual engineering' defined units & standards: word, words ... corpora? Research methodologies, methods? Literature |
Available social sources were utilised, or at least pursued?
Narrative derived from concepts references life history (story)?
Tested and accepted by peers - multidisciplinary team?
Inclusive?
Quality criteria were met
Cultural, ethnic due regard met
| legal? concepts used were appropriate to outcome(s)? 'Space' for uncertainty, constraints, unwise decisions? Policy influence on language, examples found in health and social care 2008-2018 austerity? Accords with and assures the Sustainability Development Goals? 'Macro conceptual engineering' - Level of required change in health systems: new & existing |
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965