Conference of the International Society for Hermeneutics and Science.

 

22 – 24 August 2017, Baden, Austria 

We are happy to inform you that the next conference of the International Society for Hermeneutics and Science (ISHS) will be held between 22 – 24 August 2017, Baden (near Vienna), Austria. We cordially invite you to participate in the conference and to contribute to the discussion on the role of hermeneutics in the understanding general and specific problems of sciences and technologies and related fields.

The first ISHS conference was organized in September 1993 in Hungary and the last one was held in Vienna and Budapest in July/August 2013. Besides regular conferences thematic sessions were occasionally organized at the 4S/EASST conferences, last time at their Barcelona conference in August 2016. As for the details you can consult our webpage: http://ishs.hu/meetings-of-ishs/.

Next summer the ISHS will have its regular conference – the 16th in the series of meetings. Together with the changing cultural, political and social atmosphere the fundamental characteristics and socio-cultural position of philosophy of science have been essentially changed during its short history. The dominant role of positivist views at the emergence of philosophy of science was almost unquestionable and this condition determined the epistemological and ontological preferences in philosophy of science for decades. The birth of hermeneutic (or hermeneutic phenomenological) philosophy of science was a result of the so-called “hermeneutic turn” of philosophy of science in the 60’s. In this years Hanson, Kockelmans, Heelan, Kisiel, Ihde, Apel, Føllesdal and others started to reflect not only the accepted views in philosophy of science but also Heidegger’s, Gadamer’s or Ricoeur’s views to depict the sciences from a non-positivist position. As a consequence of these attempts for the 80’s – 90’s a relatively well-identified trend was stabilized in philosophy of science, the hermeneutics of science, or hermeneutic philosophy of science. Comparing the received views of traditional philosophy of science hermeneutics of science or hermeneutic philosophy of science put the scientific praxis and its outcomes in a broader and more practically informed context, a context of life world (and eventually of social systems too) and anchor them in the everyday human praxis, and/or in the social life. On the other hand this context is evidently handy to interpret any technological praxis and to introduce a (hermeneutic and/or constructivist) philosophy of technology. Such philosophies of technology were proposed by Ihde, Borgmann and others in the last decades. Based on the common context for science and technology their coexisting form, technoscience can be disclosed and characterized. In this way hermeneutics of science and technology has an essential contribution to Latour’s actor-network theory (ANT) and the extended fields of science and technology studies (STS). Besides its own epistemological and ontological proposals hermeneutics of science and technology or hermeneutic philosophy of science and technology has a very important philosophical role. Its existence, praxis and results constitute a serious challenge for the traditional philosophy of science and technology, and an important promoter of a self-reflective understanding of science, technology in their human, cultural and social context. The aim of the conference is to provide an open and stimulating atmosphere to discuss all of these and related issues. Papers in these and any related topics are very welcome.

Possible specific topics for discussion include, but are not limited to, the following

  • Hermeneutics as a philosophy of science and technology
  • Hermeneutic and/or analytic philosophy of science and technology
  • Science, technology, technoscience
  • Hermeneutics and the actor-network theory (ANT)
  • Hermeneutic in science and technology studies (STS)
  • Understanding, interpretation, explanation
  • Hermeneutical and phenomenological methods in scientific and everyday cognition
  • Hermeneutics, phenomenology, post-phenomenology
  • Hermeneutic vs. semantic methodologies
  • Hermeneutics in/of specific scientific disciplines
  • Hermeneutics in/of specific scientific problems
  • Hermeneutic approaches to information
  • Hermeneutics and logics
  • Science and technology in the contexts of social systems and/or life-worlds
  • Constructivism and hermeneutics
  • Systems, networks, worlds
  • Martin Eger memorial lectures
  • Joseph Kockelmans memorial lectures
  • Patrick Heelan memorial lectures
  • György Márkus memorial lectures

 

 

Program of the Conference

August 21, 2017 Day of Arrival

22 August 2017 Tuesday

9:30-11:00

  • Bart Gremmen: A nail in Heidegger’s coffin
  • Paul Ertl: Interpretation and Reality in Open Cultures: Ethical, Religious, and Legal Aspects
  • Andrés Gatica: Violence and Givenness in the Ontic Foundation of Fundamental Ontology

11:00-11:30 Coffee break 11:30-12:30

  • Ágnes Heller: Two contemporary hermeneutic approaches to modern sciences

12:30-13:30

  • Matthew Steckle: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and Natural Science: Phronesis, Theory-Choice, and Epistemic Pluralism
  • Balázs Gimes: Philosophical aspects of the quantum physical revolution (Patrick Heelan memorial lecture)

13:30-15:00 Lunch 15:00-16:00

  • Mihály Szívós: The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Hermeneutical Processes

16:00-17:00 Session

  • László Ropolyi: Hermeneutics of virtuality
  • Günther Fleck: Understanding and Interpreting Intimate Knowledge

17:00-17:30 Coffee break 17:30-19:00 Round table discussion 19:30 Welcome drink

23 August 2017 Wednesday

9:30-11:00

  • Jeremy Jager: Hermeneutics of a Mathematical Explanation of Logic
  • Zsuzsanna Marianna Lengyel: Hermeneutical Circle and Prejudices. Heidegger – Gadamer Dialogue On the Original Link between Hermeneutics and Logics
  • Chandrima Christiansen: Legalising Illegality: Can Intolerable Tolerance be Tolerated: A Counterintuitive Infinity Approach

11:00-11:30 Coffee break 11:30-12:30

  • Babette Babich: Hermeneutics and Its Discontents in the Philosophies of Social Science

12:30-13:30

  • Attila Dobos: An account of hermeneutics in/of medicine
  • Gábor Toronyai: The phenomenological dimension of Daniel N. Stern’s The present moment

13:30-15:00 Lunch 15:00-19:00 Social program

24 August 2017 Thursday

9:30-11:00

  • Makoto Katsumori: Hiromatsu’s Philosophical Analysis of Quantum Mechanics
  • Roberto Wu: Materiality in Technological Artworks
  • Eva Gatarik and Rainer Born: Anticipating the Past: The Digital “Enclosure” of the Future

11:00-11:30 Coffee break 11:30-12:30

  • Mark Coeckelbergh: Technology, games, and narrative: Using Wittgenstein and Ricoeur for a hermeneutics of technology use

12:30-13:30

  • Michael Funk: Understanding “living machines” and “natural programs”- Transdisciplinarity Hermeneutics of Metaphors in Synthetic Biology
  • Karl Edlinger: Biosemiotics: A Non-Mechanistic Approach to Living Organisms

13:30-15:00 Lunch 15:00-16:00

  • Trish Glazebrook: Growing Knowledge: Science, Alternative Knowledge Systems, and Drought Adaptation in Agriculture

16:00-17:00 Session

  • Vincent Blok: Anticipating the Future, Hermeneutics of the present, and the Environmental Crisis: Philosophical Reflections on Anticipation in technology assessment and responsible innovation
  • Olga Kiss: Presence

17:00-17:30 Coffee break 17:30-19:00 Business meeting Farewell evening Day of Departure: Friday, August 25, 2017 (or later if someone wants to stay longer)

Book of Abstracts

dowload the Book of Abstracts ISHS Conference 2017 Baden, Austria (PDF)

Venue

Baden is a very lovely baroque town about 25 km distance to Vienna. http://www.badenonline.at/de The Conference will be held at the “Theater am Steg” in Baden, Johannesgasse 14, 2500 Baden, Austria

Accommodations:

A collection of proposed hotels in Baden (closer than 30 min distance from the Conference by foot)

  • Hotel Sacher Baden****
  • At The Park****
  • Parkhotel Baden****
  • Herzoghof****
  • Schloss Weikersdorf****
  • Admiral Am Kurpark****
  • Thermenvilla Gutenbrunn****
  • Helenental (B&B)
  • Motel Baden
  • Apartement am Kurpark
  • Kleine Ferienwohnung mit Garten

The Conference has a Special Offer of Hotel Rauch: HOTEL RAUCH Pelzgasse 3 A 2500 Baden 1 Night including breakfast: Euro 40,– 20 rooms are reserved till June 30, 2017. Room reservations should be directed to Guenther Fleck: guenther.fleck@bmlvs.gv.at There are many hotels around the conference place: see www.trivago.at/Hotels-BadenWien

Registration / Financial information

You can register here: Online Registration Registration fee: 390 EUR Early Bird Registration Fee (if paid before 30 June 2017): 340 EUR Special discount by request is available for students, PhD students, unemployed and retired persons, and for those who come from low income countries. The maximum amount of discount is 50%. For any other information, please, contact with Günther Fleck (guenther.fleck@univie.ac.at) The registration fee includes

  • participation
  • Book of Abstract
  • coffee breaks
  • lunch

Money transfer concerning the conference fee should be directed to: Dr. Guenther Fleck ISHS Conference Baden 2017 Name of Card Holder: DR Guenther Fleck IBAN: AT69 1400 0015 1093 1935 Address of Card Holder: Spitzendorfergasse 43, A 2511 Pfaffstaetten, Austria Name of Bank: BAWAG Address of Bank: Mariahilfer Strasse 22-24, A 1060 Vienna Austria BIC / SWIFT: BAWAATWW For bank transfer within the EU normally one needs only the name of the card holder, IBAN and BIC. People outside EU (USA, India etc.) can pay in cash directly in Baden.

Deadlines

If you are interested in the participation please note the following schedule and important dates:

  • As soon as you can decide please send a message to Laszlo Ropolyi (ropolyi@caesar.elte.hu) about your interest in the conference and please offer a preliminary title of your presentation, or register online here
  • Sending the Abstracts: 15 June, 2017 please send a one page long abstract of your presentation to Laszlo Ropolyi (ropolyi@caesar.elte.hu)
  • Notification on acceptance: continuously, but not later than 16 June 2017
  • To support the successful discussions all accepted abstracts will be published on the webpage of the ISHS from the middle of June 2017
  • From the middle of July 2017 all the relevant information, the program, the abstracts, etc. you can find the webpage of the conference: http://www.ishs.hu/ and the facebook event
  • 21 August 2017 the conference starts

We would be really happy to meet you in the Summer. If you need any additional information, do not hesitate to contact one of the organizers: Guenther Fleck University of Vienna Vienna, Austria guenther.fleck@univie.ac.at Paul Ertl Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria paul.ertl01@gmail.com Olga Kiss Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary kissolga@uni-corvinus.hu Laszlo Ropolyi Eotvos University Budapest, Hungary ropolyi@caesar.elte.hu