I’m glad to announce that my symposium proposal for the second conference of The European Philosophy of Science Association has been accepted. The conference will take place in Amsterdam between October 21st and 24th. It’s also a good excuse to go to Amsterdam again, it’s one of my favourite European cities. My symposium is entitled The Structure of Scientific Knowledge and in addition to my own paper it will include papers by Professor Alexander Bird from Bristol, Dr. Robin Hendry from my department at Durham, and my friend Paul Winstanley, who is finishing up his Ph.D. also at Durham.

The symposium focuses on the epistemology of science and related metaphysical issues. The four papers deal with topics like the essences of natural kinds, the connection between apriority, necessity, and essences, the role of a priori knowledge in scientific inquiry, and the relationship of a priori and empirical knowledge, specifically in early modern chemistry. The question that connects the papers is: to what extent if at all do we need a priori knowledge in scientific inquiry, and how is apriority connected with issues concerning essences and modality? The speakers are in consensus that there are at least some a priori elements present in scientific knowledge, but their opinions differ, sometimes substantially, concerning the role of a priori knowledge as well as its relationship with modality and essences. Alexander’s paper is entitled ‘Knowledge of Kinds and Their Essences’ and Paul’s paper, ‘Apriority, Necessity and Essence’, deals with similar topics. Robin’s paper is called ‘The Elements and Conceptual Change: A Priori and Empirical Knowledge in Early Modern Chemistry’, which is an interesting case study, and finally my paper, ‘The A Priori and Scientific Knowledge’, focuses on a more abstract analysis of the relationship of a priori and a posteriori knowledge and proposes a novel way to interpret it.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else the conference has to offer, and will post updates in due course.