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Weekly Colloquium
This Week's Colloquium
The colloquium will be held from 3:00-5:00 pm (Atlantic time) on Friday, November 15 both in person, in Room 2130 of the Marion McCain Arts and Social Science Building, and online via zoom (details below).
Speaker: Tom Vinci (HÂţ»)
Title: Metaphysical Optimality and Intelligent design: Rescher against Leibniz and Plank
Abstract:
(Overview of a contribution to a forthcoming Memorial Festschrift for Nick Rescher.)
Quotations from Rescher and Planck
“Can a Scientist be Serious about Religion? Three points must be granted at the outset:
1. Science does not require God. To answer our scientific questions about the world we do not need to bring theology into it.
2. Science cannot prove God’s existence. We cannot ground theism on scientific facts regarding the observable features of the universe.
3. Scientists are nowadays largely atheists. Many or most of them manage to live successful lives without any religious commitments. “
(Nicholas Rescher, ISSUES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, Chapter 6, p. 53)
“Present day physics, as far as it is theoretically organized…is now completely contained in a single theorem, in the principle of least action. As we can see, only a short step is required to recognize in the preference for the smallest quantity of action the ruling of divine reason, and thus to discover a part of Leibniz’s teleological ordering of the universe.”
(Max Planck, Address to the German Academy, 1922, Berlin, on the occasion of Leibniz Day.)
Introduction
Both Nicholas Rescher and Max Planck are well-versed in physics and Leibniz’s writings, both are, indeed, Leibnizeans. Both think that a version of the Principle of Least Action is fundamental to physics and metaphysics. One is a distinguished late-modern philosopher, the other a distinguished late-modern physicist. Why the dramatic difference? Rescher explains: “There is no point in bringing heavy machinery to work where lessor mechanisms can do the work.) (SMO, 88) The lesser mechanisms in question are those of natural teleology understood in the Aristotelian sense, the kind of teleology in Rescher’s theory of Metaphysical Optimality. The heavy machinery is a divine intelligence. My ultimate purpose in this paper is to explicate and adjudicate the conflicting attitudes to cosmology and teleology of Rescher, Planck and Leibniz.
Synopsis
In Section I I consider Rescher’s doctrine of Metaphysical Optimality: his theory of natural teleology in the cosmos. First, I concentrate on how it handles the question of chance as the explanation for the co-occurrence of intelligent-life-promoting conditions on earth. I find that it makes a plausible case against chance. Next, I consider Rescher’s case against the intelligent-design version of teleology, finding that it is not conclusive. Finally, I find a difficulty for Metaphysical Optimality based on its conception of the relationship between probability and causality. I consider the difficulty to be critical for Rescher.
In Section II I consider whether we can find the premises for an a posteriori proof of the intelligent -design version of teleology in the metaphysical and physical assumptions of Leibniz. I conclude that we can, but that the proof suffers from an out-of-date physical assumption about the nature of light.
In Section III I consider another proof for the existence of intelligent design, this time from Max Planck. This account does not suffer from an out-of-date account of the nature of light nor does it suffer from any other deficiencies that I can detect.
Note about the following colloquium on Nov. 22: The talk will be about the TV series Fleabag, which the speaker encourages audience members to watch (available on Amazon Prime and some other places). But there should be enough exposition in the talk for everyone to follow along as well.
Dal Philosophy is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Colloquium
Time: Nov 15, 2024 03:00 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88638324974?pwd=lD255Cfe70JuVMb9aF6pT9bc1mbyUa.1
Meeting ID: 886 3832 4974
Passcode: 804515
Our Department
The HÂţ» University Department of Philosophy is one of the most active and supportive philosophy departments in Canada. Our program will prepare you for any career because philosophy is the .
Where do I begin?
The basic skills practiced in philosophy are the very skills demanded and rewarded in the most lucrative, influential professions. Start your journey by registering for a first-year course or pick a second-year course in an area of interest to you.
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All Philosophy courses at HÂţ» emphasize the importance of academic integrity. Students are responsible for ensuring that all work they submit is their own, and, unless otherwise explicitly indicated by the instructor, AI-driven tools and generative AI models (including language models like the GPT suite, translation models like Google Translate or DeepL, editing tools like QuillBot, GrammaryGo, etc.) should not be used to generate ideas or written materials for any class offered by the Philosophy department.
AFFILIATED GROUPS
- Atlantic Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
- HÂţ» Women Around Philosophy
- Evolutionary Studies Group
- Animal Studies Group
- The Canadian Philosophical Association - see the CPA'sÂ
- The HÂţ» Philosophy Equity Committee
DEPARTMENT KUDOS
- Congratulations to Erik Nelson who defended his PhD dissertation, The Nonlinguistic Mind: Nonlinguistic Concepts, Normativity and Animal Cognition, this June.
- Congratulations to our PhD student, Clarisse Paron, for being awarded the  for presenting on of the best two student papers at the Annual Meeting, June 2024. The title of her paper is “Are the New American Pediatric Obesity Guidelines Eugenic? Eugenic Logics and the Medicalization and Pathologization of Children’s Bodies.”
- Congratulations to our PhD students, Lara Millman and Clarisse Paron, for being awarded HÂţ»â€™s  President’s Graduate/Undergraduate Student Teaching Award (2 of 3 available university-wide awards!)
- Congratulations to Dr. Travis LaCroix, who has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Durham University, starting in the fall of 2024.
- Congratulations to Dr. Travis LaCroix, who has been award an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council! Travis’s research project is entitled “Philosophy on the Spectrum: The Philosophy of Autism and Autistic Philosophy.”
- Tyler Hildebrand’s paper “Inductive Reasoning Involving Social Kinds” (with Barrett Emerick) has been published in the Journal of the American Philosophical Association.Â
- Congratulations to Kayla Beals, who is the 2024 recipient of the F. Hilton Page Memorial Prize, awarded to a graduating student whose thesis is judged to be outstanding.Â
- Congratulations to George Arnott, who is the 2024 recipient of the Roland Puccetti Memorial Award for the best essay submitted by a student in a 3000- or 4000-level class. George’s essay is entitled "The Virtuous Cohort" Habituation and Character-Friendship as Rational Motivators for Aristotelian Courage.