Futures of Science (by Veli Virmajoki)

Note: This is a longer version of the review published here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy-of-science/article/abs/review-of-paul-a-roths-the-philosophical-structure-of-historical-explanation/3F91E3462834E56669B4379A11A819D2 The philosophical structure of historical explanation.Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2020, 208 pp Roth’s book is rich and intense. In a relatively short space, it seeks to locate historiographical explanations within our general metaphysical and epistemic predicaments. Understanding the argumentative nuances of the book […]

In his paper “Speaking of Facts: or, Reality without Realism,” Paul Roth criticizes the arguments I present in my work “A Deceiving Resemblance: Realism Debates in Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Historiography”.[1] Roth’s critique of my position in his paper reveals several fundamental issues that are symptomatic of broader issues in philosophy of historiography. […]

I have always loved these lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” (1980): “Now those memories come back to haunt me They haunt me like a curse Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true Or is it something worse“ They sound true at first. But when you look closer, they are actually quite […]

Ideas generated with Mika-Petri Laakkonen – a forthcoming paper. 1. Introduction Time and temporality lie at the heart of futures research. Foundational works in the field have called for a closer examination of the role of time in human lives and future-making processes. However, discussions about time in futures research have been sporadic and often […]

Read the original post in this site: https://sites.utu.fi/sfi/news/interdisciplinarity-future In our foresight project, one of the main themes that requires answers is the future of the university as an organization based on individual disciplines. What are the roles of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the future and how are they related in each other within a university? […]

Here is a link to the text I wrote about the Delphi survey we conducted in our university. The text can be also found below. https://sites.utu.fi/sfi/news/university-of-turkus-delphi-survey-insights/ In the University of Turku, a Delphi survey was conducted in order to better understand the future of universities and higher education. The survey was part of the university’s […]

This is a repost from https://sites.utu.fi/sfi/news/leveraging-knowledge-for-strategy/ As universities face growing uncertainty and complexity regarding their futures, having effective tools to analyze the external landscape and inform strategy is crucial. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review was produced as part of the project Analysis of the International Operating Environment of the University of Turku and Global […]

I realized it is been a few months since my last post here. I have been completely immersed in an extensive research and analysis project that has consumed all my time and mental energy lately. Without breaching confidentiality, I was commissioned to conduct a literature review synthesizing research insights on the future of universities globally. […]

This talk argues for the value of using philosophy of science to construct scenarios about possible futures of science. Scenarios are structured descriptions of hypothetical future situations and events. Philosophy provides theoretical resources for scenario construction by offering accounts of scientific change. Different philosophical theories lead to different scenarios, revealing unique possibilities for the future. […]

In this post, I discuss what is peculiar in the debate over realism in philosophy of history when compared to realism-debate in philosophy of science. I argue that the arguments for historical antirealism are of a poor quality or, at least, unclear. Scientific realism can be characterized in three theses: The Metaphysical Thesis: The world […]

The post is based on a lecture given to researchers in human and social sciences. Science and Its Futures In this post, I want to discuss about how we can think about potential futures for scientific research and consider our role in shaping those futures responsibly, with a focus on the human and social sciences. […]

A quote from a review report: This is how philosophers of science understand futures research. I get the same criticism about the field as such every time I write to PoS journal. Some thoughts: Yes, surely scientists in a domain can and do study possible outcomes in that domain. However, understanding the futures of interesting […]