The aim of LMASRP is to coordinate and stimulate research on two themes:
Examples of specific topics that fit into the first theme are: logical analyses of paraconsistent reasoning, reasoning under uncertainty, defeasible reasoning, abduction, causal reasoning, induction, analogical reasoning, belief revision, reasoning about action and norms, erotetic reasoning (i.e. reasoning about questions), argumentation. Examples of specific topics that fit into the second theme are: methodological and epistemological analyses of causation and mechanisms, scientific explanation, scientific discovery, the structure of scientific theories and models, experiments and thought experiments, theory choice, theory dynamics, conceptual change, scientific expertise. The two selected themes are central to the research of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of Ghent University, which is the core group of the proposed research community. All participating research centres do research on topics that fall into these themes (either with respect to scientific reasoning in general or with a focus on specific sciences, e.g. mathematics or the cognitive sciences).
In order to coordinate and stimulate research on these themes, we plan three types of actions: (1) Our most important activity is a workshop series with the title Logic, Reasoning & Rationality. The plan is to organize 2 two-day workshops at Ghent University every year. See http://www.lrr.ugent.be/ for more information. (2) The other Flemish partners (the centres in Brussels and Antwerp) will each organise a larger international conference on a relevant topic or set of topics in the 5-year period of the cooperation (2016-2020). The VUB Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science intends to organise a conference on logical and methodological analyses of reasoning processes in mathematics. The UA Centre for Philosophical Psychology plans to organise an international conference on causality and causal reasoning in the sciences. (3) We set up an exchange scheme for our postdoctoral researchers. |