Cain Todd: Beauty in Science

Srdečně zveme na přednášku, kterou prosloví dr. Cain Todd (University of Lancaster).

Abstract: This lecture explores the role of aesthetic judgements in science. It is prima facie puzzling how beauty could play any genuine epistemic role in scientific theorising, and yet many prominent scientists have claimed just such a role for it. We can try to resolve the puzzle by looking closely at the nature of aesthetic judgement in general, as well as at the more specific aesthetic claims made by scientists. I will explore some different philosophical accounts of the role of beauty in science, focussing particularly on James McAllister’s ‘Aesthetic Induction’, as well as on the view I have defended which can be characterised as a reductive scepticism about the meaning of supposedly aesthetic judgements in science. Finally, I will look at some recent work on the notion of fluency in psychology as a way of understanding how judgements and experiences of beauty can play an epistemic role in disclosing truth.