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Join the Department of Philosophy for the following presentation:
How the Earth Got Its Moon: On justly scientific stories about the past
Guest Speaker: Craig Fox (Department of Philosophy)
Day/Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: M1040 (Markin Hall)
Planetary scientists tell us that the Moon formed in the aftermath of a giant impact between Earth and another Mars-sized planetesimal some 4 billion years ago. This is a theory quite unlike the kinds of theories that we ordinarily think of when we think of this thing called “science.” Although the Western conception of science emphasizes this, scientists don’t just study the present and make predictions about what they’ll observe. Indeed, a surprising amount of scientific work has much in common with the investigation into the origin of the Moon. Many scientists study one-of-a-kind events that occurred very long ago. As a philosopher, I want to know how this kind of scientific knowledge is possible and what its possibility tells us about the nature of scientific inquiry. How can we assess scientific narratives about the past?
Contact:
Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | (403) 380-1894 | ulethbridge.ca/artsci/philosophy