Huygens' Debate with Newton over universal gravity; Imperial secrecy, and map-making Damon Linker has a very interesting new piece (here) on what he calls “American Caesarism” (largely behind a paywall, alas). I mention it not because it generously mentions (and really gets) one of my...

Huygens' Debate with Newton over universal gravity; Imperial secrecy, and map-making

open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Indeed!

Yes, I thought so too.

Fascinating, thank you!

The man who coined the term genocide, Raphael Lemkin, defined it as a greater atrocity than mass murder explicitly because it involves the intentional killing of a civilization.

Portrait of Emile Du Chatelet at desk with books, compass, armillary sphere (source: Wiki)

Titlepage and frontispiece of the third edition Newton's Principia (source Wiki)

Submissions (< 10,000 words) invited for 2026 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics. Topic Celebrating 300th anniversary of 3rd ed. Newton’s Principia.
www.duchateletprize.org
Winner will receive $1000, workshop & SHPS pub
Open to grad students & w/in 5 yrs PhD
Deadline September 1, 2026 #HPS

Referee of the Year 2025 | Auxiliary Hypotheses | BJPS The Editors are delighted to announce the BJPS Referee of the Year for 2025

Referee of the Year 2025: Not all heroes wear capes (though ours are always masked)

www.thebsps.org/auxhyp/refer...

#philsci #philsky #hps

Part of a great special issue on human science measurement edited by @erantal.bsky.social @alessandrabasso.bsky.social and @cristianlarph.bsky.social!

Lessons for human science measurement from the quantification of earthquake size It remains controversial whether the human sciences can quantify the phenomena they study. The feasibility of quantification is usually assessed by id…

Now out: How did earthquakes come to have a (quantitative) size? How can we quantify without experimental control? @cristianlarph.bsky.social and I answer both questions and show their implications for human science measurement.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#philsci #histsci #seismology

Yichen Luo & Eugene Y. S. Chua, De-Idealizing De-Idealization: Beyond Full Reversal - PhilPapers There is a question of whether de-idealization is needed for justified use of -- for 'checking' -- idealizations. We argue that the standard philosophical account of de-idealization has become too ide...

My paper with @yichenluo.bsky.social has been accepted for publication at @thebjps.bsky.social! We argue that standard pictures of de-idealization are themselves idealized, and develop a practice-first account of de-idealization for validating idealized models. Preprint: philpapers.org/rec/LUODDB

Thank you!

Thanks, Thomas!

Thanks, Teru!!

Thank you *Michela* (apologize for my spellcheck - in my defense, I am frequently turned into a "Michael" myself...)

Thank you, Alisa! I am very honoured. Some big footsteps to fill...

Thank you, Michaela!

Promotional poster for the XIV Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences. The poster features a dark green background with stylized yellow and red floral illustrations around the edges. Large yellow text announces the workshop title. The event will take place 18–19 June at UNED, Edificio de Humanidades, Paseo de la Senda del Rey 7, Madrid. The keynote speakers listed are Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven), Enara García (SDU), and José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (UNED). The poster highlights a Call for Abstracts (CfA) with an extended deadline of 1st February. Contact information is provided at xivpbcs@gmail.com

Final days to submit an abstract to #PBCS2026! If you are an early-career scholar looking for a supportive environment to discuss your work & meet international peers, consider applying! Another plus this year: The workshop will be in Madrid! sites.google.com/view/xivpbcs... #HPbio #philsci #philsky

Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95 ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.

Yes, of course, I do know Greg and always happy to talk earthquakes. My work (a bit of which is on intensity/hazard, again not landslides per se) has been mostly collaborative with @cristianlarph.bsky.social. The best resource for philosophy of seismology more broadly is @terumiyake.bsky.social.

There is some work more broadly on seismic hazard too by Luca Zanetti et. al. (IUSS Pavia) and Li-An Yu (National Taiwan Normal University). Both of them are also contributing to the handbook I mentioned.

Thanks Marabel! I saw Melvina Ongaro (Milan Polytechnic) give a nice talk on causal inference in landslide hazard research, and she is writing a piece about rationality and hazard for our forthcoming Philosophy of Geoscience handbook with Elsevier.

Good to know that there are more of us. Someone has to keep up the mood these days!

Topics Please see below for a non-exhaustive list of suggested topics; we particularly welcome contributions that make contact with this year's conference theme: Ground Truth and Validity. While the notion of measurement validity is comparatively familiar, ground truth may need more of an introduction. The concept of ground truth has origins in remote sensing, where it is used to contrast the outcomes of a near or ground level measurement with outcomes of a remotely sensed measurement. From these origins, the concept has now moved to a wider use, particularly in machine learning contexts, where it denotes data assumed to be true, which can then be used to calibrate and validate machine learning data. The time seems ripe for a more careful investigation from a measurement perspective of the concept of ground truth-both in its original understanding and in its more metaphorical use. Measurement and Simulation • Connections between measuring and simulating • Can simulation substitute for measurement? Measurement and Data Science

Measurement and Data Science • Measurement and data quality • Measurement and data analysis • Measurement and Al Models in Measurement • The role of models in measurement • The role of models in justifying measurement results • Models, intersubjectivity, objectivity, validation Models of Measurement • The general structure of the measurement process • The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement

The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement • Exploration across sciences with diverse philosophical perspectives • New quantification and measurement approaches • Epistemological and metaphysical approaches to measurement Measurement Applications and their conceptual foundations in any area of science • Life & Health Sciences

CFP: Society for the Study of Measurement will be held at the University of Edinburgh
June 22-25, 2026. Submit proposals for papers, symposia, & poster on any topics in the theory, history, philosophy, & application of measurement by January 15, 2026 app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/80364...
#HPS

How long are you staying in Japan? Did you move there permanently?!

Asian Philosophy of Science Association (APSA) Conference 2026

There's about a month left to submit something to the Asian Philosophy of Science Association's inaugural conference! Consider submitting an abstract, and encouraging early-career scholars (especially those from or based in Asia) to submit an essay for the APSA Essay Prize.

The next conference of the Society for the Study of Measurement will take place at Edinburgh on 22-25 June.

Call for papers and symposia opens Nov 15 and closes Jan 15.

Submissions via app.oxfordabstracts.com/auth?redirec...

Oh, I just taught that too, but my method truly pales in comparison to yours.

A fantastic kickoff tonight of the Boston Network for History & Philosophy of Physics, organized by @miguelohn.bsky.social & featuring talk by Peter Galison on his work with the Black Hole Initiative. #HPS ⚛️

New History & Philosophy of Physics network in Boston! Join us: open to locals and visitors. Check out the inaugural colloquium program & sign up to our mailing list and register for the inaugural lecture given by Peter Galison: www.bu.edu/cphs/boston-...

#philsci #histsci #philsky

Forgot: #philsky #philsci #histsci