Second Biennial Conference of the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (University of Minnesota, 18–20 June 2009)

Abstract

The Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) held its second biennial con ference at the University of Minnesota on 18-20 June 2009, with superb local organization by Douglas Allchin. SPSP was founded in 2006 by an international group of scholars with the mission of encouraging work in the philosophy of science focused on the study of scientific practice and the role of science in practical realms of life. SPSP welcomes participation not only from professional philosophers and other science-studies scholars with practice-oriented concerns, but also from philosophically concerned practitioners in science, engineering, medicine and other technical fields. The inaugural SPSP conference was held in 2007 at the University of Twente (in Enschede, The Netherlands) under Mieke Boon's direction. The third biennial conference will be hosted by the University of Exeter in England in 2011, with Sabina Leonelli, Staffan M?ller-Wille and John Dupr? taking the lead. There will be a call in 2011 for bids to host the fourth conference in 2013, with a preference for North American locations other things being equal. The 2009 meeting in Minnesota, as with the Twente meeting, featured a high-quality program with a very healthy degree of diversity in the topics and approaches represented.