01.01.2010 - 31.12.2014
Promotors: Erik Weber and Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Researchers: Laszlo Kosolosky, Rogier De Langhe

This project focuses on the role of the novice, the expert(s) and society in dealing with scientific expertise. The relation between experts and stakeholders will be studied from three viewpoints: the non-expert or novice one (who is demanding adequate expertise), the expert's (who is supplying expertise), and the societal viewpoint (that is providing the institutional context and its norms in which the exchange between novice and expert takes place). Each of these players can be ascribed some form of responsibility. Spelling out each of the responsibilities as well as making the connections amongst them philosophically explicit, is the overarching aim of this project.

01.10.2011 - 30.09.2014
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Leen De Vreese
Funding Agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University

I will analyse how medical science tries to achieve scientific understanding of health problems by investigating (1) the characteristics, necessity and peculiarities of scientific understanding in medicine, and (2) how medical scientists try to make sense of disease states for which (part of) the causal information is missing. I will also analyse the implications of my findings for some actual debates in the philosophy of medicine.

01.10.2011 - 30.09.2014
Fellow: Peter Verdée
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

I shall provide several non-standard theories for mathematics. Such theories aim to solve inherent problems of the failed project of providing a strong foundation for mathematics by means of standard mathematical theories. The non-standard theories are meant as formalizations of mathematics that provide a philosophical pragmatic foundation for mathematical practices and results. The underlying logic of the theories I shall investigate is a non-monotonic adaptive logic, respectively the rich non-transitive paraconsistent logic CLminus. Precisely the deviant properties of these logics, i.e. non-monotonicity and non-transitivity, make it possible to tackle the problems of standard existing theories. More particularly, some of the theories I shall investigate are inconsistent but not trivial and at the same provide an explication for the validity of all of the established results within existing mathematical theories. In that sense they form a flexible and pragmatic foundation for the entire (relevant) domain of mathematics.

01.10.2011 - 30.09.2014
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Funding agency: BOF of Ghent University.

The general aim of this research project is to explicate formally defeasible reasoning forms (DRFs) by means of Adaptive Logics (ALs). Despite the fact that the standard format for ALs proved to be very useful for the formal characterization of many DRFs, it is suboptimal for some application contexts. The more specific aim of my research is hence to investigate the capacities and limits of the standard format and to generalize it if and where necessary. An efficient way to scrutinize this aim is to consider the many DRFs that were developed independently of the AL program (only some of them were `integrated' thus far).

01.01.2009 - 31.12.2013
Promotors: Erik Weber, Jeroen Van Bouwel and Maarten Van Dyck
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Researchers: Jan De Winter, Raoul Gervais

A pragmatic theory of scientific explanation can be characterized as follows: (1) it starts from the idea that why-questions originate in different epistemic interests, (2) it answers questions about the structure of explanations by taking into account (among other things) these epistemic interests, and (3) it answers questions about criteria of explanatory power by taking into account (among other things) these epistemic interests. In their past research, the promoters of this project have shown that such an approach is fruitful for analyzing debates on scientific explanation in history, the social sciences and psychology. In this project, the “system” is completed by (1) analyzing explanations in physics and the engineering sciences, and (2) explicating and elaborating the general idea of a pragmatic theory of scientific explanation. The project will contribute to debates in philosophy of technology (more specifically, about the structure of technological explanation, and about the reducibility of explanations of the functions of artifacts to explanations of their capacities), and will clarify how epistemic interests, explanatory requests, structures of scientific explanation, and criteria for explanatory power are related to each other.

01.01.2009 - 31.12.2013
Promotors: Joke Meheus and Diderik Batens
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

The general aim of this project is to study the structure and dynamics of values and norms from a formal logical point of view. Conflicts between values and/or norms will play a crucial role in this. These form the driving force in the dynamics of values and norms. Attempts to solve evaluative and normative conflicts may mean that some values and/or norms are questioned and that some norms and/or values are replaced or that their significance is reconsidered.

01.01.2007 - 31.10.2013
Promotors: Diderik Batens, Erik Weber, Joke Meheus and Kristof De Clercq
Funding Agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University
Researchers: Christian Strasser and Rafal Urbaniak

The project aims at developing a methodology for scientific problem solving which is exact (from a logical point of view) but also takes into account the context-dependence of problem solving.

01.10.2009 - 30.09.2013
Promotors: Erik Weber and Maarten Van Dyck
Doctoral guidance committee: Arianna Betti
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
PhD fellow: Jan Willem Wieland

This research project is on regress arguments in philosophy. The goal of the project is three-fold: (1) collect regress arguments from many philosophical debates, (2) investigate what they have in common, viz. set up argument schemas of which they can be an instance, and (3) provide guidelines for using and evaluating them.

01.10.2009 - 30.09.2013
Promotors: Erik Weber and Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
PhD fellow: Jan De Winter

Certain social groups are inadequately represented in the scientific community. This can undermine the quality of the different sciences. The project aims at the development of a theory that can help us improve the quality of scientific knowledge by paying attention to, among others, the social aspects of the processes in which such knowledge is constituted.

01.10.2010 - 30.09.2013
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Dagmar Provijn
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

This project will contribute in two ways to the formal study of problem solving processes within the adaptive logic program.
The first aim is to continue the research on goal-directed proof procedures. These proof procedures incorporate part of the heuristic reasoning in cases where more is required than mere sound reasoning according to a specific logic.
They also facilitate the determination of further heuristic principles to obtain proofs that are goal-directed, elegant and in a certain sense relevant and efficient.
The second aim is to reconstruct William Harvey’s discovery of the blood circulation as a problem solving process. This will provide insight in the methodological reasoning processes that were considered as sound by Harvey and his contemporaries. It will also render information on the adequacy of adaptive logics that form a formal explication of these reasoning processes.
Combining both research topics will result in the development of formal tools that play a central role in the formalization of problem solving processes. These formal tools not only explicate methodological reasoning forms but also incorporate heuristic principles that control the progress of this methodological reasoning.

01.10.2008 - 30.09.2012
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Bert Leuridan
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

By means of a formal framework using causal Bayesian nets I will model the causal structure of classical genetics, parts of cytology and parts of molecular genetics. I will also analyse the relations between the respective networks of these theories. This will allow me to approach the debate on intertheoretic reduction in genetics adequately.

01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Steffen Ducheyne
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

Newton lag aan de basis van een empirisch-theoretisch onderzoeksprogramma waarin men blijvend de discrepantie tussen data en theorie tot een minimum diende te herleiden en diende aan te tonen dat de theorie nieuwe fenomenen kan verklaren en voorspellen. Dit programma werd vooral tijdens de 18de en 19de eeuw gerealiseerd. Deze periode in de ontwikkeling van de mechanica en astronomie, waarin de gravitatiewet voordurend getest en verfijnd werd, wordt hier zowel historisch als systematisch benaderd. Het doel van dit onderzoeksproject is antwoord te geven op de volgende vragen: (1) Wat was de empirische evidentie die (1a) Newton bezat ter ondersteuning van de theorie van universele gravitatie en wat was (1b) de evidentie hiervoor in de generaties na Newton?, (2) Door middel van welke experimentele procedures werd dit gerealiseerd? (3) Welke idealisaties en abstracties veronderstellen deze procedures? (4) In welk opzicht waren de post-Newtoniaanse idealisaties en abstracties superieur aan de voorgaande? (5) Wat zijn de belangrijkste methodologische en experimentele innovaties en verbeteringen op dit vlak? Op basis van een grondige historische studie van de ontwikkeling van de mechanica en astronomie tijdens deze periode worden de belangrijkste methodologische, experimentele, model-theoretische en representationele evoluties in kaart gebracht. Hierbij is onlosmakelijk een wetenschapsfilosofische vraagstelling gekoppeld.

01.10.2009 - 30.09.2012
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Researcher: Giuseppe Primiero

Rationality in today's information society is a highly complex phenomenon. The exchange of data defining the agents' epistemic actions is a novel formal element to take into account in the normative description of their ways of reasoning. The main task of this research is to provide such a model by formalizing collective knowledge in terms of modal judgements based on assumptions. Its key objectives are: 1. to define a notion of knowledge on the basis of relevant information; 2. to use modalities to formalize the agents' epistemic attitudes; 3. to design a multi-source and multi-receiver language for individually acceptedand distributed knowledge. I focus on information exchange and knowledge assertions within a constructive modal language. The multi-source and multi-receiver language includes 1) a notion of trust, to relate agents in the same communication group, and 2) a notion of priority, to model relations of reliable knowledge exchange. Applications of such a model are: the verification and nature of programs in distributed systems; the definition of knowledge in the context of information retrieval based processes; the explanation of information cascades from economics.

01.10.2008 - 30.09.2011
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Peter Verdée
Funding Agency: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)

This project concerns an investigation into three aspects of the relation between mathematics and adaptive logics (AL’s): I investigate how (a) AL’s can be used for the formal modeling of the mathematical practice, (b) AL’s can solve problems of the foundations of mathematics, and (c) mathematical techniques can be used for the abstract study of AL’s.

01.10.2008 - 30.09.2011
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Stephan van der Waart van Gulik
Funding Agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University

The goal of this project is to further develop fuzzy logics that (i) can deal with conceptual information in a more realistic and profound way and (hence) (2) are more closely related to natural language use.

01.01.2007 - 30.06.2011
Promotors: Erik Weber and Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Researcher: Leen De Vreese

Explanations of diseases can result from a biological, psychological or social science approach. This project examines how these approaches relate to each other in the biomedical sciences. Should they be integrated? Are they, on the other hand, incompatible? Etc. We will address these questions by comparing the causal concepts, methodology and forms of explanation applied in these different approaches.

01.10.2006 - 30.09.2010
Ph.D. Fellowship
Fellow: Rogier De Langhe
Promotors: Erik Weber and Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

Recently a number of very interesting contributions were made on the role of models in the acquisition of scientific knowledge. This has consequences for the prevailing interpretation of traditional problems in the philosophy of social science, like realism, causality and explanation. Surprisingly, no elaborate model-based accounts have been put forth. Consequently, the goal of my research project is to engage in filling up this void by applying recent developments in the philosophy of science to these fundamental debates. I will focus on the social sciences, building on contemporary research strands that favour a conception of models applicable beyond the natural sciences. Economics being the social science most pervaded by models, the case studies I will be dealing with shall mostly be derived from this field of study.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Albrecht Heeffer
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

The project aims to provide a contribution to the epistemology of mathematics, in particular on the role of symbols. Based on a previous study on the emergence of symbolic algebra during the sixteenth century we compare Renaissance algebra with algebraic practice in the Arab world, China, Japan and India. Our working hypothesis is that the symbolism in European mathematics lead to the idea of a mathesis universalis, a universal symbolic language which functioned as a normative model for acquiring truth and certainty. Symbolism thus provided Western science a competitive methodological advantage on Eastern traditions.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

The project wants (a) to clarify the relation between (im)partiality and scientific pluralism, (b) scrutinize and compare different conceptions of scientific objectivity, and (c) integrate the results of (a) and (b) within my framework for understanding scientific pluralism.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Dagmar Provijn
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

The overall objective of this project is the development of a method that allows for the systematic generation of a goal-directed proof procedure for a given logic. This systematic method will provide a means to perspicuously formulate an inference system and a matching heuristics for a given logic.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Hans Lycke
Funding agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University

The aim of the project is threefold: (1) to construct a general formal theory of relevance in reasoning, (2) to develop a philosophically satisfying characterization of the semantics of the relevant logics developed, and (3) to use the notions of "relevant deduction" and "relevant implication" for solving problems within philosophy of science.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2010
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Liesbeth De Mol
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

The aim of this project is to evaluate the significance of ``mechnanized'' or ``computer-assisted'' mathematics for the philosophy of mathematics. Our main focus will be on the actual interactions between the mathematician and the computer, and how this interaction has changed over time. This will be done by (a) tracing the usages of the computer within mathematics throughout history (starting 1946) offering detailed case analyses, including reconstructions of actual examples (b) analysing the (ongoing) discussions between mathematicians concerning the significance of ``mechanized mathematics''

01.01.2005 - 31.12.2009
Promotors: Diderik Batens and Joke Meheus
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Researchers: Peter Verdée, Mathieu Beirlaen and Frederik Van De Putte

The aim of this project is to elaborate a formal approach to problem solving. We shall elaborate a formally characterized kind of sequences of problems (in the narrow sense of sets of questions) and declarative statements. The construction of the sequence will be governed by a procedure which depends on the logical context of the problem. The resulting format, which somewhat resembles that of proofs, will then be extended by means to introduce 'new premises'.

01.01.2005 - 31.12.2009
Promotors: Erik Weber and Tim De Mey
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Researchers: Robrecht Vanderbeeken, Anton Froeyman, Jan Willem Wieland

The aims of this project are (1) to develop an integrated methodology for both the definition of and the solution to problems in ontology, and (2) the application of this methodology to two important ontological domains, i.e. (2a) causality and (2b) properties.

01.01.2006 - 31.12.2009
Research project of the NCNL-CNRL (Nationaal Centrum voor Navorsingen in de Logica / Centre National de Recherches de Logique).
Coordinator: Joke Meheus
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders and Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Cooperation between all Belgian centres for logic (see NCNL-CNRL).

01.10.2006 - 30.09.2009
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Steffen Ducheyne
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

In my post-doctoral research I seek to further develop my attempt to construct a philosophically relevant history of science. More precisely, I shall study Newton's methodological influence on the work of two notable Victorians: William Whewell and John S. Mill. I will focus on their (1) ontology, (2) epistemology, and (3) scientific and philosophical methodology.

01.10.2006 - 30.09.2009
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Maarten Van Dyck
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

The main goal of the project is to investigate the diverse ways the unity of a machine was being conceptualized around 1600. This date is of course not accidentally chosen, as it is situated at the beginning of the so-called scientific revolution. The motivation behind this project is to come to a much more precise understanding of this much debated rethinking of the ideals for a science of nature. The general idea of a machine not only provided an important metaphor, but its particular conceptualizations were also an important source for some of the most important conceptual and methodological innovations.

01.10.2008 - 30.09.2009
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Giuseppe Primiero
Funding Agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University

I will use a modal constructive logical framework to model the relation between information and knowledge in reasoning procedures of the form: “provided that informations x,y,z are verified, the collective of agents A has justified knowledge K”. Such reasoning forms appear implicitly in a number of everyday situations, being the basis of intelligent interactions and collective decision procedures.

01.10.2007 - 30.09.2009
Ph. D. Fellowship
Fellow: Dunja Seselja
Promotors: Erik Weber and Joke Meheus
Funding Agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University

The research is devoted to the notion of rationality and its dynamics underlying scientific practice, especially in the times of scientific revolutions. The aim of the research is to discuss the following issues:
1. The stability and identity of research traditions. What sort of changes can a research tradition sustain before it is seen as a new one? Is it at all possible to delineate research traditions by means of strict criteria?
2. The concept of scientific revolution. Is there a difference between the most prominent conceptions of scientific revolutions in the field of philosophy of science and ways in which this term has been used in the history of sciences?
3. The rationality of pursuit decisions. Can a decision to pursue one research tradition rather than another one be rational?
4. The rationality of theory choice and its modeling in terms of argumentation frameworks.
These questions will be answered by means of historical case studies. The cases will be analysed from three perspectives: a formal-logical one, an argumentation-theoretic one, and a language-philosophical one.

01.01.2001 - 31.10.2008
Promotors: Diderik Batens and Erik Weber.
Funding agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University.
Researchers: Leen De Vreese, Lieven Haesaert, Hans Lycke, Giuseppe Primiero, Christian Strasser, Rafal Urbaniak and Isabelle Drouet

Although it is generally acknowledged that the two most influential research traditions of the twentieth century philosophy of science,---namely the 'logistic' program of the logical positivists (Carnap, Neurath, Schlick, Hempel, Reichenbach) and the 'historicist' program (e.g. Feyerabend, Hanson, and Kuhn)---, have failed in important respects, it is nevertheless an important challenge for contemporary philosophy of science to combine and integrate the correct insights of both programs. What we need is a methodology which is contextual, but nevertheless provides insight into the general mechanisms underlying scientific research. This methodology must on the one hand be formal: only in this way it can be exact and precise. On the other hand it has to incorporate the view that science is basically a problem-solving process. Due to the incomplete and sometimes even inconsistent character of the contextual information that guides actual problem-solving processes, dynamic reasoning patterns are beneficial. Adaptive logics provide an explication of inference patterns which allow for revision and rejection of formerly accepted inferences.
The global aim of this project is to elaborate a formal methodology for central problem fields from philosophy of science: inductive generalization, abduction, scientific explanation, causality, discovery, functional analysis and theory-dynamics. The ultimate goal is that by means of (corrective, ampliative and combined) adaptive logics the methodology would enable one to generate, on the basis of the specific properties of a problem as it appeared in its historical context, a formal problem-solving process that forms an explication for the historical process as it actually took place.

01.10.2004 - 01.10.2008
Promotor: Joke Meheus
Funding agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University
Researcher: Stephan van der Waart van Gulik

The goal of this research project is to develop formal insight in the following pair of questions: (1) what is the relation between standard Boolean-valued logics and the contemporary non-standard fuzzy logics and (2) what is the actual relation between formal logics and the inherent 'deep' structure of reality? Given that objectivist rationalism, the most important school of thought in this context, fails to validate its main statements because of fundamental methodological problems, the research methodology is based upon findings and experimentation within the realm of neural computing. Insight in these relations can have important effects on different areas of research such as ontology (e.g. can there be vague objects?) and AI (insight in the `logical modus existendi' of reality creates the opportunity to develop more accurate descriptive formal languages).

01.10.2004 - 30.09.2008
Ph. D. Fellowship.
Fellow: Bert Leuridan
Promotors: Joke Meheus and Erik Weber
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).

The traditional criteria for lawlikeness are rarely met in the special sciences (biology, economy, social sciences, etc.). These sciences seem almost never to discover universal, exceptionless regularities. Nevertheless, they are capable of explanation, prediction and manipulation of the world, acts for which laws of nature are traditionally thought to be indispensable. The aim of this project is to develop new conceptual tools to understand laws in the special sciences and to tackle such problems as their demarcation from accidental regularities, their truth-conditions, their confirmation and falsification, etc. The resulting theory will provide a basis for developing (adaptive) logics that enable us to reason about laws of nature in a formally precise way. Finally, the conceptual tools and the logics will be applied to some well-known cases from several (special) sciences.

01.10.2005 - 30.09.2008
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Kristof De Clercq
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

The aim of this project is first to study in depth and extend some modules indispensable for the development of adequate dialogue models. First, these modules can be used for building one or more dialogue models of cooperative interaction, e.g. a model for problem solving (both in everyday as in scientific contexts) through dialogue. Later, these models can be modified to cope with non-cooperative, competitive dialogues, that occur, for instance, in legal and also in scientific contexts.

01.10.2005 - 30.09.2008
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Wim Christiaens
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

My main goal is to develop a structuralist and process ontology based upon by Apostel’s worldviews project by means of structural scientific realism and philosophy of symbolic forms. More specifically, I will elaborate the conceptual framework of an ontology in which both the related notions `structure’, `relation’ and `function’ as well as the related notions of `process’ and `activity’ are combined into the concept `being’. As a basis, I will use Leo Apostel’s ontology in which `being’ is analysed in terms of the concepts `system’ and `non-nomological singular causality’. My ontology will be devised in such a way that the notion `being’ relates to questions concerning the meaning of life and lived experience and incorporates the ontological commitments of scientific theories. Next to Apostel’s work, also Ernst Cassirer’s `Philosophie der symbolischen Formen' (PSF) will play a prominent role in the project. PSF is both a structuralist as well as a process philosophy. I will use elements of PSF for the meaning/experience dimension of my ontology.

01.10.2004 - 30.09.2007
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

This project focusses on how the idea of scientific pluralism affects (decisions taken in) science policy. Once the idea that there is an agenda set for our inquiries by nature, is left behind, and replaced with a very different view of inquiry, one that allows a place for human values and human interests in the constitution of the goals of the sciences, the public (and democratic) involvement in science policy becomes an important topic of reflection. The project has three components:
(a) developing a comprehenisve framework to understand pluralism in science;
(b) clarifying the relation between cognitive/rational interests in science and social/cultural interests;
(c) analysing decision models in science policy, and their relation with scientific pluralism and democracy.

01.10.2003 - 30.09.2007
Promotor: Erik Weber
Funding agency: Special Research Fund of Ghent University
Researcher: Liesbeth De Mol

What do we mean when we say something is computable? This was exactly the question that lies at the roots of some results from the twenties and thirties, that, together with Gödel’s incompleteness results, touched upon the fundaments of mathematics and logic. Emil Post, Alonzo Church as well as Alan Turing showed there exist certain decision problems within the body of mathematics, which cannot be solved through finite procedure, i.e. no algorithm will generate a solution in a finite time. Despite the mathematical character of this result, it is a philosophical kind of argumentation that is fundamental for these results: the proofs are only valid in as far one accepts the general thesis of identifying our intuitive notion of computability with certain formalisms such as Turing machines. It is exactly this identification that will be questioned within the context of this research. Closely related to this question is the link between the theoretical developments and methods within the context of unsolvability and the so-called “discourse” of the computational systems the theory is about.
This research will consist of two parts. A first part concerns a more historical analysis of the notions computability and unsolvability, and starts from an analysis of the original texts by Church, Post and Turing. It will be shown how the actual “discourse” of the formalisms developed by Church and Post (and to a lesser extent Turing) was fundamental for the formulation of their respective theses. In this first part, it will furthermore be shown how the results by Church, Post and Turing, are connected to the physical realization of the notion of computability, i.e. the computer. The computer has made it possible to directly access the behaviour of the formalisms it can be considered the physical realization of, and, in this way, made more explicit the notion of experiment within the framework of mathematics. Furthermore, the computer plays an important role in the recent discussions one Turing’s thesis.
The second part of this research focuses on a a specific class of computational systems, called tag systems, developed by Emil Post in the early twenties. On the basis of a thorough study of these systems, it will be argued that research on the behaviour of certain computational systems might be basic in the context of research on the limits of solvability. In this second part, computer experiments should thus be considered as an indispensable method. It will be shown here that tag systems could serve as a complementary framework to further study the limits of solvability: they are not only basic to the known small universal machines, but, as will be proven, a certain hard number theoretical problem called the Collatz-problem, can be reduced to a very small tag system. This last result indicates that the limits of solvability in tag systems are lower than those in Turing machines. Furthermore, it will be argued why tag systems can play an important role in the context of research on the solvability line, independent of the universality line. Finally, the study of tag systems, will be linked to the discussions on Turing’s thesis from the first part.

01.10.2002 - 30.09.2006
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Steffen Ducheyne.
Promotor: Erik Weber
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

This project aims at correcting and completing the standard view of the implicit and explicit beliefs on causality and explanation of natural philosophers, often anachronistically referred to as ‘scientists’ (here: from late sixteenth-century until early eighteenth-century). The chosen line of approach will be the contemporary theories on causation and scientific explanation. In order to perform this (re-)evaluation in-depth the project will focus on three important natural philosophers active in the domain of physics and/or astronomy: (1) Galileo Galilei (1664-1642), (2) Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and (3) Isaac Newton (1642-1727). With regard to the correction of the standard view, the following questions will be dealt with: questions concerning the ‘mechanistic’ and ‘proto-positivistic’ character of causality and explanation, the disappearance of causae finales (and the primacy of causae efficientes), …etc. As far as completing the standard view is concerned, innumerable questions/problems - which are obvious from the chosen perspective, but received little attention – will be tackled (e.g., the role of unification versus causal explanation).

01.10.2002 - 30.09.2006
Ph. D. Fellowship
Fellow: Maarten Van Dyck
Promotor: Erik Weber
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

How do physical theories confront reality? This is the central question I want to tackle in my research. To this end I will study issues related to theory-structure (the notion of a physical model will be my main focus) and to the nature of experimental practice (here I will concentrate on the distinction between data and phenomena). Two complementary aspects of the relation theory-experiment will be considered: on the one hand formal questions (what does it mean for a theory to be empirically adequate? when is an experiment a good test for a theory? which kind of explanations must a theory offer for experimental results?…), on the other hand questions having to do with the dynamics of scientific practice (in which way do experimentally established phenomena play a role in the development of new applications of theories? how are experiments to investigate theoretically predicted phenomena set up?…). Of course, it can be expected that both aspects cannot be fully understood independently.

01.10.2003 - 30.09.2006
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Tim De Mey
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

The aim of this project is to investigate to what extent the cognitive processes involved in (1) humour apprehension, (2) scientific discovery, and (3) thought experimentation, are similar. The starting point is the so-called incongruity-resolution theory of humour. After solving some preliminary problems, including defining core notions such as "incongruity" and "expectation" both rigorously and fruitfully, the logical tools will be developed that cognitive linguists need (1) to get a better grasp on the dynamics of humour apprehension, and (2) to enlarge the scope of the incongruity-resolution theory so that it also covers scientific discovery and thought experimentation.

01.06.1996 - 01.06.2006
Scientific Research Community.
Coordinator: Diederik Aerts.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Cooperation between the Centre Leo Apostel (Free University Brussels; promotor Diederik Aerts), the Centre for Metaphysics and Theology (Catholic University of Louvain; promotor Jan Van de Veken), the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (Ghent University; promotor Diderik Batens), SISTA (Catholic University of Louvain; promotor Bart De Moor), the Fernand Braudel Centre for the study of Economics, Historical Systems (promotor Immanuel Wallerstein), the Centre for Worldsviews, Life Philosophy and Philosophy of Science (Utrecht University for Humanist Studies; promotor Fons Elders), the Centre for Theoretical Studies (the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; promotor Ivan Havel), the Centre for Process Studies (Claremont; promotor David Griffin), and the Centre for Communication, Identity and Morality (Utrecht University; promotor Robert Maier).

The research network examines the constructions of world views that integrate our actual scientific knowledge. It concentrates on five main aspects; (1) a model of the world in which we live, (2) the explanatory power of a world view, (3) a model of evaluation, (4) a model for the process of model construction and (5) an integrated action model.

01.01.2004 - 31.12.2005
Promoters: Diderik Batens en Fernand Hallyn
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).
Research fellow: Albrecht Heeffer

In this study we will expand upon the hypothesis that the 16th-century tradition of master arithmeticians did influence the conceptual shift that has lead to a symbolic algebra. The origin and evolution of key concepts, and possible inconsistencies within these concepts (“number”, “unknown”, “equation” and “roots of equations”) will be analysed, with special focus on algebraical solutions with negative, irrational and imaginary numbers.

01.01.2002 - 31.12.2005
Research project of the NCNL-CNRL (Nationaal Centrum voor Navorsingen in de Logica / Centre National de Recherches de Logique).
Coordinator: Diderik Batens
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders and Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Cooperation between all Belgian centres for logic (see NCNL-CNRL).

01.10.2001 - 30.09.2005
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Isabel D'Hanis.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).

Meaning changes are an important element in scientific development. Traditional philosophy of science ignored this subject, but the last decades some important case studies were done. The aim of this project is to provide a theoretical background for these studies. Such questions as what meaning changes actually are and what there function is in science will be addressed. In view of the complexity of the subject, one angle is to limited and therefore, a joint approach will be used. Philosophy of language, philosophy of science and logic provide different views on the topic.

01.10.2001 - 30.09.2005
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Liza Verhoeven.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).

The development of logics is intended to obtain formalizations of human reasoning processes. The project focusses on a characteristic that has been insufficiently studied in the past, viz. dynamics aspects of reasoning. First, dynamic reasoning mechanisms will be extracted from real life texts (from the sciences as well as from everyday contexts). Next, formal languages will be designed that enable one to more adequately formalize sentences from natural languages with respect to context dependence and with respect to the time dependence of the meanings of words and expressions. Third, formal logics will be articulated that make use of the possibilities of the new formal languages and that reveal the extracted mechanisms. Fourth, it will be shown by applications that the new logics are capable to explicate more characteristic dynamic aspects of human reasoning than available logics and methods.

01.10.2002 - 30.09.2005
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Wim Christiaens
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders

My goal is to unify the core elements of Apostel’s metaphysics; i.e. his theory of causality, his systems theory and the concepts `symmetry’ and `symmetry breaking’, into a coherent and systematic set of theoretical principles. This will constitute an ontology which can be used as a basis for a worldview. This worldview will allows us to answer both metaphysical questions concerning for instance unity-plurality and determinism-freedom, as well as classical philosophical questions, e.g. “why is there something rather than nothing”, or “what is the meaning of life”. I will mainly consult Apostel’s earlier work on logic and epistemology, in particular his magnum opus `Matière et Form', and material related to Apostel’s metaphysics from other authors, e.g. Mario Bunge’s `Treatise on Basic Philosophy' and Alfred Whitehead’s `Process and Reality'.

01.01.2001 - 31.12.2004
Promotors: Diderik Batens and Joke Meheus
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (G.0131.01).
Researcher: Dagmar Provijn

The development of the adaptive logic programme forced us time and again to go beyond the traditional view on logic. The aim of the project is to develop and study adaptive logics that will enable us to gain better insights in a set of theoretical problems such as (i) the limits of adaptive logics and of dynamic proof theories, (ii) the relation between logical and heuristic rules– these turn out to be partly interchangeable, and (iii) the relations between inconsistency-adaptive and modal adaptive logics.

17.12.2001 - 17.12.2004
Coordinator: Erik Weber
Funding agency: The Flemish Minister for Science and Technology (BIL 01/80).
Co-operation between the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of Ghent University, the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of the (Flemish) Free University of Brussels (promotor Jean Paul Van Bendegem), the Department of Logic of the University of Torun, Poland (promotor Jerzy Perzanowski), and the Chair of Logic and Philosophy of Science of the University of Zielona Gora (promotor Adam Grobler).

01.10.1998 - 30.09.2004
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Kristof De Clercq.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

01.10.2003 - 30.09.2004
Postdoctoral Fellowship
Fellow: Jeroen Van Bouwel
Funding Agency: Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds Universiteit Gent

Understanding explanatory pluralism in the social sciences demands for an analysis of the role of pragmatic factors and epistemic motivations in providing explanations. Where I discussed pluralism qua explanations of social facts in my Ph.D.-thesis, this project will scrutinize explanations of causal relations and mechanisms in the social sciences, and analyze whether the framework for pluralism I have developed for explanations of social facts, works as well for these explanations. My account will be compared with accounts of critical realism and non-reductionist physicalism.

01.10.2001 - 30.09.2003
Promotors: Diderik Batens, Freddy Mortier and Alex Klijn.
Funding agency: The Flemish Government, Department of Science, Innovation and Media.
Researchers: Waltherus Klijn

The project aims at getting pupils enthusiastic about technology and science by actively involving them in the creative process of developing and building a Lego-robot. This practical application of computer science and technology will be used as a way to introduce more theoretical issues such as advantages and disadvantages of modern technology, consequences of modern technology for the portrayal of mankind, etc. The elaboration of the project involves the creation of a robot-laboratory at the department of philosophy and the development of a series of lessons for 9 different subjects: philosophy, religion, ethics, mathematics, technical-scientific education, computer science, electromechanics, electronics and electricity.

01.10.1999 - 30.09.2003
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Jeroen Van Bouwel.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

I am working at the crossroads of: philosophy of science, esp. social sciences, theoretical history, philosophy of history and the methodology of historical social sciences. More specifically, I am analyzing works produced in the areas of macro-history and historical sociology, international relations theory and economics, concentrating on the following topics: (1) How to develop a typology of the existing research done in the above mentioned areas? (2) What are the ontological and methodological presuppositions: individualism, relationalism or holism? How to relate micro- with macro-research? (3) What's the perspective taken by the researcher: participant or observer? God's eye or a contingent perspective? (4) Which forms of the explanation are used? Do they talk about "theory"? (5) Prospects for macro-history and historical social sciences in general.

01.10.2000 - 30.09.2003
Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Fellow: Joke Meheus.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

The aim of this project is twofold: (i) designing logical systems for some central forms of ampliative reasoning and (ii) elaborating the implications of these systems for the philosophy of science. The project will be restricted to the role of ampliative reasoning in the sciences and will mainly concentrate on creative forms of this phenomenon. Attention will be paid to ampliative reasoning in solving theoretical problems (explanation, prediction, hypothesis formation, ...) as well as in solving action problems (design of a new instrument, performing a new kind of experiment, ...). Moreover, both verbal and non-verbal variants of ampliative reasoning will be studied.

01.10.1999 - 30.09.2003
Fellowship for Research Assistant.
Fellow: Tim De Mey.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).

Most philosophical thought experiments are intended to play a role in rational theory choice. But it is not entirely clear whether (and if so, how) these instruments of controlled speculation can achieve that goal. The underlying idea of the project is that a careful analysis of how thought experiments actually work in natural and social sciences, should allow us to formulate a normative theory of the philosophical instances.

01.10.2002 - 31.03.2003
Project for the Flemish Academic Centre for Science and the Arts.
Fellows: Andrzej Wisniewski (Zielona Gora) and Diderik Batens.
Funding agency: The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

The project is directed at articulating a set of formal logics that provide useful means to explicate the dynamics of questions as well as the dynamics of reasoning that are typical for scientific inquiry.

01.01.1999 - 31.12.2002
Promotor: Erik Weber.
Funding Agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (3G001599)
Researcher: Robrecht Vanderbeeken

The aim of the project is to develop a philosophical view on teleological and functional explanations. Teleological explanations are causal explanations of actions, based on the desires and the beliefs of the agent. Functional explanations are causal explanations that give an answer to questions of the form: ``What is the function of E ?" , where E stands for human behaviour or a property of an object that is part of a system. This project includes a descriptive and a normative analysis of both sorts of explanation, in order to become applicable models of explanation.

01.09.2001 - 31.08.2002
Special Doctoral Grant.
Fellow: Brenda Casteleyn.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

Reality may be described in terms of external relations (entities have pre-existing properties) and in terms of internal relations (the properties are a consequence of the relation). These two ways of description are complementary. They are found in the work of different authors (Bohr, Whitehead, systems theory, Bohm, Löfgren, Prigogine). Bohr explicitly formulates a theory of complementarity, combining the two ways of description. How do other authors combine their two views of reality, is the concept of complementarity here also suitable as unifying concept? What are the implications of this complementary view on reality for the object-subject relation in epistemology? In contrast to the traditional view, where object and subject are postulated in terms of an external relation, I propose a 'complementary object-subject-relation'.

01.01.1998 - 31.12.2001
Research project of the NCNL-CNRL (Nationaal Centrum voor Navorsingen in de Logica / Centre National de Recherches de Logique).
Coordinator: Diderik Batens.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders and Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Cooperation between all Belgian centres for logic (see NCNL-CNRL).

21.12.1998 - 21.12.2001
Coordinator: Diderik Batens
Funding agency: The Flemish Minister for Science and Technology (BIL98/37).
Co-operation between the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of Ghent University, the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of the (Flemish) Free University of Brussels (promotor Jean Paul Van Bendegem), and the Department of Logic of the University of Torun, Poland (promotor Jerzy Perzanowski).

01.07.1999 - 28.02.2001
Coordinator: Diderik Batens.
Funding agencies: the Flemish Minister for Science and Education, Ghent University and the (Flemish) University of Brussels.
Co-operation between Ghent University and the (Flemish) Free University of Brussels (promotor Jean Paul Van Bendegem).
Researchers (Ghent only): Waltherus Klijn and Gitte Callaert.

At the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (University of Gent, Belgium) logic tutoring software has been fully integrated for more than ten years in the teaching of undergraduates. Prof. Dr. Batens has developed a tutoring programme, which excels in the interactive way it works. Since the current programme runs only under MS_DOS, it has been decided to create a further extension of the programme that will run under Windows. At the same time, this project gives us the opportunity, using the obtained experience, to make the new programme as user-friendly as possible and to adapt it to the latest didactic insights.

01.10.1997 - 30.09.2000
Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Fellow: Joke Meheus.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

The aim of this project is to develop a new model for the methodological study of creativity. A central starting point is that this study should focus on processes, not on products. The model will be based on a combination of a contextual approach to problem solving and some recent results on adaptive logics. The model should not only enable one to analyze and evaluate concrete creative processes, but also to design guidelines for the solution of ill-defined problems.

01.10.1999 - 30.09.2000
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.

The aim of the project is a to finish a logico-philosophical study (working title: "Adaptive Logics. A Study in the Dynamics of Reasoning, with special attention to handling inconsistency") on adaptive logics. The central theme are corrective adaptive logics (such as inconsistency-adaptive ones) as well as ampliative adaptive logics (as those for compatibility and abduction). The general dynamics of proofs (for all logics) will also be dealt with.

01.02.1997 - 30.06.2000
Co-operation between the Centre Leo Apostel (Free University of Brussels), the Centre for Metaphysics and Theology (University of Louvain) and the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (Ghent University).
Promotor for Ghent: Diderik Batens.
Researchers (Ghent only): Wim Christiaens and Ruth Loos.

The first part of the project is the editing of three texts about scientific metaphysics by Leo Apostel: 'Natuurfilosofie' (Philosophy of Nature), 'Oorsprong' (Origins), 'Levend Kristal' (Living Cristal). The second part is a doctorate about scientific metaphysics by one of the researchers (Wim Christiaens). The first part of the project is finished. Of the three texts, two will be published by the VUBpress: 'Natuurfilosofie' and 'Oorsprong'. The second part of the project is a contribution to metaphysical philosophy of science on the basis of Apostel's theory of causality and metaphysics and the Geneva-Brussels approach in the foundations of science (Constantin Piron, Diederik Aerts, Bob Coecke): the interpretation of physical theories results in a specific worldview which will be developed within the scientific metaphysics of Apostel.

01.06.1996 - 01.06.2000
Scientific Research Community.
Coordinator: Fernand Hallyn.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders.
Cooperation between the Centre for Conceptual Dynamics (Ghent University; promotor Fernand Hallyn), the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (Ghent University; promotor Diderik Batens), the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (Free University Brussels; promotor Jean Paul Van Bendegem), the Centre for "Ideeengeschiedenis" (Catholic University of Louvain; promotor Geert Vanpaemel), the Department of History, Philosophy, and Communication of Science (University College London; promotor Arthur Miller), the Centre for Intellectual Culture (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen; promotor K. Van Berkel), the "Centre d'histoire des sciences et des techniques" (Université de Liège; promotor Robert Halleux), and URA, CNRS (Université de Lille III; promotor Jean Celeyrette).

The attention is focussed on two periods : the beginning of the scientific revolution and the waning of positivism. Three themes have been selected : the coordinates of hypothesis formation; cultural interrelations (science and painting); the position of natural sciences in intellectual life.

01.01.1997 - 31.01.2000
Promotor: Diderik Batens.
Funding agency: Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (G.0059.97N).
Researchers: consecutively Guido Vanackere and Timothy Vermeir.

This research project focuses especially on (1) the reconstruction of common non-monotonic logics (adaptive logics as the logical component, combined with a preferential component); (2) spelling out adaptive logics that are useful in an A.I. context and demonstrate their advantages over the usual machinery (decision methods, etc.); and (3) study of the typical properties of argumentation that may be reconstructed within a formal framework in view of the dynamic proofs of adaptive logics.

10.01.1997 - 10.06.1999
Coordinator: Diderik Batens
Funding agency: INTAS - RFBR (contract 95-0365)
Co-operation with Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Logic Centre (Moscow), Moscow State University 'M.V.Lomonosov', Chair of Logic (Moscow), Institute for Logic, Software Systems Research Group (Moscow), and Universität Salzburg, Institut für Philosophie (Salzburg - Prof. Paul Weingartner).
Russian researchers: Alexandr Karpenko (Principal Investigator), Evgenij Sidorenko, Vladimir Vasyukov, Juri Ivlev, Vladimir Markin, Helena Smirnova, Evgenij Voijshvillo, Aleksey Smirnov, Aleksey Novodvorski, Vladimir Popov.

Outcome for the Russian participants: some 25 presentations in International Conferences and some 50 articles.

01.01.1996 - 31.10.1998
Promotor: Diderik Batens.
Funding agency: BOF of Ghent University.
Researchers: (consecutively) Natasha Kurtonina and Kristof De Clercq.

Study of inconsistency-adaptive and other corrective adaptive logics: articulation of new systems, study of their meta-theoretic properties and of their contexts of application.