MATÉRIAS DE CIÊNCIA

Informação recebida do Centro de Estudos Sociais da Universidade de Coimbra

The First International Conference on

SCIENCE MATTERS: A Unified Perspective

Ericeira, Portugal, 28-30 May 2007

Aims of Conference

All earnest and honest human quests for knowledge are efforts to understand nature, which includes all human and nonhuman systems, the objects of study in science. Thus, broadly speaking, these quests (as well as the systems being studied) are science matters. The methods and tools used may be different; for example, the literary people use mainly their bodily sensors and their brain as the information processor, while natural scientists may use, in addition, measuring instruments and computers. Yet, all these activities could be viewed in a unified perspective­they are scientific developments at varying stages of maturity and have a lot to learn from each other. In this conference, we invite experts from different disciplines worldwide to share their experience and outlooks, and hopefully plan the future together.

Many of the topics included in this conference are under the name of science and culture, science and art, science and society, etc. We do not think these descriptions are useful. For example, by saying “science and culture,” it implies that science and culture are two different things, which could be opposing each other. Instead, we view them as different aspects of the same thing the effort to understand nature, and a new word “science matters” is called for.


Invited Speakers:

Leonor Béltran (Portugal), The Nature of Dance

Paulo Borges (Portugal), Meditation & Science of Mind

Maria Burguete (Portugal), History & Philosophy of Contemporary
Chemistry

Paul Caro (France),Culture Through Science: A New World
of Images and Stories

Clara Pinto Correia (Portugal), Biology: Manipulation of Scientific
Information

Alfredo Dinis (Portugal), Have the neurosciences any theological consequences?

Isabel Empis (Portugal), Psychology & Life Quality

Gilbert Fayl (Belgium), Policy Fallacy: Stop Talking,Do It

Bernardo Herold (Portugal), Science & society

Brigitte Hoppe (Germany), Judging by the appearance of the
essential properties of natural body – the role of physiognomy in science and art

Lui Lam (USA), Histophysics: Merging history with physics

Daguang Li (China), Science Communication in China

Bing Liu (China), Philosophy of Science and Chinese Sciences: The Multicultural View of Science and Its Unified Ontological Model)

Dun Liu (China), The History of Science in Globalizing Time

Edgar Morin (France), Did a scientific revolution begin?

João Arriscado Nunes (Portugal), Unified science or ecologies of practices?

Maurizio Salvi (Italy), Science & ethics

Nigel Sanitt (UK), The Tripod of Science: Communication, Philosophy and Education

Michael Shermer (USA), The Science of Good and Evil


Cochairs:

Maria Burguete (Portugal), Email: mariaburguete@gmail.com

Lui Lam (USA)


Further Information: http://www.ces.uc.pt/science_matters_meeting/index.html