Colloquium (10/2): Catherine Elgin, "Making an Example of It"

Catherine Elgin, Professor of the Philosophy of Education, Graduate School of Education at Harvard University

Thursday, Oct. 2nd @ 4:30 PM   » Academic West 108 

Abstract: Thinking with things often involves taking them to exemplify some of their features. Rather than being mere things, as exemplars, they function as symbols that highlight features and afford epistemic access to them.

Professor Elgin is one of the leading figures working on philosophical problems about the nature of understanding, its relationship to knowledge, and its role in science and art. She has developed the notion of "exemplification" to characterize how scientific experiments as well as works of art provide understanding, and so, cognitive access to the world.