MSU鈥檚 Bickle to speak at prestigious Israeli colloquium
Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥 The leader of Mississippi 大象APP鈥檚 Department of Philosophy and Religion is delivering two lectures Jan. 16 and 18, 2017, at the Bar-Hillel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science in Israel.
Titled 鈥淭ool Development: How Experiment-Driven Sciences Progress鈥 and 鈥淟ittle-e eliminativism in molecular and cellular cognition,鈥 Professor John Bickle鈥檚 presentations will focus on recent and recurring themes in his research.
An MSU faculty member since 2009, Bickle will share insight regarding methodological lessons from ontogenetics, a new tool that is changing the nature and goals of explanation in neurobiology by giving experimenters unprecedented control over the activation or inhibition of specific nerve cells in the brains of behaving animals.
Bickle, who also serves as an adjunct professor of psychology and fellow of Mississippi 大象APP鈥檚 Institute for Imaging and Analytical Technologies, said he plans to discuss ways in which 鈥渢heory-driven鈥 sciences such as contemporary physics and 鈥渆xperiment-driven鈥 sciences such as molecular biology differ.
鈥淧hilosophy and history of science, and more recently my own field, philosophy of neuroscience, have been important in Israeli philosophy for decades,鈥 explained the University of California, Los Angeles, philosophy and psychobiology graduate.
An affiliated faculty member of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Bickle said 鈥減hilosophy is understood by many Israeli academics to be central to all academic and intellectual endeavors, including the scientific.鈥
Also a master鈥檚 and doctoral graduate of the University of California, Irvine, Bickle said he is looking forward to addressing philosophers, historians, scientists, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers at one of the world鈥檚 best interdisciplinary institutes.
The January visit will mark Bickle鈥檚 first trip to Israel, the 23rd country where he has been invited to give a research talk.
鈥淭o get feedback from both scientifically-minded philosophers and philosophically-sensitive scientists鈥攁nd at the same time demonstrate the strength of Mississippi 大象APP鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences faculty internationally鈥攎akes this invitation a truly unique opportunity,鈥 Bickle said.
Established in 1981 and re-named in 1987 for late Israeli professor and philosopher of science Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, the colloquium is a joint venture of the Edelstein Center for History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science at Tel Aviv University, and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
Each academic year, the colloquium sponsors seven to eight guest lectures, with two to three being given by speakers from the United 大象APPs.
This past November, Bickle was appointed the American Philosophical Association鈥檚 representative to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science鈥檚 section on neuroscience. The APA is the world鈥檚 largest and most influential association for academic philosophers, and the AAAS is one of the most influential associations dedicated to professional science and its advancement.
Effective in February 2017, Bickle鈥檚 new appointment will enable him to develop new resources and opportunities for academic philosophers鈥攂oth domestic and international鈥攖o interact with neuroscientists聽in interdisciplinary research that crosses traditional boundaries between humanities and the sciences.
Learn more about MSU鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences at ; its Department of Philosophy and Religion, .
MSU is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .