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Bulletin No. 19

International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science

1 Executive Committee and Assessors of the Division, 2000-2003

1.1 Executive Committee

1.2 Assessors

1.3 Former Presidents

The Executive Committee of the Division is composed of the President, the Vice-Presidents, the Secretary-General, the Treasurer, and the immediate Past President. The Council consists of the Executive Committee plus the Assessors.

2 Committees for the 12th International Congress (Oviedo, Spain, August 2003)

2.1 Local Organizing Committee

Luis M. Valdés-Villanueva (chair), Eva Álvares-Martino, Cipriano Barrio-Alonso, Roger Bosch i Bastardes, Javier Echeverría Ezponda (CSIC), Carmen Gonzalez del Tejo, José Antonio López Cerezo, Alfonso García-Suárez, Miguel Lorente, Eulalia Pérez Sedeño (Sociedad de Lógica, Metodología y Filosofía de la Ciencia en España), Jorge Rodríguez-Marqueze, Julián Velarde Lombraña, Lorena Villamil García.

2.2 General Program Committee

Petr Hájek (chair, Czech Republic), Peter Clark (UK), Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara (Italy), Toshio Ishigaki (Japan), Moshe Vardi (USA), Vladimir Vasyukov (Russia), Luis M. Valdés-Villanueva (OC representative, Spain), Dag Westerståhl (EC representative, Sweden).

2.3 Sectional Program Committees

A Logic

B General Philosophy of Science

C Philosophical Issues of Particular Sciences

D Ethical, Social, and Historical Perspectives on Philosophy of Science

2.4 Special Symposia and their Chairs

  1. Philosophy and Methodology of Empirical Modeling: Causation, Validation, and Discovery. Deborah Mayo.
  2. Scientific (Evidence-Based) Medicine in the 19th-20th Centuries (Joint DHS-DLMPS symposium). Anne Fagot-Largeault.
  3. The Unusual Effectiveness of Logic in Computer Science. Martin Otto.
  4. Philosophy, Methodology, and History of Technology (Symposium arranged by DHS). Alexandre Herlea and Juan José Saldaña.
  5. Workshop on Journal Publishing. John McAllister.

2.5 Plenary Sessions and their Chairs

Foundations of Evolution. Elliott Sober.

2.6 Affiliated Symposia and their Chairs

  1. Representation in Science and Philosophy. Andoni Ibarra and Thomas Mormann.
  2. Measuring Public Understanding of Science: Conceptual and Valorative Aspects. Javier Echeverría Ezponda and José Antonio López Cerezo.
  3. Fuzzy Logic. Julián Velarde Lombraña.
  4. Epistemology of Systems Science. Celina Lertona Mendoza and Francisco Casiello.
  5. New Directions in Cryptology: Novel Techniques against Non-standard Attacks. Consuelo Martínez.
  6. Modern Logic and its Spanish Reception / La Lógica Moderna y su Recepción Hispana. Luis Vega Reñón.

Minutes of the General Assembly, Auditorio (Sala de Cámara), Oviedo, Spain, August 9, 2003

Ordinary Members Present:

Australia, Austria, Baltic Association for the History and Philosophy of Science, Canada, China (CAST), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK.

Ordinary Members Absent:

Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Russia, USA, Yugoslavia.

International Members Present:

Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL), Philosophy of Science Association (PSA).

International Members Absent:

C. S. Peirce Society, International Association for Philosophy of Science, International Academy for Philosophy of Science.

Provisional members present (see item 6 below):

European Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI), Polish Association for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Vienna Circle Institute.

Observers:

By tradition, General Assemblies have been open to all congress participants. In particular, Juan José Saldaña, Secretary-General of IUHPS/DHS, attended the meeting.

1. Opening

After verification of the delegates, President Rabin called the meeting to order at 7.20 pm.

2. The minutes of the previous General Assembly

The minutes of the previous General Assembly, published in Synthese 123 (2000), 153-162, were approved unanimously.

3. President's report

(3a) The President expressed the sadness of the members of the Executive Committee at the untimely loss of the Past President, Wesley Salmon, in a tragic automobile accident in April 2001. During the short time that this Executive Committee knew him, Wesley Salmon was not only an indispensable link to the Division's past, but also became a great friend. In his absence, Elliott Sober, the previous Secretary-General, kindly agreed to help the Executive Committee in matters related to the Division's past.

(3b) The Executive Committee met four times during the mandate period: (1) An informal meeting at the LMPS Congress in Cracow 1999, hosted by Jan Woleński, Chair of the local Organizing Committee; (2) Cambridge (Boston), July 2000, hosted by Michael Rabin, President; (3) Oviedo, July 2002, hosted by Luis Valdés-Villanueva, Chair of the local Organizing Committee; and (4) again in Oviedo, just before the General Assembly, hosted by Luis Valdés-Villanueva. At the Cambridge meeting, where the Executive Committee's work with preparations for the Oviedo Congress started, it was decided to shift emphasis somewhat, taking cognizance of new developments in our field, resulting in a slight redistribution of the congress sections, and in proposals for new areas for special symposia.

(3c) A DHS-DLMPS Joint Conference, organized by DLMPS, was held in Paris in October 2002; see item 4e below.

(3d) The Nominations Committee, consisting of Michael Rabin (chair, USA), Anne Fagot-Largeault (France), Elliott Sober (USA), and Soshichi Uchii (Japan), presented a slate of candidates for the new Council to be elected at this meeting of the General Assembly (item 8).

4. Secretary's report

(4a) ICSU — whose acronym remains although its present name is The International Council for Science — the mother organization of which IUHPS is one of the 27 union members (there are also around 80 national members), has undertaken a signicant revision and update of its policy during the last 6 years. Ample information about this change can be found on ICSU's home page: www.icsu.org. One consequence that directly concerns IUHPS is the change in the yearly ICSU Grants Programme. Previously, the two Divisions have applied for and obtained small grants each year in support of various events, including the Joint DHS-DLMPS Conferences, and the international congresses of the Divisions, to be used mainly for helping scientists from developing countries, and countries with economic difficulties, attend those meetings. The grants money was divided each year between DHS and DLMPS according to a key formulated in the Joint DHS-DLMPS Agreement of 1999. However, the new Grants Programme (for grants during 2003 and onwards) no longer supports conferences. Instead, only more ambitious projects inside the Priority Areas chosen by ICSU are funded, and grant applications have to be supported by at least one more ICSU union or national member besides the applicant. At present the Priority Areas are:

  1. science and technology for sustainable development;
  2. capacity building and science education;
  3. dissemination of data and information on science and technology;
  4. emerging science and technology — creation of new knowledge.

Thus, whereas DLMPS supported, via ICSU grants, the Logic Colloquium '00 in Paris, a Workshop on Deontic Logic in Toulouse, France, 2000, the Tarski Symposium in Warsaw, 2001, and the Joint DHS-DLMPS Conference in Paris, 2002 (this was a transition year and all unions were given a 'block grant' of $ 5,000), the Division's application for support to the LMPS Congress in Oviedo was rejected, and it is clear that no further applications for conference support will be funded by ICSU. As a result, the Executive Committee made no application in 2003 (for the year 2004). Since writing a grant application along the new directives is a much more ambitious and time-consuming activity, the Secretary urged those members of the Division who are interested in formulating and carrying through a project that could obtain support from ICSU to contact the Executive Committee, well in advance of March 1 in a given year, which is the deadline for applications for ICSU grants during the following year. Discussion: Bill Harper suggested that a proposal relating to information, and to preservation of data, might be successful. Wilfrid Hodges added that the Executive Committee might look at the material from the IMU congress in China in 2002; there is a committee on electronic information and communication, and a booklet of recommendations that might give some guidelines.

(4b) The Secretary attended, representing the whole IUHPS, the 27th General Assembly of ICSU in Rio de Janeiro, September 20-28, 2002. At that meeting the new Grants Programme was also discussed, and the secretary urged, together with representatives from a few other smaller unions, ICSU to continue to reserve a portion of the grants money for small grants, arguing that (a) even small grants play an important role for those scientists who are thus able to attend international conferences, and this is still a worthy objective of ICSU, and (b) that the fact that a conference has been awarded even a symbolic grant from ICSU often helps obtaining funds from other sponsors. After the General Assembly he also wrote a letter to the ICSU Executive Board, elaborating this proposal. The polite and detailed response letter stated that ICSU feels that the new Grants Programme is a more efficient way to help scientists in developing countries than conference support, and that the total amount of money available is not sufficient to set aside a portion for grants of the previous kind. Further, ICSU no longer considers it appropriate to fund 'internal' meetings of a particular union, even when this is used for the attendance of participants from developing countries; the latter is rather considered the responsibility of the unions themselves.

(4c) In 2002, following a suggestion by the Secretary to the ICSU Executive Director, 2nd Vice-President Deborah Mayo was appointed a member on the new ICSU Ad Hoc Review Committee on the Responsibilities of Science and Society.

(4d) Relations between DLMPS and our sister Division DHS-which is changing its name to DHST, Division of History of Science and Technology-have been good during the past four year period, in particular, cooperation with both of its Secretary-Generals during the period, Robert Halleux and Juan José Saldaña (who was also present in Rio de Janeiro), has worked well. The Secretary was invited by DHS as an observer to one meeting with the DHS Executive Committee (Liège, January 2001), as well as to a meeting together with Robert Halleux (and on his initiative) with the ICSU Executive Board in Paris (June 2001), and he was present as a representative of DLMPS at the DHS International Congress in Mexico City July 8-14, 2001, and in particular at the General Assembly there.

(4e) In the year 2002 it was the turn of DLMPS to organize a Joint DHST-DLMPS Meeting, and the Executive Committee gratefully accepted the offer of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris (supported by the French Ministry for Research and Technology, and by several French universities and research institutes) to arrange a conference "Relations between History and Philosophy of Science". The conference took place 3-5 October 2002 at the ENS in Paris. Anne Fagot-Largeault was Program Chair, and Daniel Andler chaired the Organizing Committee. The DLMPS Executive Committee was represented at the conference by the Secretary, and DHST was represented by its Secretary, Juan José Saldaña. This was a very successful event; in addition to around 12 invited speakers from both history of science and philosophy of science, the conference had 40 contributed papers and many posters, which had survived a strict selection by the program committee. A meeting, chaired by Anne Fagot-Largeault, with the Joint Commission was held on October 3, which among other tings outlined the two DHST-related special symposia taking place at the present congress in Oviedo.

(4f) The Joint DHS-DLMPS Agreement which was ratified in 1999 has proved to be a useful foundation for maintaining good relations between the two Divisions. The new ICSU Grants Programme necessitates a revision of some points of the agreement; this will be a matter for the next DLMPS Executive Committee in collaboration with DHST.

5. Treasurer's report

The Treasurer gave an overview of the financial situation, and of the Division's assets, which are still in US dollars. Thanks to his two predecessors' careful treasuring, the situation is not too bad. Nevertheless, there are worrying signs:

  1. Bank charges have increased and DLMPS often has to pay a double charge, since the charge of the sending bank is often deducted by members from the fee they pay to the Division;
  2. There is an increased erosion of contributions from members, which becomes particularly notable when, as has begun to happen, some D category members have difficulties in paying the fee;
  3. The ICSU contributions to our congresses have stopped.

What to do? It is unlikely that expenses can be cut down much; DLMPS expenditure is mainly for the international congresses, and to a small extent for the meetings of the Executive Committee, and in the latter case we only pay travel and accommodation when no funding from the members' home university is available. The Treasurer has put some efforts into finding other sponsors, e.g. from industry, but the results have been disappointing. We must try to increase our income by contacting other countries and encouraging them to become members. As to those that have had difficulties in paying, it was earlier the case that failure to pay the fee inevitably led to exclusion, but this time, instead of proposing any particular members for exclusion by the General Assembly, the Treasurer suggested that the new Executive Committee first make a final effort to convince the problematic members to pay.

Discussion: Elliott Sober pointed out that the Statutes regulate the exclusion of non-paying members. He moved that the General Assembly delegates to the new Executive Committee to first send out warnings to the relevant members and then take steps to exclude them if payment does not follow. The Treasurer added to this motion that an appeal be made to all members that payment should arrive in net form without fees deducted. The thus combined motion was unanimously approved.

The assembly then unanimously approved the accounts of the Division as presented by the Treasurer (see Appendix).

6. The status of international scientific members

In connection with the application at the Cracow General Assembly from five organizations to become international members, the Executive Committee was asked (item 3 in the Cracow minutes) to report on the policies it thinks the Division should follow concerning the status and dues of such members, and to consider a policy whereby organizations pay dues to the Division. The Executive Committee later received a letter with similar intent from the British National Committee for LMPS, which also noted that one of the provisionally admitted organizations, the Polish Association of Logic and Philosophy of Science, seemed to have a status somewhat similar to the British National Committee except for not paying dues. At present (as far as the Executive Committee has been able to establish from existing records), the international members of the Division are: Association for Symbolic Logic (10 votes); Philosophy of Science Association (5 votes); C. S. Peirce Society (1 vote); International Association for Philosophy of Science (10 votes); International Academy for Philosophy of Science (1 vote); Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy of Science (1 vote; it is unclear whether this organization is still a member).

The five organizations provisionally admitted in 1999 were: European Foundation for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI); Kurt Gödel Society; Institute Vienna Circle; Polish Association of Logic and Philosophy of Science; International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology. Of these, all except the last one have expressed their continued intent to become full members.

Comment and proposal by the Executive Committee: The presence of international members in the Division is valuable, and they should have a say in its affairs, but their relations to the Division should be more clearly defined. There is no particular reason they should not pay dues, with a corresponding number of votes. Indeed, partly because of the absence of dues for international members, there has been no clear principle for the number of votes of these members, and some of them appear to have dropped out of contact. Further, in response to a question put by the secretary to the 11 organizations mentioned above, seven had expressed their willingness to pay (modest) dues, two appeared to be uncertain, and two did not reply.

The Statutes state that the General Assembly decides which organizations qualify as international members, as well as about their dues and number of votes. The Executive Committee suggests that the General Assembly can continue to decide which organizations are eligible on a case by case basis, but that a norm for the dues and votes is adopted according to (1) of the proposal. Concerning details, note (a) that the proposal is in accordance with the Statutes, in particular article 13 c); (b) that it still makes it possible for an international member to have 10 votes (if it pays corresponding dues); (c) that such a member can also have one vote, in the minimal membership category, with half of the dues required for of ordinary members in category A. The proposal is as follows:

  1. International scientific members of the Division are classified as the Ordinary Members in categories A-E, with the same corresponding dues, but with twice the number of votes. Thus, a category A international member has 2 votes, a B member 4 votes, a C member 6 votes, a D member 8 votes, and an E member 10 votes. In addition, there will be a lowest or 0 category for international members only, with 1 vote, and with half of the dues paid by category A members.
  2. The existing international members of the Division will be informed of this decision, and asked if they want to remain in the Division on these new conditions, and if so which category of membership they wish to have.
  3. The five organizations admitted provisionally at the last General Assembly all qualify as international members of the Division. They too will be asked if they still wish to become full-blown members, and if so under which category.

Discussion and decisions: David Miller asked if it would not be a good idea to issue a list of criteria for international members, and if the Division has a policy in this matter. Dag Westerståhl replied that policy so far appears to have been fairly liberal, but that it presupposes a clear distinction between ordinary and international members. Michael Rabin agreed that one should find criteria for when an organization can be admitted without problems, and that in the case of such organizations that are nationally based, a prerequisite must be that the country is also represented as an ordinary member. Also, he noted that part (2) of the proposal is a corollary of (1), and can be voted on at the same time.

Parts (1) and (2) were then approved unanimously by the assembly, with 1 abstention. Also, the General Assembly unanimously supported the idea that the Executive Committee should formulate a list of criteria for international scientific members. Part (3) of the proposal was voted on case by case. FoLLI and the Kurt Gödel Society were admitted unanimously. The Institute Vienna Circle was admitted unanimously with two abstentions. Ewa Orlowska explained that the Polish Association of Logic and Philosophy of Science has both national and international activities, that it helped organize the Cracow LMPS congress and the Tarski symposium, and that it has 300 members both in Poland and abroad. Jan Woleński added that it was established by Łukasiewicz and Tarski. Dag Westerståhl remarked that these points again raised the issue of the distinction between ordinary national members and international members, and further showed the need for criteria in this matter. The Polish Association of Logic and Philosophy of Science was then admitted unanimously.

7. Membership issues concerning ordinary members

The Republic of South Africa, represented by the Philosophical Society of Southern Africa, had applied (January 12, 2003) for ordinary membership in IUHPS/DLMPS, in Category A. The application was unanimously approved. In addition, Australia has upgraded its membership to category C. The General Assembly delegated to the new Executive Committee to handle upgrades and similar matters according to the Statutes.

8. Election of officers to the new DLMPS Council

The Nominations Committee proposed the following candidates:

Executive Committee:

(Michael Rabin automatically becomes Past President in the new Executive Committee.)

Assessors:

The proposed members of the new Council were all elected by the General Assembly in one unanimous vote.

9. Host of the next LMPS Congress (2007)

The Executive Committee had received two offers to host the next congress, one from the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, and one from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. At the assembly, the Lyon proposal was presented by Sylvain Aroux, Claude Debru, and Anne Fagot-Largeault, and a printed document containing the proposal was distributed. The Beijing proposal was then presented by Cai Shushan, Wang Wei, and Qiu Renzong.

Elliott Sober moved that the General Assembly should thank Lyon and Beijing for their generous and exciting proposals, and that it should delegate to the new Executive Committee to make a decision on the matter, after receiving responses to any questions of detail that the Executive Committee might want to ask the two putative hosts. The motion was supported by Michael Rabin, Bill Harper, and Wilfrid Hodges. Peter Koepke and Ewa Orlowska suggested that a decision might be taken about two successive congresses, using the two proposals at hand. After some further discussion the General Assembly voted, essentially unanimously, in favor of Sober's motion.

[NB. The new EC later decided to accept the Chinese offer, with a commitment, however, to a favorable attitude towards a possible French offer to host the 2011 congress.]

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 10 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Dag Westerståhl
Secretary-General IUHPS/DLMPS

Financial Appendix for 2000-2002 (pdf file).