Overview

Process Metaphysics encompasses all views which posit that static conceptions of reality are insufficient to fully explain both every day and scientific phenomena. Instead, these perspectives propose understanding the world as fundamentally dynamic, emphasising the fluid nature of time, change, causation, and other key concepts.

Our summer school teaches on how process-oriented, dynamic approaches function and how they can elucidate key issues in the foundational sciences, such as physics, biology, or the structure of spacetime. Equally we will critically engage with views akin to process philosophy, such as event ontologies, yet fail to fully ground a fundamentally dynamic view. We will discuss together with the students potential shortcomings of those views and contrast them to processual solutions.

In sum, we hope to present both the broader paradigm of dynamic metaphysics and its profound concrete implications for individual sciences and specific questions within these disciplines.

Key Questions

• Do the theoretically most fundamental physical entities, such as particles and fields, require reinterpretation in terms of processes?
• Does the mechanistic model of organisms in biology and the philosophy of biology encounter insurmountable obstacles?
• Does physics allow for, or even necessitate, a dynamic understanding of time? How does such a dynamic understanding relate to processes and other concrete dynamic entities?
• Are the multiple, interconnected questions related to biological individuality better solved on a processual/dynamic understanding of living entities?
• What is the nature of dynamicity itself?

Structure

We plan a three-day summer school on the 15th, 16th and 17th of September, with each day dedicated to one of the following overarching topics:

1. Dynamic metaphysics - general principles
2. Dynamic metaphysics and biology
3. Dynamic metaphysics and physics

Each day will be structured as follows:

• Two 90-minute lecture-style sessions in the morning and early afternoon (these may include substantial discussion)
• One 90-minute seminar in the late afternoon

Teachers

• Tina Röck (University of Dundee, UK, Scotland)
• Vesselin Petrov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
• Anna-Lisa Nußbaum (University of Siegen)
• Maximilian Zachrau (University of Siegen)
• Emilia Margoni (University of Geneva, University of Pisa/Firenze)
• Cord Friebe (University of Siegen)

Literature

TBA

Schedule

TBA

Participation

There is no participation fee for the summer school.

There are only limited spots available. To apply please sent a letter of motivation (about 1 page) and a CV to: cord.friebe@uni-siegen.de. Deadline: 01 Mai 2025.