[SydPhil] Agora Speaker Series UOW – Professor Brian Epstein – Thursday 2 May, 3.30pm, 20-4

[Elena Walsh]

Dear all,


The next Agora Speaker Series talk at the University of Wollongong will be
given by Professor Brian Epstein of Tufts University, in Building 20-4, May
2 at 3.30pm. All welcome!


Abstract:


*How to theorize about social construction*


The claim that basic kinds and categories in the world are “socially
constructed” is perennially debated in philosophy and social theory. Over
the years, lots of categories—races, genders, sexes, morality, commodities,
corporations, and many more—have been put forward as cases of social
construction. But what is social construction, and how is a theory of
social construction to be developed and assessed? I propose a framework for
understanding the metaphysics of social entities by distinguishing
questions of social construction (i.e., what socially constructs the entity
to be what it is) from questions about the characteristics of the entity
(i.e., what is the product of social construction). Focusing on the former,
I consider families of theories of social construction and argue for the
demands that a theory of social construction should meet.


Bio:


Brian Epstein is an associate professor of Philosophy at Tufts. His
research interests include philosophy of social science and metaphysics,
focusing in particular on social ontology and the nature of social
institutions. He also has interests in the ontology of law, individual and
group cognition, and the philosophy of economics. He is the author of *The
Ant Trap: Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences,* winner of the
Lakatos Award and the Joseph B. Gittler Award, as well as many articles in
the field, and is currently co-editing *The Oxford Handbook of Social
Ontology *and finalizing a Cambridge Element on *Social Ontology.* Brian
received his PhD from Stanford, MA from Oxford, and AB from Princeton.
Between degree programs, he worked at a number of technology startups and
consulting firms. Brian is the immediate past president of the
International Social Ontology Society, and is on the executive board of the
International Network of Economic Methodology.

Warm regards,

School of Liberal Arts



-- 

*Dr. Elena Walsh*

Lecturer

School of Liberal Arts

Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities | 94.19

University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia

*T *+61 2 4220 5692

*W *elenawalsh.squarespace.com
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