Determinism and Indeterminism: From Science to Philosophy

Determinism and Indeterminism: From Science to Philosophy in Spanish-speaking Academia is a three-year project that seeks to promote dialogue among physicists, biologists, neuroscientists, philosophers and theologians, in order to study the impact of new findings on issues of determinism/indeterminism in nature, e.g. modal Hamiltonian interpretations of quantum physics, discoveries on chemiosmosis and recent reappraisals of Libet’s experiments.

The project is devised around big questions of contemporary science.  Our goal is to cross systematically the borders of what is traditionally considered scientific, philosophical or theological, in order to face the specific challenge of attaining interdisciplinary understanding and a common technical vocabulary that promotes dialogue among Spanish-speaking scholars of different disciplines. We intend to foster high level interdisciplinary research and to create a regional network of researchers interested in these topics. In addition, we expect to catalyze in this way the generation of other similar interdisciplinary projects in the region in cooperation with institutions of other countries.

Specific activities include a monthly seminar and three intensive Interdisciplinary Research Weeks.

The Project also comprises the publication of several collective academic volumes and three popular science books. Two competitions will reward the best journal articles on the topics of the project published in Latin American graphic media between June 1, 2013 and May 31, 2015.

Principal Investigators: 

Dra. Claudia E. Vanney y  Dr. Juan F. Franck

Researchers: 

Dra. Olimpia Lombardi (Conicet, Universidad de Buenos Aires), Dra. Angela Suburo (Universidad Austral)

Associated reserachers:

 Dr. Manuel Alfonseca (Universidad Complutense), Dra. Ivana Antón (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo), Dra. Marta Bertolaso (Università Campus Biomédico di Roma), Dra. María Cerezo (Universidad de Murcia), Dr. Santiago Collado (Universidad de Navarra), Dr, Miguel de Asúa (Universidad Nacional de San Martín), Dr. Luis Echarte (Universidad de Navarra), Dr. Miguel García-Valdecasas (Universiadd de Navarra), Dr. Alejandro González Sánchez (Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas), Dr. Francisco Güell (Universidad de Navarra), Dr. Rafael Martinez (Università della Santa Croce), Dr. José Ignacio Murillo (Universidad de Navarra), Dr. Juan José Sanguineti (Università della Santa Croce), Dr. Ignacio Silva (University of Oxford), Dr. Francisco Soler Gil (Universidad de Sevilla), Dr. Eugenio Urrutia (Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Puebla), Dr. Leonardo Vanni (Universidad de Buenos Aires), Dr. Héctor Velazquez (Universidad Panamericana), Dr. Marcelo Villar (Universidad Austral).

Research Assistants: 

Lic. Mariano Asla (Universidad Austral), Lic. Alan Heiblum (Universidad Austral), Lic. Ignacio del Carril (Universidad Austral).

Duration: 2013-2015

Funding: John Templeton Foundation (USD 212,853)