From August 5th to 9th, it took place in the Universidad Austral The first Interdisciplinary Research Week, “Determinism and Indeterminism: From Physics to Philosophy,” was organized by the Institute of Philosophy. This intensive week was the main event.
from the year 2013 of a three-year project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion, which aims to study the impact of new scientific findings on issues related to the determinism/indeterminism of nature and to promote dialogue between Spanish-speaking physicists, biologists, neuroscientists, philosophers and theologians.

The week included several activities. Two lectures were given for the general public: one by Dr. Olimpia Lombardi (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) entitled “What Indeterminism Does Quantum Mechanics Propose?”, which was attended by more than eighty engineering students; and another by Professor Juan Arana (University of Seville, Spain) entitled “The Many Faces of Determinism.” Professor Luz Marina Duque (University of Valle, Colombia) taught a class to more than one hundred and twenty students from the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences on “Unity and Order in the Cosmos.” Professor Arana also developed the historical context of the determinism/indeterminism debate in a course specifically designed for university professors.

However, the central activity of the Week was the researchers' workshop, which brought together thirty academics from seven countries. The workshop was structured into six working sessions (two per day). Six specially selected questions (one per session) served as small research sub-projects. Each question, which had been previously studied by a pair of academics from different disciplines—a physicist and a philosopher/theologian—was then discussed and debated by the participants throughout the workshop.

On the first day, the philosophers Héctor Velázquez (Pan-American University, Mexico) and Claudia Vanney (Universidad Austral,Argentina) asked scientists Santiago Collado (University of Navarra, Spain) and Alan Heiblum (FONCyT – Universidad Austral, Argentina) about the scope of the notion of determinism and its applicability to scientific theories, human knowledge and nature.

The following day, physicists Leonardo Vanni (University of Buenos Aires- National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina) and Olimpia Lombardi (Conicet, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) asked philosophers Sebastián Fortín (Conicet, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Rafael Martínez (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Italy) whether the most recent interpretations of quantum mechanics and highly unstable complex systems are more favorable to a deterministic or an indeterministic understanding of nature.

On the third day, philosophers/theologians Francisco Soler (University of Seville, Spain) and Ignacio Silva (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) were questioned by scientists Alejandro González Sánchez (Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Mexico) and Alejandro Clausse (CONICET – University of the Center of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina) about the origin of the universe and God's providential action in nature. The methodology used to foster interdisciplinary dialogue has paved the way for fruitful future academic collaboration.

Press here to see some photos from the Week.