Third Annual Mary Hesse Lecture

Professor Catherine Z. Elgin (Harvard University) will give the Third Annual Mary Hesse Lecture in the Philosophy and History of Science on 22 October 2026.

The lecture, at 3.30–5.00pm, will be followed by a drinks reception in the Whipple Museum at 5.00–6.30pm.

Abstract

Maybe science is grounded in first principles. Maybe they will be reflected in the end of inquiry. But actual science starts in medias res. A scientist conducts her research against a background of established findings by using available epistemic resources. When, as is often the case, these prove inadequate, she has to refine, retool, correct, and augment them to fit them to address that problem at hand. Her conceptual resources are flexible and versatile. Many take the form of felicitous falsehoods. Representations that are not strictly true are effective when their divergences from truth foster inquiry. In such cases it is not just despite but because they diverge from the literal truth that they embody and advance understanding.