DLMPST Commissions

The DLMPST has three inter-division commissions shared with DHST:

• The commission for History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC),
• the International Association for Science and Cultural Diversity (IASCUD), and
• the DHST-DLMPST Joint Commission (JC).

In addition to that, there are three DLMPST Commissions:

• The commission on the Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences (CoPhiTES),
• the commission on Logic Education, and
• the IUHPST Commission on Education and Science.

Commission for History and Philosophy of Computing

President elect. Máté Szabó (Greenwich, United Kingdom).
President. Arianna Borelli (Berlin, Germany).
Past Presidents. Liesbeth De Mol (2013-2017), Giuseppe Primiero (2017-2021), Juan-Luis Gastaldi (2021-2023).
Website: https://hapoc.org

HaPoC is an interdivision commission of the DHST and DLMPST. It organises the biennial HaPoC conferences in odd-numbered years: HaPoC 2011 (Gent, Belgium), HaPoC 2013 (Paris, France), HaPoC 2015 (Pisa, Italy), HaPoC 2017 (Brno, Czech Republic). In even-numbered years, it organises a symposium called History and Philosophy of Programming: HaPoP 2012 (Birmingham, England), HaPoP 2014 (London, England), HaPoP 2016 (Paris, France), HaPoP 2018 (Oxford, England). HaPoC was established in 2013 as a DHST commission and co-commissioned by DLMPST in 2015.

The aims of this commission are to enhance our understanding of computing by means of historical and philosophical explorations; to enforce and support collaborations among researchers involved in any of the topics relevant to HaPoC; and to promote the organization of scientific and cultural events that strengthen knowledge and relevance of computing.

Activity Reports. 2011–2016. 2016–2017. 2018. 2019. 2020. 2021. 2022. 2023.

International Association for Science and Cultural Diversity

President.  Madeline Muntersbjorn (Toledo OH, United States of America).
Secretary General. Nina Atanasova (Toledo OH, United States of America).
Past President. Kenji Ito (2015-2017).
Website: http://www.iascud.org

IASCUD was founded in the year 2000 during the VII Congreso Mexicano de Historia de la Ciencia y la Tecnología and was officially commissioned by the DHST/IUHPST in 2001 and by DLMPST/IUHPST in 2015. IASCUD sets itself the task of promoting a critical analysis of several trends in history and philosophy of science and technology. It diagnoses that the divide of history of knowledge based on the areas studied is detrimental to a fruitful deployment of the field. IASCUD thereby aims at bringing together all those who are convinced that a global approach to the history of knowledge provides the right framework for a fully theoretical approach to science and technology. It sets itself the task of building bridges among various groups that develop the history of knowledge, wishing thereby to promote a new understanding of what may be conceived as cultural diversity in relation to science.

Activity Reports. 2015–2016. 2016–2017. 2017–2018. 2018–2019. 2019-2020. 2020-2021. 2022. 2023.

DHST/DLMPST Joint Commission

Chair. Agnes Bolinska (Columbia SC, U.S.A.).
Past Chairs. Imre Hronszky (Budapest, Hungary; 2010-2011), Robert Jay Malone (Notre Dame IN, U.S.A.; 2012-2013), Pablo Lorenzano (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 2014-2015), Hasok Chang (Cambridge, England; 2016-2021).
Website: http://iuhps.net/pages/inter-division-commissions/joint-commission.php

The two divisions maintain a Joint Commission in order to enhance cooperation between them. The main responsibility of the Joint Commission is to explore research fields of mutual interest to historians and philosophers of science and technology and logicians by means of Joint Conferences and symposia on topics of mutual interest. The main activity of the Joint Commission is the organisation of a session at the congresses of both divisions. The Councils of both divisions (DLMPST in Helsinki, August 2015 & DHST in Beijing, December 2015) decided to re-organise the Joint Commission and installed a committee consisting of Hasok Chang, Jean Gayon, Catherine Jami, Benedikt Löwe, Menachem Magidor, and Efthymios Nicolaidis to do so. The changes were incorporated in the updated Memorandum on the Cooperation between DHST and DLMPST in October and November 2018.

Activity Reports. 2019. 2020. 2021. 2022. 2023.

Commission on the Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences (CoPhiTES)

President. Juan M. Durán (Delft, The Netherlands).
Past President. Sjoerd Zwart (Delft, The Netherlands; 2011-2021).
Website: http://cophites.org

The Commission takes technology to be the theory and practice of engineering. It considers the philosophy of technology therefore to refer to all philosophical issues regarding the goals, concepts and methods applied in the engineering sciences and engineering practices, broadly conceived, including their relation to foundational questions in the natural and social sciences. Instead of focusing on the relations between society and technology as such, the Commission encourages all philosophers to open the 'black box' of the in the words of Carl Mitcham 'humanities philosophy of technology,' and study its contents. Analytical philosophy of technology in the sense just described started the second half of the twentieth century, and gaining momentum the last two decades, nowadays, it has become an established and mature member of the philosophy community.

The aims of the Commission are twofold. First, it intends to raise awareness among general philosophers about the interesting epistemic, normative and conceptual questions raised by the practices of engineers and the more general philosophical implications of the answers to these questions. Second, the Commission would like to establish a platform for the growing number of researchers, philosophers and engineers alike, to discuss, criticize and announce philosophy of technology related events.

To these ends the Commission website will provide a membership list, accessible for all members, who will be given the opportunity to announce relevant meetings and publications. Moreover, the Commission would like to arrive at a situation in which it can sponsor some relevant events.