IUHPST/DLMPST

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DIVISION OF LOGIC, METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE,
DIVISION OF LOGIC, METHODOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2011, AGENDA

14th General Assembly of IUHPS/DLMPS
City Hall, Nancy, France
Friday 22 July 2011 at 19.00

AGENDA

1. Opening and formalities.

2. Approval of the Minutes from the 13th General Assembly in Beijing, China, 2007. (The draft Minutes.)

3. President's report.

4. Secretary's report.

5. Treasurer's report; approval of the accounts of the Division.

6. Membership issues.

  1. At the request of the General Assemblies in Oviedo 2003 and Beijing 2007, the EC considered criteria for admission of International Members. It proposes the following:

    To become an International Member of DLMPS, an organization should meet the following criteria:

    1. It should be mainly devoted to the support of research, teaching or scholarship in an area within the scope of logic, methodology and the philosophy of science.
    2. It should be open to individual membership without restriction by nationality or geographical area, and this fact should be clear from the publicity of the organization.

     

  2. The EC recommends the admission of the following members:
    • (b1) Korea, ordinary membership with Category B.
    • (b2) The Société de Philosophie des Sciences, international membership with Category to be determined.
    • (c) The Baltic States were admitted as a member in 1995. There are contradictory records of whether this was as an Ordinary Member or an International Member. The Estonian National Committee proposes to resolve the problem by renaming the member as Estonia and making it an Ordinary Member with Category A (thus in practice doubling the dues paid). The EC recommends accepting this proposal.

7. Membership in CIPSH. The General Assembly in Beijing 2005 asked the EC to negotiate with CIPSH about membership of the DLMPS in CIPSH, 'in a positive spirit'. The EC has accordingly had discussions with CIPSH and has applied for membership. Progress will be reported to the General Assembly.

8. Revision of the Statutes to allow Commissions, both internal and inter-union. The EC recommends the approval of the following changes to the Statutes; these changes have already been approved by Council. (The present text of the Statutes.)

ARTICLE 9

The General Assembly consists of the delegates of the Ordinary Members<,> [and] delegates of the international scientific organizations<, and delegates of the Division's Commissions, including Inter-Division or Inter-Union Commissions>.

ARTICLE 13

{New clause between 2. and 3.} establishing or dissolving the Commissions of the Division, including Inter-Division or Inter-Union Commissions.

{New clause between 5. and 6.} receiving and considering reports from the Executive Committee and from the Commissions.

ARTICLE 19

The Executive Committee is charged with the administration of the Division's business and finance, and with the implementation of the resolutions taken by the General Assembly and the policies of the Council. <It is responsible for ensuring the appointment of Chairs or Presidents of the Division's Commissions, and for approving the payment of subsidies to these Commissions.> Three members of the Committee, other than the Past President, constitute a quorum.

{The following two new articles after Article 19}

ARTICLE

The Commissions of the Division shall have full freedom in arranging their own internal structure and work within the framework of the Statutes of the Division. If special funds are provided for their use, they may make their own financial arrangements, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee. Each Commission will be entitled to one delegate and one vote at General Assemblies.

ARTICLE

The Inter-Division Commissions of the Division include the DHST-DLMPS Joint Commission. The main responsibility of the DHST-DLMPS Joint Commission is to explore research fields of interest both to historians of science and technology, and to logicians and philosophers of science, by means of Joint Conferences and/or symposia. The members of the Joint Commission are the Chair of the Joint Commission, together with each Division's President and Secretary General who serve as ex officio members. The Chair of the Joint Commission holds office for two years, and is appointed alternately by the DHST and the DLMPS. The Chair of the Joint Commission appointed by a Division takes up office at the beginning of the calendar year before the international congress of that Division.

9. The EC recommends the establishment of the following four Commissions:

  1. The Joint Commission automatically becomes an inter-divisional Commission under the revised Statutes.
  2. It is proposed to make the present Teaching Commission of DHST an inter-divisional Commission with President Michael Matthews (Australia) and Secretary Costas Skordoulis (Greece). A statement of aims. The website of the Teaching Commission is at http://dhst-tc.org.
  3. It is proposed to establish a Commission on Arabic Logic, with Chair Tony Street (UK) and Secretary Wilfrid Hodges (UK). A statement of aims.
  4. It is proposed to establish a Commission on the Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences, with President/Chair Sjoerd D. Zwart (Netherlands). A statement of aims.

10. The following letter was addressed to the Presidents of IUHPS/DLMPS and IUHPS/DHST on 27 June 2008, by Claude Debru on behalf of the French National Committee of History and Philosophy of Science:

Dear Colleagues,

At its General Assembly on May 27 2008, the French National Committee of History and Philosophy of Science decided to make a new proposal, taking place after the proposal made by Professor Alexandre Herléa (France), then President of the International Committee of the History of Technology (ICOHTEC, member of the DHS) at the General Assembly of DHS in Beijing in 2005 of changing the name of the Division of the History of Science into "Division of the History of Science and Technology".

We propose the same modification for the name of the DLMPS, which could become "Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science and Technology", and thus to the name of IUHPS as well. We feel that this change would make us more ready to enter the new policy of ICSU of creating interdisciplinary research programmes. This proposal was also discussed at a more recent meeting of the COFUSI, which includes all French national committees. I am informing Mrs Catherine Bréchignac, President of the CNRS, of this proposal.

With warm regards,
Professor Claude Debru

Presumably the proposed change to the name of IUHPS depends on DLMPS agreeing to change its name. The EC will present a position paper to the General Assembly, with a recommendation that the next EC make a decision in the light of discussion at the General Assembly.

11. Election of the next DLMPS Council (Executive Committee and Assessors). The Nominations Committee (Wilfrid Hodges (chair), Joelle Proust, Friedrich Stadler, Soshichi Uchii), proposes the following candidates, who have all agreed to serve:

Executive Committee 2012 – 2015.
  • President: Elliott Sober (USA)
  • First Vice-President: Maria Carla Galavotti (Italy)
  • Second Vice-President: Cliff Hooker (Australia)
  • Secretary General: Peter Schroeder-Heister (Germany)
  • Treasurer: Ralf Schindler (Germany)
  • Past President: Wilfrid Hodges (UK)
Assessors 2012 – 2015.
  • Dennis Dieks (Netherlands)
  • Adam Grobler (Poland)
  • Pablo Lorenzano (Argentina)
  • Karen Neander (USA)
  • Nancy Nersessian (USA)
  • Ilkka Niiniluoto (Finland)
  • Mariko Yasugi (Japan)

12. Host of the next LMPS congress (2015). The EC has received a proposal from the University of Helsinki to host the 2015 Congress of LMPS. A presentation will be made to the Assembly in support of this proposal. The EC is in principle strongly in favour of this proposal, and will make a recommendation to the Assembly.

13. Any other business.

President: Wilfrid Hodges
Acting Secretary General: Dag Westerståhl
14 March 2011