International Conference:
“FOUNDATIONS AND THE ONTOLOGICAL QUEST.
PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM”
JANUARY 7-10, 2002

Rome, Pontifical Lateran University
Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, 4. 00120 Vatican City

FINAL PROGRAM

Organized by IRAFS – International Research Area on Foundations of the Sciences of the Philosophy Faculty at the Pontifical Lateran University [www.pul.it/irafs/irafs.htm], in collaboration with UIP – Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris (France) [www.uip.edu] and SSQ – Science and the Spiritual Quest, a program of CTNS – Center for Theology and Natural Sciences in Berkeley (USA) [www.ssq.net] under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culturein the Holy See [www.vatican.va].

Organizing Committee:
Sarah Jones Nelson, Princeton University, Princeton NJ
Jean Staune, UIP, Paris
Tom MacKenzie, UIP, Paris
Philip Clayton, CTNS, Berkeley CA
Melchor Sanchez de Toca, Pontifical Council for Culture, Vatican City
Antonio Luigi Perrone, IRAFS, Vatican City
Gianfranco Basti, IRAFS, Vatican City

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The aim of our four-day Conference is to present and to discuss the most recent developments concerning foundations in three different areas of scientific research: Mathematics and Logic, Physics and Cosmology, and Cognitive Sciences, with special attention to the ontological implications of scientific inquiry into foundations in each of these fields.

This focus on the ontological implications is emphasized on the fourth day of the Conference, in the section on Ontological Connections, in which the more philosophical implications of the foundations debate can be developed. In this way, the Conference can make two contributions:

It can give scientists involved in foundational research an opportunity — one that is all too rare in the present scientific context — to present and freely discuss the latest results of their work.
It can contribute to the work of philosophers and even theologians, so that their debates on the results and applications of mathematical and natural science can also benefit from foundational research, developed independently within each scientific discipline.

In order to favorite the dialogue and the debate, at the end of each Section, all the speakers of the day are invited to join a Panel Session in which to discuss their positions and short, pre-registered, communications, presented by other participants at the Conference.

Several Professors of the Philosophy Faculty at the Pontifical Lateran University will join the Conference works, and give communications at the Panel sessions:
Angela Ales Bello
Emilio Baccarini
Pietro Giustini
Antonio Livi
Leonardo Messinese
Aniceto Molinaro
Horst Seidl

Conference Program

Conference Honorary President
Cardinal Paul Poupard
President of the Pontifical Council for Culture

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MONDAY, JANUARY 7^TH, 2002

09.30

Bishop Angelo Scola, Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University: Opening Address

I SECTION: «MATHEMATICS AND LOGIC»
General Chairman: Edward Nelson, Princeton University, USA.

Morning Session
Chairman: Simon Kochen

10.15	Edward Nelson, Princeton University, USA. Plenary Speech on: Syntax and semantics
11.15	Discussion
11.30	Coffee Break
11.45	Pierre Cartier, École Normal Supérieure, Paris, France: A relativistic ontology for the working mathematician
12.30	Discussion
12.45	Lunch Break

Afternoon Session

Chairman: Pierre Cartier

14.30	Bengt Nordström, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden: Constructivism. A computer science perspective
15.15	Discussion
15.30	Coffee Break
15.45	Simon Kochen, Princeton University, USA: Why things happen: extension of quantum mechanics from ensembles to individual systems
16.30	Discussion
16.45	Coffee Break
17.00	Panel Session. Chairman: Edward Nelson
18.00	Section End

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TUESDAY JANUARY 8^THII SECTION: «PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY».
General Chairman: Roger Penrose, Oxford University, GB.

Morning Session
Chairman: Lyman Page

09.30	Roger Penrose, Oxford University, GB. Plenary Speech: The physics of the small and the large: what is the bridge between them
10.30	Discussion
10.45	Coffee Break
11.00	Anton Zeilinger, Wien Universität, Austria: Quantum physics and information
11.45	Discussion
12.00	Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University, USA: The endless universe
12.45	Discussion
13.00	Lunch Break

Afternoon Session
Chairman: Paul Steinhardt

14.30	Joe Silk, Oxford University, GB: Early galaxy formation
15.15	Discussion
15.30	Coffee Break
15.45	Lyman Page, Princeton University, USA: Seeing the edge of the universe
16.30	Discussion
16.45	Panel Session. Chairman: Roger Penrose
18.00	Section End

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WENSDAY JANUARY 9^TH
III SECTION: «COGNITIVE SCIENCES»
General Chairman: Walter Freeman

Morning Session
Chairman: Rodolfo Llinàs

09.30	Walter Freeman, University of California at Berkeley, USA. Plenary Speech: Brain and body: human acquisition of knowledge and wisdom through intentional action and the perception of its consequences.
10.30	Discussion
10.45	Coffee Break
11.00	Hubert Dreyfus, University of California at Berkeley, USA: A phenomenology of skill acquisition as the basis for a non-representationalist cognitive science
11.45	Discussion
12.00	Arthur Peacocke, Oxford University, GB: The hierarchy of the sciences: body, brain and mind
12.45	Discussion
13.00	Lunch Break

Afternoon Session
Chairman: ARTHUR PEACOCKE

14.30	philip johnson-laird, University of Princeton, USA : Human reasoning and rationality
15.15	Discussion
15.30	Rodolfo Llinàs, University of New York, USA: Role of thalamocortical oscillation in normal and abnormal cognition
16.15	Discussion
16.30	Coffee Break
16.45	Vilayanur Ramachandran, University of California at S. Diego, USA: What neurology can tell us about human natures and synesthesias
17.30	Discussion
17.45	Panel Session. Chairman: Walter Freeman
19.00	Section End

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THURSDAY JANUARY 10^TH

09.30

Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture: Introductory Address

IV SECTION «ONTOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS»
General Chairman: Bernard D'Espagnat

Morning Session
Chairman: Philip Clayton

10.00	Bernard d'Espagnat, Institut de France, Paris, France. Plenary Speech: Quantum physics and the ontological problem.
11.00	Discussion
11.15	Coffee Break
11.30	John Polkinghorne, Cambridge University, GB: The new physics and opportunities for ontological initiatives
12.15	Discussion
12.30	Lunch Break

Afternoon Session
Chairman: John Polkinghorne

14.00	Basarab Nicolescu, Université de Paris, France: Levels of reality and the sacred
14.45	Discussion
15.00	Philip Clayton, CTNS and Sonoma State University, USA: Science, religion, and the metaphysics of the infinite
15.45	Discussion
16.00	Coffee Break
16.15	Panel Session. Chairman: Bernard D'Espagnat
19.00	Section End

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Contact

For any further information, please contact:

Prof. GIANFRANCO BASTI
Pontifical Lateran University
Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano, 4. 00120 Vatican City
ph-fx.: +39 06 69895671
basti@pul.it

Sponsors

We thank

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International Conference: “FOUNDATIONS AND THE ONTOLOGICAL QUEST. PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM” JANUARY 7-10, 2002

Rome, Pontifical Lateran University Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, 4. 00120 Vatican City

International Conference:
“FOUNDATIONS AND THE ONTOLOGICAL QUEST.
PROSPECTS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM”
JANUARY 7-10, 2002

Rome, Pontifical Lateran University
Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano, 4. 00120 Vatican City