Philosophy, Engineering and Technology

Forum on Philosophy, Engineering and Technology

May 18-20

Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María & Universidad de Valparaíso
Valparaíso, Chile

Call for papers – NEW Extended Deadline: January 31, 2020

As we have received a significant number of requests to extend the CFP deadline, we have decided to enable the reception of abstracts until January 31.

The 2020 Forum on Philosophy, Engineering and Technology (fPET) welcomes abstract submissions. The mission of fPET is to encourage reflection on engineering, engineers, and technology; and to build bridges between existing organizations of philosophers, engineers and scholars in related fields.

Abstracts (500 words max) are invited for submission in five tracks:

• Track 1: Philosophy of engineering and technology
• Track 2: Ethics related to engineering and technology
• Track 3: Philosophy / ethics in engineering education
• Track 4: Value sensitive design and responsible innovation
• Track 5: Interdisciplinary reflections on engineering practice

In the interdisciplinary Track 5, fPET2020 welcomes submissions such as a) maintenance in engineering, including ethical and epistemological issues, b) modularity in engineering systems and designs, and c) how science fiction and art can inform our understanding of engineering.

Abstracts are welcome preferably in English, but are also welcome in Spanish and Portuguese. (Some special sessions will be planned in Spanish/Portuguese. In case they are accepted, we will ask authors to prepare a translation of it into the other two languages for the abstract book. We will provide help with such translations if needed.)

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the program committee. Abstracts accepted will be published on the fPET website. Podium presentations will be 30 minutes, including Q&A. Following the conference, we expect to invite selected papers for publication in an edited volume.

Submit abstracts electronically at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fpet2020 by January 18, 2020. 500 word maximum abstracts length excludes citations. Notification of acceptances will be sent by March 7, 2020.

To download the updated CFP in PDF form, please click here

Conference co-chairs

• Andrés Santa-María (Dept. of Humanistic Studies, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María)
• Patricio Quintana Gallo (School of Civil Engineering, Universidad de Valparaíso)
• Carlos Verdugo Serna (Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Philosophy & STS centre, Universidad de Valparaíso)

Program co-chairs

• Marcelo Arancibia (Institute of Philosophy, Unversidad de Valparaíso)
• Albrecht Fritzsche (Institute of Technology and Process Management, Ulm University, Germany)
• Edison Renato Pereira da Silva (Industrial Engineering Department, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro)

Program committe

• Luciano Andreatta Carvalho da Costa (Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul)
• José A. Aravena-Reyes (U. Federal de Juiz de Fora)
• Shannon Conley (James Madison University)
• Michael Davis (Illinois Institute of Technology)
• Neelke Doorn (TU Delft)
• Matthew Harsh (Concordia)
• Deborah Johnson (University of Virginia)
• Yanna Lambrinidou (Virginia Tech)
• Diego Lawler (CONICET, Argentina)
• Glenn Miller (Texas A&M)
• Pieter Vermaas (TU Delft)
• Qin Zhu (Colorado School of Mines)

The following rates are valid until April 18. Late registration is USD $50 extra. Program co-chairs

• The conference fee for Faculty/Regular Delegates is USD $250 (+$50 after April 18).
• The conference fee for Undergraduate and Graduate Students is USD $200 (+$50 after April 18).
• The fee includes access to the conference, a printed program, and light lunches, as well as coffee and tea.

A link for registration will be available here by March 2020.

The fPET meetings bring together researchers from all around the world. With this session, we want to explore the possibilities to inspire ongoing collaborations between them. We will discuss suitable topics for joint research projects and grant schemes that can be used to finance them. A large part of the session will be dedicated to matchmaking and group work on draft proposals to get a first idea of the tasks that are involved and the organizational challenges that need to be addressed. In the view of the climate debate, we will offer an opportunity to join the session online to all members of the fPET community who cannot make it to Valparaiso in person. Monday May 18, 2020. Chair: Albrecht Fritzsche

An artistic exhibition will be set up at the hall of the "A building" of Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, along with conferences rooms.

Curatorial approach:

It will be set up an artistic dialogue with the attendees of fPET2020. The three-dimensional scene will be composed of five works by the national artist Alicia Larraín: installations and medium and large format physiomechanical sculptures. The two-dimensional scene will be integrated by ten woodcuts of the engraver Francisca Agurto.

The installation project is organized from a space center where the sculptures are sheltered by panels containing the engravings. The three-dimensional installations are active, using sensors and guided movement, generating a mechanical expression that pulsates as a chromatic amusement and a linear movement, but which contains an urgent humanist call. On the other hand, the engravings are the moment of contemplation. They express the artist’s concern for biogenetics, acid rain and cellular manipulation.

Both artistic manifestations question the postmodern ethical-technological cultural construct.

Errantes (Wanderes), by Alicia Larraín

fPET2020 will be held in the facilities of Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María and Universidad de Valparaíso. Both are located in quiet places in Valparaíso, very close to its twin city Viña del Mar. These cities are located about 120 km northwest of Santiago, the capital city.

Valparaíso is one of the most important ports of the country and it is recognized for its historic center which is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2003. Valparaiso is a great natural amphitheater, with a particular geography of a bay surrounded by 42 hills.

Viña del Mar, in turn, is known as the Garden City for its great quantity of parks and green areas. It is located only a few minutes away from the city of Valparaiso and is considered by Chileans as the best city in the country to live and work. Its attractiveness in tourism allows it to have major international hotel chains, and a great variety of shopping centers, restaurants and bars.

Security Concerns from October 2019. A number of people have written to the conference committee having seen upseting scenes on television about the security situation in Chile, and some have expressed concerns about the safety of fPET this year. The conference committee is very serious about the safety of attendees and we have been monitoring the situation carefully. The following is our assessment of the situation.

Assessment of situation now.

Indeed, the large demonstrations, including some riots, occurred on October 18th were a serious matter, and led to the cancellation of a few international conferences planned to be held in the country. However, from that time onward, the country has been focused on constructing a way to move ahead in a democratic manner, includding the call for a referendum to be held on the 26 of April 2020, regarding the acceptance or not to start a process for writing a new constitution. Such referendum should help healing the underlying tensions.

Although intermittent protests continue in Santiago, the airport is unaffected, and other conferences will be held in Valpariso. Safe accommodation is available in Viña del Mar, only few minutes away from the venue. Transportation between both cities includes a Metrorail system, which is very safe. Since the original unrest, a number of international meetings have been held at the conference venue in Valpariso, and they were conducted quite successfully and without any incidents (see, e.g. http://www.am2v.cl/wcnrm2020/ )

Join us at fPET 2020. We continue to monitor the situation, but the conference committee remains enthusiastic about the meeting. Valpariso is a beautiful town, and we hope you will join us. Should you have continuing concerns about the safety of the fPET 2020, please write to us at fpet2020@gmail.com . This will be the final extension of the Call for Papers, so please get yours in, and join us for what we expect to be the next great fPET in arguably the most beautiful and most hospitable fPET venue ever.

More practical information will be added to this page in the near future.