Difference between revisions of "Clément Vidal"

Revision as of 03:20, 26 November 2015

Biography

Clément Vidal is a post-doc researcher at the Free University of Brussels (VUB, Belgium). He has a background in Philosophy, Mathematical Logic (master's degrees at the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France) and Cognitive Sciences (MSc, EHESS/ENS/Paris5/Paris6, France). He has broad interdisciplinary interests in philosophy of science, complexity sciences, cognitive sciences, praxeology, etc. In 2008, he co-founded with John Smart the "Evo Devo Universe" research community.

Research

In the last few decades, science and cosmology provided us great insights about our place in the universe. However, the scientific worldview strive to be value-free; we thus need to extend it to give a meaning to our lives. A broader philosophical worldview answering our existential questions is such an extension. This worldview will provide people a meaning of life, in harmony with cosmic evolution.

Research Problems

How can we construct a consistent and comprehensive worldview, informed by recent insights in science and cosmology, answering fundamental philosophical questions ?

• (1) What is? Ontology (model of the present);
• (2) Where does it all come from? Explanation (model of the past);
• (3) Where are we going? Prediction (model of the future);
• (4) What is good and what is evil? Axiology (theory of values);
• (5) How should we act? Praxeology (theory of actions);
• (6) What is true and what is false? Epistemology (theory of knowledge).

See 'A Cosmic Evolutionary Worldview: Short Responses to the Big Questions' for provisionary short responses.

Selected Bibliography

• Vidal, C. (2013) The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life in a Cosmological Perspective PhD Thesis, defended at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 366 pages.

• Vidal, C. (2012) Metaphilosophical Criteria for Worldview Comparison. Metaphilosophy 43 (3): 306–347. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9973.2012.01749.x.

• Vidal, C. (2010) Computational and biological analogies for understanding fine tuned parameters in physics Foundations of Science 15 (4): 375–393. doi:10.1007/s10699-010-9183-x.

• Vidal, C. (2008) The Future of Scientific Simulations: from Artificial Life to Artificial Cosmogenesis. In Death And Anti-Death, edited by Charles Tandy, 6: Thirty Years After Kurt Gödel (1906-1978).:285–318. Ria University Press.

Recommended Readings

• Chaisson, E.J. (2000) Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature, Harvard U. Press. ISBN 067400342X
• Chaisson, E.J. (2003) A Unifying Concept for Astrobiology, International Journal of Astrobiology, 2:91-101.