ABOUT THE EVENT
What will we explore together?
Wang Xiaowen will share a research project in progress on the origins of knowledge. Beginning with questions from work and decision-making, the talk follows ideas from epistemology and philosophy of science into contemporary questions about AI, intuition and human insight. The aim is to examine how people form, test and revise explanations, not to claim that human insight is automatically right or that AI can never share it.
From philosophy to practical judgment
How can philosophy help us examine the assumptions behind research, customer models and decisions? The discussion begins with Popper's account of conjecture and testing, and with explanations at different levels.
How knowledge takes shape
From Socrates and Aristotle to empiricism, rationalism, Hume, Kant and Kuhn, the talk traces how experience, reason, language and conceptual frameworks shape what we take to be knowledge.
AI, intuition and insight
If AI can analyse more data than any individual, where do new hypotheses and human insight come from? We will consider subjective experience, phenomenology and intuition, while asking how insight can be distinguished from bias and tested against evidence.
Questions to take forward
How does insight develop? What can people and AI each contribute to forming hypotheses, analysing evidence and making judgments? These remain open questions in Xiaowen's research.