Introduction

Abstract

The East European Network for Philosophy of Science (EENPS) is a network of philosophers of science and researchers from related disciplines educated, affiliated, or working at the academic institutions in the broadly understood region of Eastern Europe. The 3 Conference of the EENPS that took place in Belgrade, Serbia in 2021 was a well-attended event with contributions from scholars from diverse backgrounds. Trpin’s (2021) report on the conference noted that the conference had many sections, including general philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of biology, history of logic, philosophy of economics, philosophy of social sciences, philosophy of physics, psychology and philosophy of science and formal philosophy of science. The diversity of topics presented at the conference is also reflected in the four papers included in the Topical Collection for this year’s EENPS conference. These papers address a range of issues related to science and philosophy, including social knowledge, the nature of truth and understanding, consciousness and selfhood, and the hard problem of consciousness. Lilia Gurova’s paper, ‘The Uses of Truth: Is There Room for Reconciliation of Factivist and Non-Factivist Accounts of Scientific Understanding?’ is an important contribution to the ongoing debate on scientific understanding. The argument between those who subscribe to factivism and those who do not revolves around the relationship between understanding and truth. According to Gurova, the line between factivism and non-factivism is not as straightforward as it appears, and there is a coming together of viewpoints between the two sides. Specifically, Gurova highlights how both factivists and non-factivists utilise the concept of ‘effectiveness’ as a replacement for truth, indicating a deeper similarity between the two positions. In his paper, ‘Scientific Practices as Social Knowledge’, Juho Lindholm explores the idea that science is inherently a social practice. Lindholm outlines five distinct ways in which science is social, including the fact that language, which is fundamentally social, underpins science. Other ways in which scientific practice is socially informed are related to the fact of being shaped by the presence of other organisms in the environment; of being public and publicly shared. Furthermore, scientific knowledge can be used to effect social and ethical change and can be employed to enhance human welfare.