Online lecture by Diego Gambetta, Carlo Alberto Chair Professor at the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, Italy, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, and fellow for a one-month writing residency at Paris IAS for the month of March 2026, as part of the ‘Paris IAS Ideas’ series.

The ‘Paris IAS Ideas’ online lecture series offers short and stimulating presentations by researchers from the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, marking the beginning of their month-long writing residency.

Session exclusively online and in English.
Free upon registration.
Registration is required via the form at the bottom of the page to receive the connection link.

Presentation

Some of the most enduring discoveries in the social sciences arise from the observation of unexpected and counterintuitive correlations. These puzzles, which surprise us with their results or implications, provide fertile ground for scientific creativity.

Tocqueville's paradox, for example, shows that revolutions and rebellions often arise when people's living conditions improve. Émile Durkheim, for his part, highlighted that suicide is more frequent in contexts where the degree of social integration is low, and his analyses reveal surprising differences between religious groups. Finally, Charles Darwin was inspired by the diversity of beaks among finches on the Galápagos Islands to formulate his theory of natural selection.

On 6 March, from 2:00 to 2:40 p.m., Diego Gambetta will explore how these enigmas enable researchers to ask new questions, rule out erroneous explanations and generate innovative theories. By focusing attention on specific, observable relationships, they facilitate the collection of rigorous data and offer new perspectives on complex social phenomena.