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32A Probabilistic Theory of the Coherence of an Information SetIn BeckermannAnsgar (ed.), Argument & Analysis: Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of the Society for Analytical Philosophy, Bielefeld. 2001.Bonjour (1985: 101 and 1999: 124) and other coherence theorists of justification before him (e.g. Ewing, 1934: 246) have complained that we do not have a satisfactory analysis of the notion of coherence. The problem with existing accounts of coherence is that they try to bring precision to our intuitive notion of coherence independently of the particular role that it is meant to play within the coherence theory of justification (e.g Lewis, 1946: 338). This is a mistake: it does not make any …Read more
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34The Future of Philosophy of Science: IntroductionEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (2): 157-159. 2012.Philosophy, perhaps more than any other academic discipline, likes to reflect upon itself. Thus, it is no surprise that philosophers regularly ask questions such as: What is the scope of philosophy, what are its important questions, and what are the proper methods to address them? Asking these questions also means to take stock and to enquire where the discipline is going. This is an especially worthwhile activity in contemporary philosophy of science as this field has been changing rapidly sin…Read more
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50Models, Simulations, and the Reduction of Complexity (edited book)De Gruyter. 2013.Modern science is, to a large extent, a model-building activity. But how are models contructed? How are they related to theories and data? How do they explain complex scientific phenomena, and which role do computer simulations play here? These questions have kept philosophers of science busy for many years, and much work has been done to identify modeling as the central activity of theoretical science. At the same time, these questions have been addressed by methodologically-minded scientists, …Read more
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52On CorrespondenceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 33 (1): 79-94. 2002.This paper is an essay review of Steven French and Harmke Kamminga (eds.), Correspondence, Invariance and Heuristics. Essays in Honour of Heinz Post (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1993). I distinguish a varity of correspondence relations between scientific theories (exemplified by cases from the book under review) and examine how one can make sense of the the prevailing continuity in scientific theorizing.
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94Welfarism and the Assessment of Social Decision RulesIn Jerome Lang & Ulle Endriss (eds.), Computational Social Choice 2006, University of Amsterdam. 2006.The choice of a social decision rule for a federal assembly affects the welfare distribution within the federation. But which decision rules can be recommended on welfarist grounds? In this paper, we focus on two welfarist desiderata, viz. (i) maximizing the expected utility of the whole federation and (ii) equalizing the expected utilities of people from different states in the federation. We consider the European Union as an example, set up a probabilistic model of decision making and explore h…Read more
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83The Present Situation in the Philosophy of Science (edited book)Springer. 2010.This volume is a serious attempt to open up the subject of European philosophy of science to real thought, and provide the structural basis for the ...
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55Review of Inference to the Best ExplanationNotre Dame Philosophical Reviews 1 (6). 2005.The first edition of Peter Lipton's Inference to the Best Explanation, which appeared in 1991, is a modern classic in the philosophy of science. Yet in the second edition of the book, Lipton proves that even a classic can be improved. Not only does Lipton elaborate and expand on the themes covered in the first edition, but he also adds a new chapter on Bayesianism. In particular, he attempts a reconciliation between the Bayesian approach and that offered by Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE…Read more
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140Mechanisms, Coherence, and Theory Choice in the Cognitive NeurosciencesIn Peter McLaughlin, Peter Machamer & Rick Grush (eds.), Theory and Method in the Neurosciences, Pittsburgh University Press. pp. 70-80. 2001.Let me first state that I like Antti Revonsuo’s discussion of the various methodological and interpretational problems in neuroscience. It shows how careful and methodologically reflected scientists have to proceed in this fascinating field of research. I have nothing to add here. Furthermore, I am very sympathetic towards Revonsuo’s general proposal to call for a Philosophy of Neuroscience that stresses foundational issues, but also focuses on methodological and explanatory strategies.2 I…Read more
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230Kohärent/Kohärenz; Kohärenz, explanatorische; Kohärenz, probabilistischeIn J. Mittelstraß (ed.), Enzyklopädie der Wissenschaftsphilosophie und analytischen Philosophie vol. 4, Metzler. pp. 250-258. 2010.Erklärungstheoretisch bestimmter Kohärenzbegriff
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266Walter the Banker: The Conjunction Fallacy Reconsidered (review)Synthese 184 (1): 73-87. 2012.In a famous experiment by Tversky and Kahneman (Psychol Rev 90:293–315, 1983), featuring Linda the bank teller, the participants assign a higher probability to a conjunction of propositions than to one of the conjuncts, thereby seemingly committing a probabilistic fallacy. In this paper, we discuss a slightly different example featuring someone named Walter, who also happens to work at a bank, and argue that, in this example, it is rational to assign a higher probability to the conjunction of su…Read more
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214Models, Mechanisms, and CoherenceBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (1): 181-212. 2015.Life-science phenomena are often explained by specifying the mechanisms that bring them about. The new mechanistic philosophers have done much to substantiate this claim and to provide us with a better understanding of what mechanisms are and how they explain. Although there is disagreement among current mechanists on various issues, they share a common core position and a seeming commitment to some form of scientific realism. But is such a commitment necessary? Is it the best way to go about me…Read more
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322Judgment aggregation and the problem of tracking the truthSynthese 187 (1): 209-221. 2012.The aggregation of consistent individual judgments on logically interconnected propositions into a collective judgment on those propositions has recently drawn much attention. Seemingly reasonable aggregation procedures, such as propositionwise majority voting, cannot ensure an equally consistent collective conclusion. The literature on judgment aggregation refers to that problem as the discursive dilemma. In this paper, we motivate that many groups do not only want to reach a factually right co…Read more
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221Computersimulationen in der Angewandten Politischen Philosophie - Ein BeispielIn Carl-Friedrich Gethmann (ed.), Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft, Meiner Verlag. pp. 601-634. 2011.In den vergangenen Jahren hat die Europäische Union (EU) wiederholt versucht, ihre Institutionen zu reformieren. Als der Entwurf für eine Europäische Verfassung und später der Vertrag von Lissabon ausgehandelt wurden, betraf einer der meistdiskutiertesten Streitpunkte die Frage, nach welcher Entscheidungsregel der EU-Ministerrat abstimmen sollte. Diese Frage ist eine genuin normative Frage. Deshalb sollten auch politische Philosophen und Ethiker etwas zu dieser Frage beitragen können. Im folgend…Read more
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19EditorialLogic Journal of the IGPL 18 (2): 277-277. 2010.Social epistemology is a relatively new and booming field of research. It studies the social dimension of the pursuit of acquiring true beliefs and requires philosophical as well as sociological and economic expertise. The insights gained in social epistemology are not only of theoretical interest; they also improve our understanding of social and political processes, as the field includes the analysis of group deliberation and group decision-making. However, surprisingly little work has so far …Read more
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73The variety of evidence thesis in confirmation theory states that more varied supporting evidence confirms a hypothesis to a greater degree than less varied evidence. Under a very plausible interpretation of this thesis, positive test results from multiple independent instruments confirm a hypothesis to a greater degree than positive test results from a single instrument. We invoke Bayesian Networks to model confirmation on grounds of evidence that is obtained from less than fully reliable instr…Read more
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Ludwig Maximilians Universität, MünchenFaculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Study of ReligionRegular Faculty
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Social Science |
Philosophy of Computing and Information |