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41The reality of the unobservable. Observability, unobservability and their impact on the issue of scientific realism. Edited by Evandro Agazzi and Massimo Pauri (review)Revue Philosophique De Louvain 101 (1): 176-179. 2003.
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37It is widely agreed that social factors are related to health outcomes: much research served to establish correlations between classes of social factors on the one hand and classes of disease on the other hand. However, why and how social factors are an active part in the aetiology of disease development is something that is gaining attention only recently in the health sciences and in the medical humanities. In this paper, we advance the view that, just as bio-markers help trace the causal cont…Read more
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37COVID-19 heralds a new epistemology of science for the public goodHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 43 (2): 1-6. 2021.COVID-19 has revealed that science needs to learn how to better deal with the irreducible uncertainty that comes with global systemic risks as well as with the social responsibility of science towards the public good. Further developing the epistemological principles of new theories and experimental practices, alternative investigative pathways and communication, and diverse voices can be an important contribution of history and philosophy of science and of science studies to ongoing transformat…Read more
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34Review of Kevin Christopher Elliott and Ted Richards: Exploring Inductive Risk: Case Studies of Values in Science (review)Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 179-182. 2019.
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32IntroductionStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43 (4): 758-760. 2012.
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30Causal Arrows in econometric ModelsHumana Mente 3 (10). 2009.Econometrics applies statistical methods to study economic phenomena. Roughly, by means of equations, econometricians typically account for the response variable in terms of a number of explanatory variables. The question arises under what conditions econometric models can be given a causal interpretation. By drawing the distinction between associational models and causal models, the paper argues that a proper use of background knowledge, three distinct types of assumptions (statistical, extra-s…Read more
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30Causality and Probability in the Sciences (edited book)College Publications. 2007.Causal inference is perhaps the most important form of reasoning in the sciences. A panoply of disciplines, ranging from epidemiology to biology, from econometrics to physics, make use of probability and statistics to infer causal relationships. The social and health sciences analyse population-level data using statistical methods to infer average causal relations. In diagnosis of disease, probabilistic statements are based on population-level causal knowledge combined with knowledge of a partic…Read more
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29Depth. An account of scientific explanations (review)Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 26 (2): 261-263. 2011.
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28For my own work in philosophy of science, I find of utmost importance to exchange ideas with practicing scientists. The author of this book, Peter Rabins, is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. With much regret, I have not met Professor Rabins in person yet, but I’m hoping to do so soon, as his recent book The Why of Things: Causality in Science, Medicine, and Life has been a most enjoyable read and source of inspiration. The book constitutes a noteworthy addition to Professor Rabins’ a…Read more
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28On the Poietic Character of TechnologyHumana Mente 9 (30). 2016.Large part of contemporary science is in fact technoscience, in the sense that it crucially depends on several technologies for the generation, collection, and analysis of data. This prompts a re-examination of the relations between science and technologies. In this essay, I advance the view that we’d better move beyond the ‘subordination view’ and the ‘instrumental’ view. The first aims to establish the primacy of science over technology, and the second uses technology instrumentally to support…Read more
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26Digital Technologies, Ethical Questions, and the Need of an Informational FrameworkPhilosophy and Technology 31 (4): 655-667. 2018.Technologies have always been bearers of profound changes in science, society, and any other aspect of life. The latest technological revolution—the digital revolution—is no exception in this respect. This paper presents the revolution brought about by digital technologies through the lenses of a specific approach: the philosophy of information. It is argued that the adoption of an informational approach helps avoiding utopian or dystopian approaches to technology, both expressions of technologi…Read more
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26Science and values: a two-way directionEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (1): 1-23. 2024.In the science and values literature, scholars have shown how science is influenced and shaped by values, often in opposition to the ‘value free’ ideal of science. In this paper, we aim to contribute to the science and values literature by showing that the relation between science and values flows not only from values into scientific practice, but also from (allegedly neutral) science to values themselves. The extant literature in the ‘science and values’ field focuses by and large on reconstruc…Read more
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26Techno-Scientific Practices: An Informational ApproachRowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2000.Techno-Scientific Practices analyzes and helps readers to understand the role of instruments and technologies in the practice of science, and their partnership with human agents in producing knowledge about the world.
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24Causal Explanation: Recursive Decompositions and MechanismsIn Phyllis McKay Illari, Federica Russo & Jon Williamson (eds.), Causality in the Sciences, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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22Causality in the Sciences (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2011.Why do ideas of how mechanisms relate to causality and probability differ so much across the sciences? Can progress in understanding the tools of causal inference in some sciences lead to progress in others? This book tackles these questions and others concerning the use of causality in the sciences.
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19Kevin C. Elliott and Ted Richards, eds. Exploring Inductive Risk: Case Studies of Values in Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xiv+277. $99.00 ; $40.00 (review)Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 179-182. 2019.
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16Correction to: Philosophy of science in practice in ecological model buildingBiology and Philosophy 37 (5): 1-2. 2022.
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13Causality and Modelling in the Sciences: IntroductionDisputatio 9 (47): 423-427. 2017.The advantage of examining causality from the perspective of modelling is thus that it puts us naturally closer to the practice of the sciences. This means being able to set up an interdisciplinary dialogue that contrasts and compares modelling practices in different fields, say economics and biology, medicine and statistics, climate change and physics. It also means that it helps philosophers looking for questions that go beyond the narrow ‘what-is-causality’ or ‘what-are-relata’ and thus puts …Read more
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13Experimental practices and objectivity in the social sciences: re-embedding construct validity in the internal–external validity distinctionSynthese 199 (3-4): 9549-9579. 2021.The experimental revolution in the social sciences is one of the most significant methodological shifts undergone by the field since the ‘quantitative revolution’ in the nineteenth century. One of the often valued features of social science experimentation is precisely the fact that there are clear methodological rules regarding hypothesis testing that come from the methods of the natural sciences and from the methodology of RCTs in the biomedical sciences, and that allow for the adjudication am…Read more
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12Jean-René Vernes, L'existence du monde extérieur et l'erreur du rationalismeRevue Philosophique De Louvain 101 (1): 173-176. 2003.
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10Interpretations of probabilityIn Jon Williamson & Federica Russo (eds.), Key Terms in Logic, . pp. 81. 2010.Key Terms in Logic offers the ideal introduction to this core area in the study of philosophy, providing detailed summaries of the important concepts in the study of logic and the application of logic to the rest of philosophy. A brief introduction provides context and background, while the following chapters offer detailed definitions of key terms and concepts, introductions to the work of key thinkers and lists of key texts. Designed specifically to meet the needs of students and assuming no p…Read more
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10Predicting “it will work for us”: (way) beyond statisticsIn Phyllis McKay Illari, Federica Russo & Jon Williamson (eds.), Causality in the Sciences, . 2011.
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9Élie Zahar, Essai d'épistémologie réaliste. Avant-propos de Alain BoyerRevue Philosophique De Louvain 101 (3): 516-519. 2003.
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8How is who: evidence as clues for action in participatory sustainability science and public health researchHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 46 (1): 1-26. 2024.Participatory and collaborative approaches in sustainability science and public health research contribute to co-producing evidence that can support interventions by involving diverse societal actors that range from individual citizens to entire communities. However, existing philosophical accounts of evidence are not adequate to deal with the kind of evidence generated and used in such approaches. In this paper, we present an account of evidence as clues for action through participatory and col…Read more
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8Richard JeffreyIn Jon Williamson & Federica Russo (eds.), Key Terms in Logic, . pp. 129. 2010.Key Terms in Logic offers the ideal introduction to this core area in the study of philosophy, providing detailed summaries of the important concepts in the study of logic and the application of logic to the rest of philosophy. A brief introduction provides context and background, while the following chapters offer detailed definitions of key terms and concepts, introductions to the work of key thinkers and lists of key texts. Designed specifically to meet the needs of students and assuming no p…Read more
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7Probabilistic logicIn Jon Williamson & Federica Russo (eds.), Key Terms in Logic, . pp. 57. 2010.Key Terms in Logic offers the ideal introduction to this core area in the study of philosophy, providing detailed summaries of the important concepts in the study of logic and the application of logic to the rest of philosophy. A brief introduction provides context and background, while the following chapters offer detailed definitions of key terms and concepts, introductions to the work of key thinkers and lists of key texts. Designed specifically to meet the needs of students and assuming no p…Read more