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52Arguing about science (edited book)Routledge. 2013.Arguing About Science is an outstanding, engaging introduction to the essential topics in philosophy of science, edited by two leading experts in the field. This exciting and innovative anthology contains a selection of classic and contemporary readings that examine a broad range of issues, from classic problems such as scientific reasoning; causation; and scientific realism, to more recent topics such as science and race; forensic science; and the scientific status of medicine. The editors brin…Read more
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167Review of Anjan Chakravartty, A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2009 (6). 2009.Review of Anjan Chakravartty: 'A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
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97I—James Ladyman: On the Identity and Diversity of Objects in a StructureAristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 81 (1): 23-43. 2007.The identity and diversity of individual objects may be grounded or ungrounded, and intrinsic or contextual. Intrinsic individuation can be grounded in haecceities, or absolute discernibility. Contextual individuation can be grounded in relations, but this is compatible with absolute, relative or weak discernibility. Contextual individuation is compatible with the denial of haecceitism, and this is more harmonious with science. Structuralism implies contextual individuation. In mathematics conte…Read more
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963What is structural realism?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 29 (3): 409-424. 1998.
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18The epistemology of constructive empiricismIn Bradley John Monton (ed.), Images of empiricism: essays on science and stances, with a reply from Bas C. van Fraassen, Oxford University Press. 2007.
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384In defence of ontic structural realismIn Alisa Bokulich & Peter Bokulich (eds.), Scientific Structuralism, Springer Science+business Media. pp. 25-42. 2011.
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379Science, metaphysics and methodPhilosophical Studies 160 (1): 31-51. 2012.While there are many examples of metaphysical theorising being heuristically and intellectually important in the progress of scientific knowledge, many people wonder how metaphysics not closely informed and inspired by empirical science could lead to rival or even supplementary knowledge about the world. This paper assesses the merits of a popular defence of the a priori methodology of metaphysics that goes as follows. The first task of the metaphysician, like the scientist, is to construct a hy…Read more
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21Philosophy that’s not for the massesThe Philosophers' Magazine 53 (53): 55-60. 2011.I do not see why all philosophers should be interested in communicating their thoughts to the world. Philosophy is no different in this regard from pure mathematics or microbiology. The idea that every scientist should be a part-time public speaker is absurd.
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Visit our website at http://www. blackwellpublishing. comIn Christopher Hitchcock (ed.), Contemporary debates in philosophy of science, Blackwell. pp. 24. 2004.
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44Semantic perspective on idealization in quantum mechanicsPoznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 63 51-74. 1998.
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345Structural realism and the relationship between the special sciences and physicsPhilosophy of Science 75 (5): 744-755. 2008.The primacy of physics generates a philosophical problem that the naturalist must solve in order to be entitled to an egalitarian acceptance of the ontological commitments he or she inherits from the special sciences and fundamental physics. The problem is the generalized causal exclusion argument. If there is no genuine causation in the domains of the special sciences but only in fundamental physics then there are grounds for doubting the existence of macroscopic objects and properties, or at l…Read more
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831Structural RealismIn Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Metaphysics Research Lab. 2014.Structural realism is considered by many realists and antirealists alike as the most defensible form of scientific realism. There are now many forms of structural realism and an extensive literature about them. There are interesting connections with debates in metaphysics, philosophy of physics and philosophy of mathematics. This entry is intended to be a comprehensive survey of the field.
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46Review of Naturalizing Epistemology by Fred D’Agostino (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90 (3): 605-608. 2012.Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Volume 90, Issue 3, Page 605-608, September 2012
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58Whether we think of the routine conviction or acquittal of suspects on the basis of scientific evidence in the law courts, the trust placed in scientific medicine and the extraordinary interventions it makes possible, or the importance that policy makers attach to the opinions of scientists, it is clear that those making up our scientific institutions are among the most authoritative and respected people that there are. Among intellectual endeavours science has an unrivalled dominance in terms o…Read more
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439Weak physicalism and special science ontologyIn Alexander Hieke & Hannes Leitgeb (eds.), Reduction, Abstraction, Analysis, Ontos. pp. 11--113. 2009.
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109The scientistic stance: the empirical and materialist stances reconciledSynthese 178 (1): 87-98. 2011.Abstractvan Fraassen (The empirical stance, 2002) contrasts the empirical stance with the materialist stance. The way he describes them makes both of them attractive, and while opposed they have something in common for both stances are scientific approaches to philosophy. The difference between them reflects their differing conceptions of science itself. Empiricists emphasise fallibilism, verifiability and falsifiability, and also to some extent scepticism and tolerance of novel hypotheses. Mate…Read more
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627Remodelling structural realism: Quantum physics and the metaphysics of structure (review)Synthese 136 (1): 31-56. 2003.We outline Ladyman's 'metaphysical' or 'ontic' form of structuralrealism and defend it against various objections. Cao, in particular, has questioned theview of ontology presupposed by this approach and we argue that by reconceptualisingobjects in structural terms it offers the best hope for the realist in thecontext of modern physics.
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238Does Physics Answer Metaphysical Questions?Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 61 179-201. 2007.According to logical positivism, so the story goes, metaphysical questions are meaningless, since they do not admit of empirical confirmation or refutation. However, the logical positivists did not in fact reject as meaningless all questions about for example, the structure of space and time. Rather, key figures such as Reichenbach and Schlick believed that scientific theories often presupposed a conceptual framework that was not itself empirically testable, but which was required for the theory…Read more
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491What is a complex system?European Journal for Philosophy of Science 3 (1): 33-67. 2013.Complex systems research is becoming ever more important in both the natural and social sciences. It is commonly implied that there is such a thing as a complex system, different examples of which are studied across many disciplines. However, there is no concise definition of a complex system, let alone a definition on which all scientists agree. We review various attempts to characterize a complex system, and consider a core set of features that are widely associated with complex systems in the…Read more
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262The dissolution of objects: Between platonism and phenomenalism (review)Synthese 136 (1). 2003.
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712The aim of this paper is to revisit the phlogiston theory to see what can be learned from it about the relationship between scientific realism, approximate truth and successful reference. It is argued that phlogiston theory did to some extent correctly describe the causal or nomological structure of the world, and that some of its central terms can be regarded as referring. However, it is concluded that the issue of whether or not theoretical terms successfully refer is not the key to formulatin…Read more
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393Physicalism, supervenience and the fundamental levelPhilosophical Quarterly 59 (234): 20-38. 2009.We provide a formulation of physicalism, and show that this is to be favoured over alternative formulations. Much of the literature on physicalism assumes without argument that there is a fundamental level to reality, and we show that a consideration of the levels problem and its implications for physicalism tells in favour of the form of physicalism proposed here. Its hey elements are, fast, that the empirical and substantive part of physicalism amounts to a prediction that physics will not pos…Read more
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30Review of Steven French, dcio Krause, Identity in Physics: A Historical, Philosophical, and Formal Analysis (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (6). 2007.
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390What's really wrong with constructive empiricism? Van Fraassen and the metaphysics of modalityBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51 (4): 837-856. 2000.Constructive empiricism is supposed to offer a positive alternative to scientific realism that dispenses with the need for metaphysics. I first review the terms of the debate before arguing that the standard objections to constructive empiricism are not decisive. I then explain van Fraassen's views on modality and counterfactuals, and argue that, because constructive empiricism recommends on epistemological grounds belief in the empirical adequacy rather than the truth of theories, it requires t…Read more
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