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4Kant on scientific pedantry and epistemic populismInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.While positive appraisals of testimonial knowledge by Enlightenment thinkers have recently begun to receive more attention, such discussions often operate at a very general level, leaving out much of the context and dynamics of specific types of testimonial interactions. Drawing on extended passages from Georg Friedrich Meier and Immanuel Kant, the present paper looks at the specific case of scholarly testimony and the various epistemic dangers that can befall the interaction between scholars (o…Read more
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55Philosophy of Science: Between the Natural Sciences, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2018.This broad and insightful book presents current scholarship in important subfields of philosophy of science and addresses an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary readership. It groups carefully selected contributions into the four fields of I) philosophy of physics, II) philosophy of life sciences, III) philosophy of social sciences and values in science, and IV) philosophy of mathematics and formal modeling. Readers will discover research papers by Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Keizo Matsubara, Kian…Read more
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12Distribuierte epistemische UngerechtigkeitIn Sebastian Schleidgen, Orsolya Friedrich & Andreas Wolkenstein (eds.), Bedeutung und Implikationen epistemischer Ungerechtigkeit, Tectum – Ein Verlag in Der Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. pp. 107-130. 2023.
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191. Preface Preface (pp. i-ii)Philosophy of Science 72 (5): 687-698. 2005.The study of similarity is fundamental to biological inquiry. Many homology concepts have been formulated that function successfully to explain similarity in their native domains, but fail to provide an overarching account applicable to variably interconnected and independent areas of biological research despite the monistic standpoint from which they originate. The use of multiple, explicitly articulated homology concepts, applicable at different levels of the biological hierarchy, allows a mor…Read more
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Fake News, False Beliefs, and the Fallible Art of Knowledge MaintenanceIn Sven Bernecker, Amy K. Flowerree & Thomas Grundmann (eds.), The Epistemology of Fake News, Oxford University Press. 2021.
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41Exploratory Models and Exploratory Modeling in Science: IntroductionPerspectives on Science 29 (4): 355-358. 2021.That science is more than the unilinear application of general theories to specific empirical circumstances is, one hopes, no longer something that is controversial or requires detailed argument. To be sure, there were times when devising universally applicable theories was seen as the most worthy task of science, with less lofty activities such as experimentation and scientific modeling being relegated to the underbelly of “proper science.” Arguing for a pluralistic recognition of the diversity…Read more
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14Assessing the Credibility of Conceptual ModelsIn Claus Beisbart & Nicole J. Saam (eds.), Computer Simulation Validation: Fundamental Concepts, Methodological Frameworks, and Philosophical Perspectives, Springer Verlag. pp. 249-269. 2019.Whether or not the results of a computer simulation are credible depends to a large extent on the credibilityCredibility of the underlying conceptual model. If a model has been developed explicitly with the goal of running a computer simulation in mind, the two types of credibilityCredibility may seem deeply intertwined. Yet, often enough, conceptual modelsConceptual model predate the subsequent development of simulation techniques, or were first developed outside the context of computer simulat…Read more
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10Richard Foley: Intellectual Trust in Oneself and Others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) 2001, ISBN 0521793084; £ 42.50, EUR 53,50 (Hardback); 192 pages (review)History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 8 (1): 221-227. 2005.
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7Tamás Demeter (ed.): Essays on Wittgenstein and Austrian Philosophy. Studien zur Österreichischen Philosophie, Vol. 38. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2004, ISBN 90-420-0888-5; US$ 88.00, EUR 70.00 (paperback); 320 pages (review)History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 10 (1): 206-211. 2007.
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26Hume on Testimony RevisitedHistory of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 13 (1): 60-75. 2010.Among contemporary epistemologists of testimony, David Hume is standardly regarded as a ‘global reductionist’, where global reductionism requires the hearer to have sufficient first-hand knowledge of the facts in order to individually ascertain the reliability of the testimony in question. In the present paper, I argue that, by construing Hume’s reductionism in too individualistic a fashion, the received view of Hume on testimony is inaccurate at best, and misleading at worst. Overall, Hume is m…Read more
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5Eric Winsberg: Philosophy and Climate Science: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2018, 270 pp, $29.99 (Paperback), ISBN: 9781316646922 (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 51 (1): 199-202. 2020.
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12Beyond The ‘Null Setting’Epistemology and Philosophy of Science 56 (2): 60-76. 2019.Epistemologists of testimony have tended to construct highly stylized (so-called “null setting”) examples in support of their respective philosophical positions, the paradigmatic case being the casual request for directions from a random stranger. The present paper analyzes the use of such examples in the early controversy between reductionists and anti-reductionists about testimonial justification. The controversy concerned, on the one hand, the source of whatever epistemic justification our te…Read more
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1Probing Possibilities: Toy Models, Minimal Models, and Exploratory ModelsIn Matthieu Fontaine, Cristina Barés-Gómez, Francisco Salguero-Lamillar, Lorenzo Magnani & Ángel Nepomuceno-Fernández (eds.), Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology: Inferential Models for Logic, Language, Cognition and Computation, Springer Verlag. 2019.According to one influential view, model-building in science is primarily a matter of simplifying theoretical descriptions of real-world target systems using abstraction and idealization. This view, however, does not adequately capture all types of models. Many contemporary models in the natural and social sciences – from physics to biology to economics – stand in a more tenuous relationship with real-world target systems and have a decidedly stipulative element, in that they create, by fiat, ‘m…Read more
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12Eric Winsberg: Philosophy and Climate ScienceJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 51 (1): 199-202. 2020.
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75Models in Search of Targets: Exploratory Modelling and the Case of Turing PatternsIn Alexander Christian, David Hommen, Gerhard Schurz & N. Retzlaff (eds.), Philosophy of Science. European Studies in Philosophy of Science, vol 9., Springer. pp. 245-269. 2018.Traditional frameworks for evaluating scientific models have tended to downplay their exploratory function; instead they emphasize how models are inherently intended for specific phenomena and are to be judged by their ability to predict, reproduce, or explain empirical observations. By contrast, this paper argues that exploration should stand alongside explanation, prediction, and representation as a core function of scientific models. Thus, models often serve as starting points for future inqu…Read more
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113The Exploratory Role of Idealizations and Limiting Cases in ModelsStudia Metodologiczne 39 ( Issue on Culture(s) of Modellin). 2019.In this article we argue that idealizations and limiting cases in models play an exploratory role in science. Four senses of exploration are presented: exploration of the structure and representational capacities of theory; proof-of-principle demonstrations; potential explanations; and exploring the suitability of target systems. We illustrate our claims through three case studies, including the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the emergence of anyons and fractional quantum statistics, and the Hubbard mode…Read more
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919Fake News: A DefinitionInformal Logic 38 (1): 84-117. 2018.Despite being a new term, ‘fake news’ has evolved rapidly. This paper argues that it should be reserved for cases of deliberate presentation of false or misleading claims as news, where these are misleading by design. The phrase ‘by design’ here refers to systemic features of the design of the sources and channels by which fake news propagates and, thereby, manipulates the audience’s cognitive processes. This prospective definition is then tested: first, by contrasting fake news with other forms…Read more
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39Philosophical perspectives on synthetic biologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (2): 119-121. 2013.Although the emerging field of synthetic biology looks back on barely a decade of development, the stakes are high. It is a multidisciplinary research field that aims at integrating the life sciences with engineering and the physical/chemical sciences. The common goal is to design and construct novel biological components, functions and systems in order to implement, in a controlled way, biological devices and production systems not necessarily found in nature. Among the many potential applicati…Read more
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35Kant and the Enlightenment's Contribution to Social EpistemologyEpisteme 7 (1): 79-99. 2010.The present paper argues for the relevance of Immanuel Kant and the German Enlightenment to contemporary social epistemology. Rather than distancing themselves from the alleged ‘individualism’ of Enlightenment philosophers, social epistemologists would be well-advised to look at the substantive discussion of social-epistemological questions in the works of Kant and other Enlightenment figures. After a brief rebuttal of the received view of the Enlightenment as an intrinsically individualist ente…Read more
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132Coverage-Reliability, Epistemic Dependence, and the Problem of Rumor-Based BeliefPhilosophia 41 (3): 763-786. 2013.Rumors, for better or worse, are an important element of public discourse. The present paper focuses on rumors as an epistemic phenomenon rather than as a social or political problem. In particular, it investigates the relation between the mode of transmission and the reliability, if any, of rumors as a source of knowledge. It does so by comparing rumor with two forms of epistemic dependence that have recently received attention in the philosophical literature: our dependence on the testimony of…Read more
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69Observation, Inference, and Imagination: Elements of Edgar Allan Poe’s Philosophy of ScienceScience & Education 23 (3): 589-607. 2014.Edgar Allan Poe’s standing as a literary figure, who drew on (and sometimes dabbled in) the scientific debates of his time, makes him an intriguing character for any exploration of the historical interrelationship between science, literature and philosophy. His sprawling ‘prose-poem’ Eureka (1848), in particular, has sometimes been scrutinized for anticipations of later scientific developments. By contrast, the present paper argues that it should be understood as a contribution to the raging deb…Read more
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53Applicability, Indispensability, and Underdetermination: Puzzling Over Wigner’s ‘Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics’Science & Education 23 (5): 997-1009. 2014.In his influential 1960 paper ‘The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences’, Eugene P. Wigner raises the question of why something that was developed without concern for empirical facts—mathematics—should turn out to be so powerful in explaining facts about the natural world. Recent philosophy of science has developed ‘Wigner’s puzzle’ in two different directions: First, in relation to the supposed indispensability of mathematical facts to particular scientific explanat…Read more
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67Reconsidering the role of inference to the best explanation in the epistemology of testimonyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41 (4): 386-396. 2010.In his work on the epistemology of testimony, Peter Lipton developed an account of testimonial inference that aimed at descriptive adequacy as well as justificatory sophistication. According to ‘testimonial inference to the best explanation’, we accept what a speaker tells us because the truth of her claim figures in the best explanation of the fact that she made it. In this paper, I argue for a modification of this picture. In particular, I argue that IBE plays a dual role in the management and…Read more
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71Mathematical formalisms in scientific practice: From denotation to model-based representationStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 42 (2): 272-286. 2011.The present paper argues that ‘mature mathematical formalisms’ play a central role in achieving representation via scientific models. A close discussion of two contemporary accounts of how mathematical models apply—the DDI account (according to which representation depends on the successful interplay of denotation, demonstration and interpretation) and the ‘matching model’ account—reveals shortcomings of each, which, it is argued, suggests that scientific representation may be ineliminably heter…Read more
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Essays on Wittgenstein and Austrian Philosophy (review)History of Philosophy & Logical Analysis 10. 2007.
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147Art history, the problem of style, and Arnold Hauser’s contribution to the history and sociology of knowledgeStudies in East European Thought 64 (1-2): 121-142. 2012.Much of Arnold Hauser’s work on the social history of art and the philosophy of art history is informed by a concern for the cognitive dimension of art. The present paper offers a reconstruction of this aspect of Hauser’s project and identifies areas of overlap with the sociology of knowledge—where the latter is to be understood as both a separate discipline and a going intellectual concern. Following a discussion of Hauser’s personal and intellectual background, as well as of the shifting polit…Read more
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142How to Do Science with Models: A Philosophical PrimerSpringer. 2016.Taking scientific practice as its starting point, this book charts the complex territory of models used in science. It examines what scientific models are and what their function is. Reliance on models is pervasive in science, and scientists often need to construct models in order to explain or predict anything of interest at all. The diversity of kinds of models one finds in science – ranging from toy models and scale models to theoretical and mathematical models – has attracted attention not o…Read more
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29Testimony, Trust & Authority by Benjamin McMyler, 2011 New York, NY, Oxford University Press viii + 178 pp, $65.00 (hb) (review)Journal of Applied Philosophy 30 (1): 101-103. 2013.
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Technische Universität BerlinProfessor
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy |