•  19
    Measuring as a New Mode of Inquiry That Bridges Evolutionary Game Theory and Cancer Biology
    with Artem Kaznatcheev
    Philosophy of Science 89 (5): 1124-1133. 2022.
    We show that as game theory was transferred from mathematical oncology to experimental cancer biology, a new mode of inquiry was created. Modeling was replaced by measuring. The game measured by a game assay can serve as a bridge that allows knowledge to flow backward from target (cancer research) to source (game theory). Our finding suggests that the conformist and creative (Houkes and Zwart 2019) types of transfer need to be augmented. We conclude by introducing the expansive and transformativ…Read more
  •  16
    Knowledge transfer, templates, and the spillovers
    European Journal for Philosophy of Science 12 (1): 1-30. 2022.
    Mathematical models and their modeling frameworks developed to advance knowledge in one discipline are sometimes sourced to answer questions or solve problems in another discipline. Studying this aspect of cross-disciplinary transfer of knowledge objects, philosophers of science have weighed in on the question of whether knowledge about how a mathematical model is previously applied in one discipline is necessary for the success of reapplying said model in a different discipline. However, not mu…Read more
  •  9
    Mathematical formalisms that are constructed for inquiry in one disciplinary context are sometimes applied to another, a phenomenon that I call ‘tool migration.’ Philosophers of science have addressed the advantages of using migrated tools. In this paper, I argue that tool migration can be epistemically risky. I then develop an analytic framework for better understanding the risks that are implicit in tool migration. My approach shows that viewing mathematical constructs as tools while also ackn…Read more
  • Formal Language Theory and its Interdisciplinary Applications
    In Tarja Knuuttila, Natalia Carrillo & Rami Koskinen (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Scientific Modeling, Routledge. 2024.
    This chapter discusses the use of formal language theory in the investigation of diverse phenomena such as natural languages, computer code, and animal cognition. Formal language theory deals with mathematically defined languages as well as the formal systems, such as grammars and automata, that are used to define them. In this context, a language is a set of strings, a grammar specifies a set of rules for forming the string-set from an alphabet, and an automaton is an abstract machine that can …Read more