•  9
    Robustness of Climate Models
    Philosophy of Science 1-16. forthcoming.
    Robustness with respect to climate models is often considered by philosophers of climate science to be a crucial issue in determining whether and to what extent the projections of the Earth’s future climate that models yield should be trusted. Parker (2011) and Lloyd (2009, 2015) have introduced influential accounts of robustness for climate models with seemingly conflicting conclusions. I argue that Parker and Lloyd are characterizing distinct notions of robustness and providing complementary i…Read more
  •  18
    Varieties of Data-Centric Science: Regional Climate Modeling and Model Organism Research
    with Elisabeth Lloyd, Greg Lusk, and Seth McGinnis
    Philosophy of Science 89 (4): 802-823. 2022.
    Modern science’s ability to produce, store, and analyze big datasets is changing the way that scientific research is practiced. Philosophers have only begun to comprehend the changed nature of scientific reasoning in this age of “big data.” We analyze data-focused practices in biology and climate modeling, identifying distinct species of data-centric science: phenomena-laden in biology and phenomena-agnostic in climate modeling, each better suited for its own domain of application, though each e…Read more
  •  63
    Peter Railton (1978) has introduced the influential deductive-nomological-probabilistic (DNP) model of explanation which is the culmination of a tradition of formal, non-pragmatic accounts of scientific explanation. The other models in this tradition have been shown to be susceptible to a class of counterexamples involving intervening causes which speak against their sufficiency. This treatment has never been extended to the DNP model; we contend that the usual form of these counterexamples is i…Read more
  •  13
    Obligations and Concerns of an Organization Like the Center for Talented Youth
    with Elaine Tuttle Hansen and Amy L. Shelton
    Hastings Center Report 45 (S1): 66-72. 2015.
    There is another set of entities that needs to be brought into the conversation about the ethical, legal, and social implications of scientific conduct. This widely varied group includes not‐for‐profit educational, academic, public‐service, and philanthropic organizations other than the type mentioned above as well as for‐profit businesses. Despite their major differences, these organizations may all be in a position to make decisions, directly or indirectly, about the conduct of scientific rese…Read more