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A deceiving resemblance : realism debates in philosophy of science and philosophy of historiographyIn Tor Egil Førland & Branko Mitrovic (eds.), The Poverty of Anti-realism: Critical Perspectives on Postmodernist Philosophy of History, Lexington Books. 2023.
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11Causal Explanation in HistoriographySpringer Nature Switzerland. 2023.The book discusses recent developments in philosophy with regards to how historical events can be explained causally and introduces perspectives from the philosophy of science into the philosophy of history. The book covers the main approaches to causal explanation in history and makes clear the main issues and concepts that are associated with such explanations. For example, the book discusses historical contingency and narratives, among other issues. The book is directed to philosophers of sci…Read more
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208Frameworks in Historiography: Explanation, Scenarios, and FuturesJournal of the Philosophy of History 17 (2): 288-309. 2023.In this paper, I analyze how frameworks shape historiographical explanations. I argue that, in order to identify a sequence of events as relevant to a historical outcome, assumptions about the workings of the relevant domain have to be made. By extending Lakatosian considerations, I argue that these assumptions are provided by a framework that contains a set of factors and intertwined principles that (supposedly) govern how a historical phenomenon works. I connect frameworks with a counterfactua…Read more
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17Pursuitworthiness in the scheme of futuresEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 13 (1): 1-26. 2023.In this paper, I argue that analyzing pursuitworthiness in science requires that we study possible futures of science. The merits of different criteria of pursuitworthiness need to be assessed against scenarios of the future of science. Different criteria recognize and ignore different scenarios. As a consequence, different criteria enable us to manage different future possibilities. While it might be impossible to predict the future of science, there are still many interesting things we can say…Read more
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27Limits of Conceivability in the Study of the Future. Lessons from Philosophy of ScienceFutures. forthcoming.In this paper, the epistemological and conceptual limits of our ability to conceive and reason about future possibilities are analyzed. It is argued that more attention should be paid in futures studies on these epistemological and conceptual limits. Drawing on three cases from philosophy of science, the paper argues that there are deep epistemological and conceptual limits in our ability to conceive and reason about alternatives to the current world. The nature and existence of these limits are…Read more
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Understanding Futures of Science: Connecting Causal Layered Analysis and Philosophy of ScienceJournal of Futures Studies. 2022.This paper analyses the similarities and connections between philosophy of science and causal layered analysis. The paper points out that philosophy of science can be understood as a kind of causal layered analysis of science. These similarities and connections mean that the insights in philosophy of science can be used to investigate the important but neglected topic of possible futures of science. The connections make it possible (i) to open up the present and past to create alternative future…Read more
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3Kuinka tarkastella tieteen historiaa? - Lectio praecursoria 10.6.2019Ajatus 76 (1): 375-380. 2019.Artikkeli on väitöstilaisuudessa esitetty lectio praecursoria. Väitöskirjani käsittelee kysymystä, miten tiedettä voidaan ymmärtää tarkastelemalla sen historiaa. Lectiossa tuon esiin neljä väitöskirjani keskeistä teemaa. Ensinnäkin tieteen historia on osoittautunut monimutkaiseksi prosessiksi. Tämän vuoksi tieteenhistorian on tutkittava monenlaisten syiden yhteisvaikutusta tieteen kehitykseen. Mikään yksittäinen syiden luokka ei auta selittämään kokonaisuutta. Toiseksi esitän, ettei tieteen hist…Read more
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18In Defense of Causal PresentismHopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 12 (1): 68-96. 2022.In this paper, I defend causal presentism in the historiography of science. In causal presentism, historiography of science studies events, processes and practices that were causally relevant to the development of present science. I argue that causal presentism has three main virtues: First, causal presentism avoids the conceptual problems the historiography of science has recognized in its core. Secondly, causal presentism provides a clear account of what counts as historical explanatory unders…Read more
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63Local explanation in historiography of scienceEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (1): 1-21. 2020.In this paper, I offer an explication of the notion of local explanation. In the literature, local explanations are considered as metaphysically and methodologically satisfactory: local explanations reveal the contingency of science and provide a methodologically sound historiography of science. However, the lack of explication of the notion of local explanation makes these claims difficult to assess. The explication provided in this paper connects the degree of locality of an explanans to the d…Read more
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18What Should We Require from an Account of Explanation in Historiography?Journal of the Philosophy of History 16 (1): 22-53. 2020.In this paper, I explicate desiderata for accounts of explanation in historiography. I argue that a fully developed account of explanation in historiography must explicate many explanation-related notions in order to be satisfactory. In particular, it is not enough that an account defines the basic structure of explanation. In addition, the account of explanation must be able to explicate notions such as minimal explanation, complete explanation, historiographical explanation, explanatory depth,…Read more
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398Cementing Science. Understanding Science through Its DevelopmentDissertation, University of Turku. 2019.In this book, I defend the present-centered approach in historiography of science (i.e. study of the history of science), build an account for causal explanations in historiography of science, and show the fruitfulness of the approach and account in when we attempt to understand science. The present-centered approach defines historiography of science as a field that studies the developments that led to the present science. I argue that the choice of the targets of studies in historiography of sc…Read more
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25Could Science be Interestingly Different?Journal of the Philosophy of History 12 (2): 303-324. 2018.In this paper, I investigate the issue of the contingency and inevitability of science. First, I point out valuable insights from the existing discussion about the issue. I then formulate a general framework, built on the notion of contrastive explanation and counterfactuals, that can be used to approach questions of contingency of science. I argue, with an example from the existing historiography of science, that this framework could be useful to historians of science. Finally, I argue that thi…Read more
University of Turku
PhD, 2019
Areas of Specialization
General Philosophy of Science |
Philosophy of History |
Areas of Interest
General Philosophy of Science |
Philosophy of History |