Babies are Newtonians?
Following an earlier post noting the apparent Bayesian tendencies of babies, we now have word for fellow University of Missouri professor Kristy vanMarle that babies have innate knowledge of Newtonian...
View ArticleHow Widely Known is Broad's Anticipation of Jackson's Knowledge Argument?
As part of my seminar on emergence and reduction we spent two weeks reviewing the classic discussions of Mill and Broad, along with McLaughlin's helpful paper "The Rise and Fall of British...
View ArticleIan Stewart on Black-Scholes
The influential mathematician and writer Ian Stewart has a short article in a recent Guardian that considers the idea that the Black-Scholes model of option pricing contributed to the financial...
View ArticleBursten Against "Mathturbation"
Over at Reaction Crate, Julia Bursten has a strong (and somewhat humorous) take on the role of what she calls "mathturbation" in the philosophy of physics. This seems to be the practice of deploying...
View Article"In Stock"
After a bit of a delay, I am happy to announce that my book is now in stock on the Oxford University USA page. Hopefully sales will soon be possible on Amazon and other online retailers as well!
View ArticleVincent on Mander on British Idealism
Andrew Vincent provides a positive and helpful overview of Mander's recent book, British Idealism: A History. Based on Vincent's summary, it appears that Mander supports the claim that early analytic...
View ArticleNew Book: Mancosu, The Adventure of Reason
While it came out in 2010, some of the readers of this blog may still not be aware of this important collection of Mancosu's articles on the interactions between logic and philosophy in the 1900-1940...
View ArticleConference: Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy
From May 24-26 at McMaster University, the first annual conference of the Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy will be held. The keynote speakers are Michael Friedman, Paolo...
View ArticlePreview of Special Issue from Models and Simulations 4
Most of the papers from the special issue of Synthese that I co-edited with Marion Vorms are now online. These papers represent a selection from the Models and Simulations 4 conference. Thanks to my...
View ArticleNew Book: Colyvan, Introduction to the Philosophy of Mathematics
Readers of this blog will be happy to see in print Mark Colyvan's An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mathematics (Cambridge) (Amazon, Google). I have not had a chance to read it yet, but the table of...
View ArticleBack to Blogging
After not posting too much for the last year or so, I am hoping to return to the blogosphere on a more consistent basis. As some readers of this blog may have seen, my book Mathematics and Scientific...
View ArticleTwo reviews of my book
As far as I can tell, two reviews of my book have appeared so far. The first is by Stuart Rowlands and was published in the journal Science and Education. The review summarizes the book and makes links...
View ArticleModels and Simulations 4 (Special Issue of Synthese)
The whole issue is now online. Thanks again to my co-editor Marion Vorms, the authors and of course the referees.
View ArticlePhilosophy of Science: The Central Issues, Second Edition
I was lucky enough to be involved in the new edition of the popular philosophy of science anthology Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues. It appeared late last year and, judging from its Amazon...
View ArticleTwo upcoming conferences on the history of analytic philosophy
This spring will see two conferences in the midwest on the history of analytic philosophy. First, there is Early Analytic Philosophy 7, hosted by Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne during the...
View ArticleE. O. Wilson on Science and Math
Prominent biologist and science writer E. O. Wilson has a provocative Wall Street Journal opinion piece about the link between mathematical ability and scientific achievement. Perhaps the central...
View ArticleSix Papers in Mind About Mathematical Fictionalism
The October 2012 issue of Mind (posted today here) has an extended discussion section where mathematical fictionalists of various stripes respond to Colyvan's earlier article "There is No Easy Road to...
View ArticleNew Symposium on Glock's What is Analytic Philosophy?
The most recent issue of the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy has just appeared with a long-awaited symposium on Glock's book on the nature of analytic philosophy. Discussants include...
View ArticleTwo new papers on abstract (mathematical) explanation
There has not been much activity here lately, but I wanted to link to two new papers of mine that tackle the vexing issue of mathematical explanation in math and in science. I try to isolate a kind of...
View ArticleMy PSA 2014 talk (title, abstract and change in time)
This week is the 2014 edition of the Philosophy of Science Association conference. A great program has been assembled here. Due to an oversight on my part, a conflict developed, and I had to request...
View ArticlePaperback of Mathematics and Scientific Representation is out!
Thanks to some good work at Oxford, the paperback edition of my 2012 book is now available. (It is listed on Amazon at least, and should be on the OUP USA website soon.) As much as I wanted to, I...
View ArticleScientia Salon Discussion of Abstract Explanation Preprint
There is lively discussion of my preprint "Abstract Explanations in Science" (BJPS) over at Scientia Salon. Readers of this blog might be interested in checking it out, and supporting the site more...
View ArticleSpecial Journal Issue: Indispensability and Explanation
There is a great new special issue of Synthese that brings together a number of new papers on explanatory indispensability arguments. The editors have also included comments on some of the articles....
View ArticleA Gentle Introduction to Scientific Realism
Here are some notes for a discussion that I led yesterday at Ohio State's Philosophy Club. There is nothing really new here, but these notes might be helpful for students who want a short, basic...
View ArticleThis blog is retired, new blogging at wescholars.org
I have moved my blog and professional information to a new site: https://wescholars.org/blog/ Please check there for occasional posts on my current research and related work in philosophy and science.
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