tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47185909415862692562024-02-06T23:29:25.372-05:00Honest ToilReflections on philosophy, mathematics and science.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-83756857724392739872020-06-01T10:52:00.000-04:002020-06-01T10:52:47.971-04:00This blog is retired, new blogging at wescholars.orgI 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.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-70393624337328861192016-10-06T09:59:00.000-04:002016-10-07T10:20:44.493-04:00A Gentle Introduction to Scientific RealismHere 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 introduction to some aspects of the scientific realism debate. More thorough treatments can be found via Chakravartty's "Scientific Realism" entry on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Does ScienceChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-70015478966039715542016-03-11T11:26:00.000-05:002016-03-11T11:26:15.417-05:00Special Journal Issue: Indispensability and ExplanationThere 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. Here is the lineup:
Indispensability and explanation: an overview and introduction
Daniele Molinini, Fabrice Pataut, Andrea Sereni Pages 317-332
Parsimony and inference to the best mathematical Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-72135872400809952572015-03-28T10:38:00.000-04:002015-03-28T10:38:29.332-04:00Scientia Salon Discussion of Abstract Explanation PreprintThere 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 generally.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-14635540691654903842014-11-14T10:31:00.000-05:002014-11-14T10:32:16.818-05:00Paperback 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 resisted the urge to make corrections and improvements.
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-76814845697707993862014-11-03T09:14:00.000-05:002014-11-03T09:14:07.647-05:00My 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 that the program chair move the time for my talk. The talk will now be presented on Friday Nov. 7th in the 4-6pm session on Explanation. I am grateful to the program chair for accommodating this lastChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-51009839740607908962014-10-27T10:20:00.000-04:002014-10-27T10:20:50.075-04:00Two new papers on abstract (mathematical) explanationThere 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 "abstract" explanation using two cases, and explore their significance.
The Unsolvability of the Quintic: A Case Study in Abstract Mathematical Explanation
Philosophers' Imprint, forthcoming.
Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-30630970845632458802013-09-07T11:03:00.000-04:002013-09-07T11:04:26.623-04:00New 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 me, Leila Haaparanta, Panu Raatikainen and Graham Stevens. Glock also offers an extended and helpful reply.
This issue marks the end of the term of our first editor in chief, Mark Textor. I would Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-63054482901540310092013-04-24T09:05:00.001-04:002013-04-24T09:05:39.187-04:00Six Papers in Mind About Mathematical FictionalismThe 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 Nominalism". The discussion concludes with a detailed reply by Colyvan. While I am a fan of neither Colyvan's explanatory indispensability argument nor its fictionalist critics, I look forward to Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-62195310607614527322013-04-11T10:24:00.000-04:002013-04-11T10:24:21.979-04:00E. O. Wilson on Science and MathProminent 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 ambiguity of his argument is illustrated by the two different titles the article seems to have. The browser heading is "Great Scientists Don't Need Math", while the actual title is "Great Scientist Does Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-89334597688409077002013-01-25T14:19:00.000-05:002013-01-25T14:19:32.612-05:00Two upcoming conferences on the history of analytic philosophyThis 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 weekend of March 15th. The keynote speaker is Michael Mi of Soochow University (Taiwan). The call for papers for this conference closes on Feb. 15th. See here for more details. Later in the spring, Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-18644424669169567562013-01-24T14:30:00.000-05:002013-01-24T14:30:39.051-05:00Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues, Second EditionI 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 ranking, it is selling well! Martin Curd and Jan Cover did an excellent job on the first edition, but they wanted to update it by changing a few of the selections and augmenting the already Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-62003074995922129082013-01-07T17:24:00.000-05:002013-01-07T17:24:13.491-05:00Models 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.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-24833381375044713472013-01-04T12:17:00.000-05:002013-01-04T12:17:35.064-05:00Two reviews of my bookAs 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 to those working in education. I was pleased with how well the author was able to relate the more obscure debates in philosophy that I talk about to questions in science education.
The second is Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-61831607725340482322013-01-02T15:24:00.001-05:002013-01-02T15:24:52.146-05:00Back to BloggingAfter 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 Representation appeared in Feb. 2012. So some of what I will talking about will develop claims and themes from that book, especially in connection with the ongoing debates about mathematical Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-40874697042017844432012-09-20T17:19:00.000-04:002012-09-20T17:19:04.806-04:00New Book: Colyvan, Introduction to the Philosophy of MathematicsReaders 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 contents looks very encouraging. While traditional questions seem to be addressed in the early chapters, the later chapters take up such topics as fictionalism, mathematical explanation and Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-27962345981888660212012-07-24T15:26:00.001-04:002013-01-07T17:22:09.941-05:00Preview of Special Issue from Models and Simulations 4Most 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 co-editor, the authors and especially all the referees for their contributions to making this issue possible!
Marion Vorms and Christopher Pincock, Preface
Paul Teller, The concept of Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-83918813476106805052012-05-23T11:04:00.000-04:002012-05-23T11:04:14.551-04:00Conference: Society for the Study of the History of Analytical PhilosophyFrom 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 Mancosu and Thomas Uebel. Additional information is available here. Thanks go to Sandra Lapointe for all her hard work of organizing and hosting!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-9000990829123963792012-05-07T11:05:00.001-04:002012-05-07T11:05:45.563-04:00New Book: Mancosu, The Adventure of ReasonWhile 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 period. I recently completed a summary of the book's contents for Zentralblatt Math that might be useful.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-90998949882929302112012-03-21T10:27:00.000-04:002012-03-21T10:27:06.495-04:00Vincent on Mander on British IdealismAndrew 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 philosophers never actually "refuted" British idealism, at least in the sense of finding an argument from premises that the idealists themselves would have accepted. Another important theme of the Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-12401423409219921252012-02-24T10:31:00.002-05:002012-02-24T10:31:40.174-05:00"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!Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-27077575534713210362012-02-22T13:34:00.001-05:002012-02-22T13:35:57.565-05:00Bursten 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 more math than is needed when making a philosophical argument: When I am learning math for the sake of learning math, then understanding an equation is its own reward. When I am learning math to try Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-69967863587696387232012-02-13T15:34:00.000-05:002012-02-13T15:34:56.880-05:00Ian Stewart on Black-ScholesThe 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 collapse. (Thanks to Ole Hjortland for the link.) As I summarized things back in October 2009, the derivation of the central partial differential equation is quite accessible, and involves the sorts of Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-39668125363440887552012-02-08T11:51:00.000-05:002012-02-13T11:03:37.637-05:00How 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 Emergentism." One interesting feature of these early discussions that McLaughlin relegates to his interesting footnotes is the perennial appeal to qualia. In particular, it is striking to come across the Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4718590941586269256.post-72875194190564383872012-02-02T10:00:00.000-05:002012-02-02T10:00:50.894-05:00Babies 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 physics.
From the Yahoo News summary "Infants Grasp Gravity with Innate Sense of Physics":
"We believe that infants are born with expectations about the objects around them, even though that Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10838633162146762394noreply@blogger.com0