Epistemology
Feminist Philosophy
History of Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Theory of Value
The philosophy of science group at UW conducts research in the physical, biological and social sciences. Their work in all these areas is characterized by a blend of scientifically situated questions and general issues in the philosophy of science. In the physical sciences Arthur Fine pursues interpretive questions that relate to entanglement and locality in quantum physics, and Andrea Woody investigates the connections between chemical theory and quantum mechanics specifically and representational practices in chemistry more generally. Both are interested in conceptual issues that involve technical skill in their respective sciences as well as in general issues about theories, evidence, explanation, experiment and modeling. In the philosophy of psychology, Carole Lee analyzes explanatory standards in the empirical study of human judgment with an eye towards better understanding how empirical research properly informs naturalized epistemology. In the social and life sciences Lynn Hankinson Nelson focuses on conceptual and evidential issues in evolutionary biology, including evolutionary psychology, and the relationships between scientific theories and social issues, and Alison Wylie focuses on strategies of evidential reasoning in archaeology and their implications for ideals of objectivity in the social sciences.
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In addition to this grounding of philosophical analysis in a technical understanding of specific sciences, two other characteristics mark our style. One is our interest in feminist and social studies of science. Another is our connection to the history of science and its integration in our work. History and Philosophy of Science is an undergraduate major at UW and we have strong and cordial relations with historians of science in several different units on the UW campus.
Recent dissertations have been in philosophy of physics (Physical
Systems: Conceptual Pathways between Space-time and Matter
and The Quantum--to-Classical Transition: Decoherence and Beyond),
philosophy of biology (On a Cladistic Taxonomy for Biological
Traits) and feminist philosophy of science (Should Science
Be Value Free? Rethinking the Role of Moral and Political Values
in the Justification of Scientific Theories). Dissertations
in progress are concerned with expert testimony in science, the
distinction between the context of discovery and the context of
justification, and on science and the pragmatic conception of experience.
All of our recent graduates hold tenure track positions.
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