Andrea Woody

Associate Professor, Associate Chair
Ph.D., 1997, University of Pittsburgh

awoody@uw.edu
Savery M393
(206) 685-2663

Andrea Woody is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington.  She currently serves as Associate Editor of Philosophy of Science and Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences and is a member of the Editorial Board of Foundations of Chemistry and the organizing committee of the Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice. She received her bachelor’s degree, in chemistry, from Princeton and her doctorate, in history & philosophy of science, from the University of Pittsburgh.  Her research interests include philosophy of science, history of science, aesthetics, and feminist perspectives in philosophy.

In philosophy of science, her current research involves (i) developing “the functional perspective” on scientific explanation, (ii) analyzing diagrammatic, graphical, and pictorial representations as part of a larger project examining how pragmatic techniques for manipulating scientific theories are developed and justified by scientific communities, and (iii) seeing how issues of explanation and representation are related to one another.  These projects interface with traditional discussions concerning explanation, representation, reduction, theory change and disciplinary formation. In aesthetics, her work focuses on the identity of performing artworks, and the (distinctive?) nature of live performance. 

Professor Woody is currently supervising dissertations on theory reduction, the social nature of science, and the nature of philosophical stances.

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