On David Lewis’s influential view, modal facts supervene on the mosaic of non-modal facts about sparse natural properties. I defend a Lewisian account of laws that abandons this supervenience claim in order to avoid the objections of subjectivity and lack of necessity that bedeviled Lewis’s original view. On my view, it is not the Humean […]
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[18, 19 & 21 June] With Professor Collin Rice visiting us in June, we are delighted to announce a reading group on models, idealisations, understanding and truth across epistemology and philosophy of science.
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The debate in cosmology concerning LambdaCDM and MOND depends crucially on their respective ability of modelling across scales, and dealing with some of the specific problems that arise along the way. The main upshot of this article is to present three main problems facing multi-scale modelling in contemporary cosmology. The LambdaCDM model, which is the […]
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31 May 2018, 0930-1400, Room 7.01, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, EH8 9AD
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4 April, 1700-1900, Auditorium, National Museum of Scotland Searching for Dark Matter and Dark Energy For the second year in a row, our project features in the Edinburgh International Science Festival with a panel discussion that brings together cosmologists searching for dark matter and dark energy at the Dark Energy Survey. We will discuss problems […]
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I present a recent historical case from cosmology — the story of inflationary cosmology — and on its basis argue that solving explanatory problems is a reliable method for making progress in science. In particular, I claim that the success of inflationary theory at solving its predecessor’s explanatory problems justified the theory epistemically, even in […]
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Among the many varieties of realism in contemporary philosophy of science, perspectivism – or better, perspectival realism – is one of the latest attempts at a middle ground in between scientific realism and antirealism.1 What kind of middle ground can perspectival realism possibly deliver which has not already been explored by structural realism, semi-realism, entity […]
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In this essay I analyse Kant’s view on the regulative role of reason, and in particular what he describes as the ‘indispensably necessary’ role of ideas qua foci imaginari in the Appendix. I review two influential readings of what has become known as the ‘transcendental illusion’ and I offer a novel reading that builds on […]
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6th November 2017, Room G32, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ
This international workshop aims to explore the interrelation between modelling and representing in science. How to think of the representation afforded by different kinds of models in physics, palaeontology, climate science, and computer sciences? Join us for a day of interdisciplinary discussions.
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We introduce a novel point of view on the “models as mediators” frame- work in order to emphasize certain important epistemological questions about models in science which have so far been little investigated. To illustrate how this perspective can help answer these kinds of questions, we explore the use of simplified models in high energy […]
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This chapter addresses some key ideas of Schelling’s philosophy of nature with two main goals in mind. First, it clarifies how in Schelling’s hands, some key aspects of Kant’s philosophy of nature were transformed into a radically new philosophy of nature. Second, the chapter sheds light on some under appreciated aspects of Schelling’s philosophy of […]
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This paper addresses a famous objection against David Lewis’ Best System Analysis (BSA) of laws of nature. The objection—anticipated and discussed by Lewis (1994)—focuses on the standards of simplicity and strength being (in part) a matter of psychology. Lewis’ answer to the objection relies on his metaphysics of natural properties and its ability to single […]
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I discuss the formal implementation, interpretation, and justification of likelihood attributions in cosmology. I show that likelihood arguments in cosmology suffer from significant conceptual and formal problems that undermine their applicability in this context. Download Open Access PDF doi: 10.1016/j.shpsb.2017.05.002 Link to Edinburgh Research Explorer [research repository]: McCoy, C.D. (2017) The implementation, interpretation and justification of […]
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23 June, 27 June and 6 July 2017, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh
With Professor Chakravartty’s visiting us in June, we are delighted to announce a reading group to discuss his forthcoming and eagerly awaited book on scientific realism, naturalised metaphysics and voluntarist epistemology.
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Here you can find articles featuring our project.
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Success-to-truth inferences have been the realist stronghold for long time. Scientific success is the parameter by which realists claim to discern approximately true theories from false ones. But scientific success needs be probed a bit deeper. In this paper, I tell three tales of scientific success, by considering in turn success from nowhere, success from […]
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Our second fieldwork trip to CERN will be from 12-15 September 2016. Our team will resume conversations with theoretical physicists and experimentalists on problems and prospects of Beyond Standard Model searches following the ICHEP 2016 Conference in Chicago.
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In this essay, I suggest bringing real realism closer home, namely back to its Kantian roots. The very same roots that make real realism a ‘homely’ kind of realism, against any Grand Metaphysical Conclusions about the world, its causal necessities, and natural kinds. I suggest reinterpreting a key aspect of real realism—i.e., the notion of […]
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In this paper, I assess recent claims in philosophy of science about scientific perspectivism being compatible with realism. I clarify the rationale for scientific perspectivism and the problems and challenges that perspectivism faces in delivering a form of realism. In particular, I concentrate my attention on truth, and on ways in which truth can be […]
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Our first fieldwork trip at CERN is on the 8-11 June 2016. Our team will meet theoretical physicists and experimentalists both at ATLAS and CMS collaborations to discuss the current state-of-the-art in Beyond Standard Model searches, SUSY, and the latest news from the ATLAS run.
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2 – 3 Jul 2016, 09:30, Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB
The goal of this first international conference is to explore methodological problems and prospects of perspectival modelling across the sciences.
24th May 2016, 1300-1700, IASH Seminar Room, Hope Park Square Edinburgh, EH8 9NW
This workshop is open and everyone is very welcome, but registration is required. Please email: perspectival.realism@ed.ac.uk to attend.
Read moresee if it creates a line
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Monday 16 May 2016, 1.30-2.30, UCL, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy The Perspectival Realism team, with Michela Massimi, Casey McCoy and Franklin Jacoby will convene a meeting with Prof. Ofer Lahav’s Cosmology Group at UCL to discuss the latest news coming from the Dark Energy Survey and lay the road map for the fieldwork ahead.
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Our team collaborates with both experimental and theoretical physicists at CERN to understand the prospects and modelling challenges of the physics that lies beyond the Standard Model. What are the challenges of model-independent searches in this area?
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