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oscarw.bsky.social
Oscar
@oscarw.bsky.social
1.9K followers 730 following 250 posts
Philosophy postdoc at the University of Iceland. PhD from HPS Cambridge. Previously Visiting Fellow at Institute Vienna Circle. Interested in philosophy of science, logic, language, and pragmatism.
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oscarw.bsky.social
Oscar @oscarw.bsky.social · May 9
It's been a while submitted my PhD thesis and had my viva, but it's now available open-access. In it, I develop a pragmatist account of scientific understanding, focusing especially on the role of methods in structuring our engagement with the world and concepts in making phenomena intelligible.
Making Sense of Understanding: A Pragmatist Account of Scientific Understanding
Scientists strive to understand the world. Traditionally, philosophers of science have thought that this is a matter of constructing explanations, based on theories and laws, thereby gaining understan...
www.repository.cam.ac.uk
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Lots of great content in the latest newsletter from the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP is so good at fostering community). If you scroll all the way to the last feature I pour my heart out in the Proust Questionnaire. So good of Saana Jukola to give me the opportunity 🙏
ufeest.bsky.social Uljana Feest @ufeest.bsky.social · 18h
ok, so I'm in serious procrastination mode, which led me to read the SPSP-newletter cover to cover, enjoying the interview with @annaalexandrova.bsky.social (among other things)!
sway.cloud.microsoft/Et71m6wUBR3w...
Over and out
Please call me out if you see me on here again today
#SPSP
SPSP Newsletter # 24
November 2025
sway.cloud.microsoft
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Oscar
braininspired.bsky.social
Henk's @henkderegt.bsky.social book Understanding Scientific Understanding (2017) helped elevate understanding in phil of sci, distinct from what it means to explain something.

We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding.

braininspired.co/podcast/225/
November 21, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Starting the last day of PSA Around the World Central and Eastern Europe with a session on scientific understanding. @henkderegt.bsky.social is the first plenary speaker on understanding by an artificial system
eenphilsci.bsky.social eenphilsci.bsky.social @eenphilsci.bsky.social · Oct 20
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!

Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.

Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
PSA Around the World 2025 - Philosophy of Science Association
www.philsci.org
November 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Oscar
mcps-philsci.bsky.social
Reminder! Starts in one hour - “How science is changing” livestream event from 6pm EST tonight! Join MCPS director Alan Love, Lydia Patton, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Craig Callender.
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
November 20, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Oscar
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Deadline for paper or session proposals has been extended to 15 December 2025 for Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) Conference 15–17 July 2026 at
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org/openconf
SPSP 2026 - OpenConf Abstract Submission, Peer Review, and Event Management System
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org
November 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Oscar
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Online workshop: Methodologies for use of History in Philosophy, hosted by Instituto de Investigatciones Filosoficas–UNAM, organised by María Martínez-Ordaz @mmartinezordaz.bsky.social & Teresa Rodriguez. Registration free. Complete form to receive zoom link forms.gle/qJRncUDEc254...
#HPS #Philsky
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FILOSÓFICAS - UNAM WORKSHOPnine METHODOLOGIES for the use of history IN PHILOSOPHY NOVEMBER 13-14, 2025 KIRSTEN WALSH CUNIVERSITY OF EXETER) JOUNI-MATTI KUUKKANEN CUNIVERSITY OF OULU) ANNA GADIGNANI MARIA CHIARA PARISI EVELYN ERICKSON ANDRÉS VÁZQUEZ-QUIJANO JANIK ROJAS ZAINAB SABRA BOBBY VOS NATALIA ZORRILLA DUBIAN CAÑAS MARÍA MARTÍNEZ-ORDAZ +info: methodologiesfortheuseofhistor@gmail.com November 14, 2025 • [15:30-17:00 CET || 08:30-10:00 MX] Keynote Talk: "Towards a methodologist integration of history and philosophy of science. Marriage counseling from a pragmatist perspective." Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen (University of Oulu) • [17:00-17:50 CET || 10:00-10:50 MX] "Counterfactual Sufficiency in Historical Explanation: Old and New History in 1948" Zainab Sabra (American University of Beirut) • |17:50-18:00 CET I| 10:50-11:00 MX] MINI-BREAK • [18:00-18:50 CETI 11:00-11:50 MX] "Historical Macro-Units as a Form of Conceptual Engineering" Bobby Vos (University of Cambridge) • [18:50-19:40 CET // 11:50 - 12:40 MX] "Early Modern Feminist Approaches to Misogynistic Bias in the Historical Archive" Natalia Zorrilla (McGill University) • [19:40 -19:50CET || 12:40-12:50 MX] MINI-BREAK • [19:50-20:40 CET// 12:50-13:40 MX] "Idealising the history of science for philosophical purposes" Dubian Cañas. • |20:40-21:30 CET// 13:40-14:30 MX] "Why some inaccurate case studies work? Reflections on the epistemic value of philosophically biased historical reconstructions" María del Rosario Martínez-Ordaz November 13, 2025 • [16:00-17:30 CET I| 09:00-10:30 MX] Keynote Talk: "Newton's Metaphysics in Practice" Kirsten Walsh (University of Exeter, England) • 17:30-18:20 CET I| 10:30-11:20 MX| "Reconstructing Trust: Social-Historical Trajectories of the Physician-Patient Relationship in Post-Unification Italy" Anna Gadignani (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy) • [18:20-18:30 CET I| 11:20-11:30 MX] MINI-BREAK • [18:30-19:20 CETI 11:30-12:20 MX] "Aristotle and Proclus on Mathematics as an Axiomatic Science: A Data-Driven Comparison" Maria Chiara Parisi (University of Amsterdam, NL) • 19:20-20:10 CET // 12:20 - 13:10 MX] "A reply to incommensurability: from historiography to philosophy of logic" Evelyn Erickson (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil) • [20:10 -20:20CET || 13:10-13:20 MX] MINI-BREAK • [20:20-21:10 CET// 13:20-14:10 MX] "A Meta-Narrativist Approach to the Reconstruction of Internal History: The Autonomy-Continuity Problem" Andrés Vázquez-Quijano (UNAM) • [21:10-22:00 CET// 14:10-15:00 MX] "Problems in the historical study of the intellectual and spiritual contributions of women in classical Islam from a gender perspective" Tzitzi Janik Rojas Torres (UNAM)
November 7, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Oscar
philsci.bsky.social
Tomorrow 6 November is the first of three meetings of the PSA Around the World! A fantastic online program with plenary panel and parallel sessions. All welcome! Note: time zone is 3pm CET.
philsci.bsky.social Philosophy of Science Association @philsci.bsky.social · Oct 20
Check out the program in the thread! 🥳
eenphilsci.bsky.social eenphilsci.bsky.social @eenphilsci.bsky.social · Oct 20
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!

Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.

Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
November 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Oscar
boruttrpin.bsky.social
Excited (and a bit daunted) to be part of a remarkable keynote lineup at Theoretical Rationality and Practical Reason conference at Sofia University next May.
Abstract submissions are open until January 1, 2026.
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Theoretical Rationality and Practical Reason
The division of theoretical and practical philosophy was codified by Kant, who set aside the kingdom of natural necessity and the kingdom of moral ends. The last centuries saw gradual erosion of this ...
philevents.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Oscar
msuarez.bsky.social
My response to Ambrosio, Bird and Westerblad is now out in SHPS - as part of a book forum on Inference and Representation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Make sure to check and download it before the curtain closes on December 21.

#philsci #hps #histci #philsky #sts #philtech #metascience
www.sciencedirect.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:08 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
Took this photo today and turned it upside down
Very clear reflection of parts of Reykjavik in a frozen over lake, with the photo turned upside down; the sky is blue with clouds, the reflection shows a church and buildings
November 1, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Oscar
birchlse.bsky.social
Thanks very much to The Royal Institute of Philosophy for awarding me the Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize 2025. Thanks as well to the ERC who funded it, Peter Momtchiloff who commissioned it for OUP, all my LSE team members past and present, and everyone who made the book possible!
Nayef Al-Rodhan book prize trophy.
October 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
And now the call is out! The local organising committee is working very hard to make it a success, so please come #philsci
October 28, 2025 at 4:29 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
Iceland is certainly living up to its name
A frozen lake in the city of Reykjavik, with the cityscape in the background and mountains covered in snow in the distance A fire red and yellow fire hydrant covered in ice
October 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Oscar
katysduncan.bsky.social
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
3/4 sketch portraits of Herschel (left) and Faraday (right) on a small piece of paper, laid on top of a letter. MS. eng. lett. C. 718, fold. 138-143. Bodleian Libraries. Digital surrogate online.
October 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Oscar
eenphilsci.bsky.social
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!

Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.

Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
PSA Around the World 2025 - Philosophy of Science Association
www.philsci.org
October 20, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Check out the schedule of the online conference PSA Around the World Eastern Europe (pm of Nov 6,14,22). A collaboration between @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it showcases #philsci from, about, and otherwise connected to the region. Wonderful names and titles, looking forward!
www.philsci.org
October 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Latest by my colleague Tim Lewens. Most envious of people who manage to pack in arguments into 3000 words, especially such meaty arguments as this one #philsci #philsky
Values as Evidence in the Sciences
Abstract. Ethical statements can sometimes serve as legitimate evidence for purely descriptive hypotheses. This role for ethical statements need involve ne
academic.oup.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Oscar
drbeasley.bsky.social
Check out my good friend @niallroe.bsky.social's new paper on Charles S. Peirce on Experiment: philpapers.org/rec/ROECPA-2
Niall Roe, Charles Peirce and Experimental Science - PhilPapers
Among much else, Peirce was concerned with understanding the nature of experimentation. And while Peirce scholarship frequently appeals to the role of experimentation in his philosophy, no one has yet...
philpapers.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Oscar
djnicholson.bsky.social
My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell
<i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - <i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
www.cambridge.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Oscar
scipluproject.bsky.social
✨️Full room and dim lights for Peter Galison's lecture on: Author Function in Scientific Collaboration: Around the Event Horizon. 🌌
October 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Oscar
camphilsci.bsky.social
CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science seminar series) is now on Bluesky! Please see our upcoming talks here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/...
CamPoS | Department of History and Philosophy of Science
CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science) is a network of academics and students working in the philosophy of science in various parts of the University of Cambridge, including the Department of Histor...
www.hps.cam.ac.uk
October 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
Helen Longino giving the first Annual Institute of Philosophy and Duke University Research Talk at the University of Iceland! The talk was titled “Why Center Interaction? (In science and elsewhere)”
A speaker (Helen Longino) giving a talk to an audience, standing behind a lectern and in front a lecture slides with pictures of lichens and dodders
October 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Didn’t expect to receive a hard copy of this volume. So satisfying to hold. An honour to philosophise alongside these wonderful thinkers. Here’s the link academic.oup.com/aristotelian...
B&W hard copy of a volume of Aristotelian Society 2025 Table of contents and first page of an article
September 30, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Oscar
clpskuleuven.bsky.social
If you are in Leuven tomorrow, join us for the first CLPS seminar of the academic year! Our speaker will be @augustenahas.bsky.social (IHPST, University of Paris 1–Sorbonne), who will present on negative feedback, equilibrium explanations, and their relationship to causation & #teleology #HPS #HPbio
Screenshot of the KU Leuven Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) website showing details of a seminar titled CLPS Seminar: Auguste Nahas, Equilibrium Explanations and Teleology. The event is scheduled for October 3, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Europe/Brussels time) in room HIW1-01.20. Speaker: Auguste Nahas (IHPST, University of Paris 1-Sorbonne). Abstract Teleological explanations have two distinctive features that have been deemed problematic. First, they reverse the usual explanatory order of causal explanations by explaining a phenomenon in virtue of a consequence it brings about. Second, they involve normative considerations in so far as the goal sets standards of hypothetical requirement: there are good and appropriate ways of achieving a goal. Two possible strategies present themselves for making sense of these features. The eliminative strategy aims to show how these features may be translated without loss to an ordinary causal language that cites neither consequences nor normative facts. A naturalist strategy aims to show that these two distinctively teleological features are no impediment to its legitimacy as a form of explanation. Unfortunately, scholars intent on making sense of teleology are not always explicit about which strategy they are pursuing. A notable ambiguity in this area concerns negative feedback and equilibrium explanations, which have long been deemed candidates for teleology. However, it is not clear if these explanations fall into the eliminative or the naturalist strategy. In this paper, I review two prominent accounts of goal-directed behavior in terms of negative feedback and equilibrium seeking, to evaluate whether they lead to an eliminativist or reductive account of teleological explanation. I argue these modes of explanations can be rendered in two ways, one of which is fully eliminative, while the other preserves the consequence-explanatory character of teleology at the expense of its normative character.
October 2, 2025 at 2:20 PM