Luis Lopez

At the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, Institute of Philosophy, the Junior Professorship in Philosophy of Science (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Enno Fischer) offers a position as Research Associate / PostDoc (m/f/x) in Philosophy of Science / Philosophy of Physics (subject to personal qualification employees are remunerated according to salary group E 13 TV-L) starting at the earliest possible date. The position is limited to 2 years. The period of employment is governed by the Fixed Term Research Contracts Act (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz - WissZeitVG). The position offers the chance to obtain further academic qualification (usually preparation of habilitation thesis). The position is part of the DFG project "Progress through Principles: An Epistemology of Foundational Assumptions Guiding Contemporary Physics" which examines the heuristic role of guiding principles in foundational physics. Further information about the project is available at https://tu-dresden.de/gsw/phil/iphil/phisci/forschung.

Apply to join a team of wonderful colleagues at Philosophy at TU Dresden. I am advertising a 2-year PostDoc position in philosophy of science/philosophy of physics as part of the DFG project 'Progress through Principles', deadline 03.11.2025.
Details: tinyurl.com/493dffby
#philsci #philsky

AI and the Nature of Science Bringing together cutting-edge perspectives and helping set an agenda for future research and application

One month to go until our AI and the Nature of Science symposium. Please join us if you're in the Twin Cities. Fri 14 Nov. 1400-2000. Speakers include Carl Bergstrom, Cameron Buckner, Thomas Byrd, Lisa Messeri and Claudia Scarlata.

Our team member Edoardo Peruzzi organizes a workshop together with @karimbaraghith.bsky.social:

"Scientific Progress via Model Transfer? The Case of Cultural Evolution"

📍 Leibniz Universität Hannover
📅 April 9–10, 2026

Below you’ll find more information about the workshop and the CfP 👇

Book cover of "The Riddle of Organismal Agency: New Historical and Philosophical Reflections" (Routledge, 2024). The book belongs to the "History and Philosophy of Biology" series. The editors are Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda, Jan Baedke, Guido I. Prieto, and Gregory Radick. The design features a geometric pattern of interlocking, multicolored triangles and rectangular prisms in shades of red, yellow, teal, white, and pink. The Routledge logo appears in the lower right corner.

Still puzzled by the debate on organismal agency? Our edited collection brings historians, philosophers, and scientists into dialogue—offering a wide array of perspectives. An affordable paperback edition will be out at the end of the month! www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o... #HPS #evobio #philsky

Large physics models: towards a collaborative approach with large language models and foundation models - The European Physical Journal C This paper explores the development and evaluation of physics-specific large-scale AI models, which we refer to as large physics models (LPMs). These models, based on foundation models such as large language models (LLMs) are tailored to address the unique demands of physics research. LPMs can function independently or as part of an integrated framework. This framework can incorporate specialized tools, including symbolic reasoning modules for mathematical manipulations, frameworks to analyse specific experimental and simulated data, and mechanisms for synthesizing insights from physical theories and scientific literature. We begin by examining whether the physics community should actively develop and refine dedicated models, rather than relying solely on commercial LLMs. We then outline how LPMs can be realized through interdisciplinary collaboration among experts in physics, computer science, and philosophy of science. To integrate these models effectively, we identify three key pillars: Development, Evaluation, and Philosophical Reflection. Development focuses on constructing models capable of processing physics texts, mathematical formulations, and diverse physical data. Evaluation assesses accuracy and reliability through testing and benchmarking. Finally, Philosophical Reflection encompasses the analysis of broader implications of LLMs in physics, including their potential to generate new scientific understanding and what novel collaboration dynamics might arise in research. Inspired by the organizational structure of experimental collaborations in particle physics, we propose a similarly interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to building and refining large physics models. This roadmap provides specific objectives, defines pathways to achieve them, and identifies challenges that must be addressed to realise physics-specific large scale AI models.

Our paper "Large physics models: towards a collaborative approach with large language models and foundation models" is now published online! @philsci.bsky.social
@epsaphilsci.bsky.social @hoposjournal.bsky.social @ishpssb.bsky.social @henkderegt.bsky.social @lglopez.bsky.social

Modelling Evolution Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Modelling Evolution

My new book 'Modelling Evolution' is now published! Please share. Available for free download for 2 weeks with this link: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Cobblestone pathway leading to the red-brick Institute of Philosophy building at KU Leuven in Belgium (home of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science), framed by ivy-covered walls, arched windows, and lush greenery with purple wisteria flowers in the foreground.

Hello, #AcademicSky! We are the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at KU Leuven. Our senior and junior researchers focus on #logic, #epistemology & #philsci. We’re here to share our work and connect with logicians and philosophers of science worldwide—help us spread the word! #philsky

JOB AD: If you research philosophy, history or social studies of biology, with interest in agroecology, crop science or environmental intelligence, consider applying for 3-year postdoctoral fellowship in Munich! Deadline for applications: 31/10, details www.sts.sot.tum.de/en/sts/arbei... #philsci

Next week I keynote t international conf. Formal Ontology for Information Systems. I remain enchanted by possibilities & challenges of comp. ontologies & worry about disregard 4 crucial semantics in the wake of genAI. Note: virtual participation is FREE! www.dmi.unict.it/fois2025/?pa... #philsci 🧪

The new @ishpssb.bsky.social account is live! ISH (as we affectionately call it) is my intellectual home & the most welcoming international society i ever encountered - Follow for news & dialogue on the history, philosophy and social studies of biology #philsci #histsci 🧪 🧬 🐙 🌳 🌱 🦠 🐘 🐟 🌺

Understanding Particle Interactions: Feynman Diagrams as Representative Models | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science: Vol 0, No ja

Our PhD student Karla Weingarten (@karlawg.bsky.social) just published her first paper! "Understanding Particle Interactions: Feynman Diagrams as Representative Models" is now available open access at @thebjps.bsky.social.

Our paper "Large Physics Models: Towards a collaborative approach with Large Language Models and Foundation Models" has just been accepted for publication in THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL C. It is a result of a workshop shorturl.at/6UbIW at @lorentzcenter.bsky.social, and is co-authored with:

The Organism-Environment Pairing In this first systematic book-length examination of the organism-environment relationship in the life sciences, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda addresses a crucia...

With great joy—and a touch of nervousness—I’m thrilled to share that my first academic monograph will be published by @mitpress.bsky.social in May 2026! It examines the organism–environment relationship in biology from an integrated #HPS perspective: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282... #evosky #philsky

A theory of everything will never work at all scales

Is a final theory of everything still the goal—or has science moved on? In this piece for IAI, I reflect on what effective field theories teach us about explanation, emergence, and realism.
🔗 iai.tv/articles/a-t...
#PhilosophyOfScience #EFTs #Reductionism #Emergence #Realism #ScienceThreads

Job Opening at the Chair of Philosophy and History of Science and Technology at TUM! Research Fellow for 3 years (renewable). Preferably philosopher w interest in plant, crop & agricultural research (& their history and social studies)
All details: www.sts.sot.tum.de/en/sts/arbei... #philsci #sts

If you're interested in philosophy of biology—particularly its intersections with #evolution, #paleosky, and comparative studies of #behavior, #cognition, and #culture —consider following @theramseylab.bsky.social! We're a cool group of philosophers with a broad range of expertise! #philsci #HPbio

The brilliant @silviamil.bsky.social is joining us in Munich 🥳 - and this means there’s a faculty post open in #egenis at the University of Exeter, which includes collaboration with our TUM group.. if you do philosophy of data and AI, consider apply! #philsci #UKEUbridges

@psychmag.bsky.social asked me some questions about my book. #philsci, #psychology, #hps, #metascience

ABSTRACT Douven observes that Schurz’s meta-inductive justification of induction cannot explain the great empirical success of induction, and offers an explanation based on computer simulations of the social and evolutionary development of our inductive practices. In this article, I argue that Douven’s account does not address the explanatory question that Schurz’s argument leaves open, and that the assumption of the environment’s induction-friendliness that is inherent to Douven’s simulations is not justified by Schurz’s argument.

From the latest issue:

'On Explaining the Success of Induction'
– Tom F Sterkenburg

Read it here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

#philsci #philsky

Operationism in Psychology Analyzes psychological research to offer insights into how methodological and ontological questions are intertwined.   Psychology has seen an intense debate about the lack of replicability of results ...

I am beyond excited to announce the imminent arrival of my book. Operationism in Psychology. An Epistemology of Exploration: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Brief chapter summaries below (1/10)

Poster for the talk by Igor Branchi, entitled "Brain, Behavior and Context: Who Leads and Who Follows". It will take place on Monday, 13 January 2025 at 4pm (CET) via Zoom.

You can still register for our next talk in the ROTO Lecture Series! Igor Branchi (Center for Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Rome) will talk about "Brain, Behavior and Context". Just click the link to register and participate online: rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
#PhilSci #HPBio

Our interdisciplinary paper 'Large Physics Models: Towards a Collaborative Approach with Large Language Models and Foundation Models' is now on ArXiv!

Big thanks to Kristian Barman and Sascha Caron for leading this project, and to the entire team of co-authors for their interdisciplinary insights!

Hi! I'm Enno Fischer. I am a postdoctoral researcher at Ruhr University Bochum in philosophy of physics and philosophy of science. Currently, I research the role of guiding principles in contemporary fundamental #physics and have research interests in causal reasoning. #PhilSci #HistSci

Hello, BlueSky! We are a forum for original research and discussion in #philsci since the publication of our first volume back in 1970. Our scope encompasses both general #philsci & the philosophies of special sciences. We hope to connect with many scholars and strengthen the #philsci community!