University of Pittsburgh · School
of Arts and Sciences
Department of
History and Philosophy of Science
Graduate Students
Holly Andersen
I'm in my sixth year at Pitt. My bachelor's (1999) was in physics from Montana State University; my master's (2001) in philosophy of science at the London School of Economics, for which my thesis received the Lakatos prize for best thesis on a philosophical subject.
My dissertation is on the causal structure of conscious agency. I examine the way implicit causal assumptions about features of agency and action affect the philosophical conclusions we reach from neuroscientific results, as well as provide a positive account of how to incorporate scientific experiments on various features of agency into philosophical frameworks of volition, without inadvertent causal fallacies or dualism (see the description on my webpage for more detail).
I’ve recently co-authored a paper with Rick Grush on the historical influences on the development of the specious present doctrine of James, and Husserl’s tripartite structure of the present. This includes the Scottish Common Sense philosophers, the true identity of ‘E.R.Clay’, and an interesting but little known philosopher named Shadworth Hodgson. In addition to this historical background, I am working forwards in time to James’ own evolving views on the specious present, and will in the future be working on the different ways in which subsequent philosophers have understood this doctrine. I am also interested in probability puzzles and paradoxes, physics and realism, and the use of introspection in the sciences.
Keith Bemer
I am a third year student participating in the Classics, Philosophy and Ancient Science program. My primary interests are in Aristotle's natural philosophy, but I have broad interests in ancient philosophy and the history of science (especially ancient medicine and the history of astronomy). I'm currently working on a paper on the "mixed" or "subalternate" sciences in Aristotle, focusing on discussions of optical phenomena in the Meteorology. I'm also interested in learning more about the relationship between the theoretical science of nature and the practical science of medicine in ancient thought. At some point I hope to do more research into Kepler's derivation of elliptical orbits in the New Astronomy, as well as his treatment of optical lens systems in the Dioptrice. In the area of philosophy of science, I'm currently working on a paper on Hacking's "entity realism" and its consequences for astronomy. Prior to coming to Pitt, I did my undergraduate work at St. John's College (MD).
Feisal Ben Hassel
I am a fourth year student.
Jason Byron
I work primarily on the philosophy of evolutionary biology, particularly speciation, systematics, and ecology. I am especially interested in explanation, pluralism, and the rhetoric of unification in those fields. I am also working on two historical projects: one on the history of 20th century philosophy of science in the United States and its engagements with biology, the other on the development of sexology during the interwar period in Germany and Britain.
Thomas Cunningham
I am a third year student in HPS. My background is in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and philosophy of science. This is a direct result of having received my B.A. from UC San Diego and the strengths and focuses there. I also graduated with a B.S and M.S. in biology, where my research focused on metabolism and molecular genetics in studies of the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, I have been most interested in philosophical issues in biological explanation. For a more personal look at me, check out my website/sporadically-updated blog: www.tvcunningham.com.
Peter Distelzweig
My primary interest is in examining the history of Late Scholastic, Renaissance and Early Modern natural philosophy; here I hope to coax out just how the "big moves" in Seventeenth Century (especially, natural) philosophy are related to Scholastic and Renaissance strains of Aristotelianism.
I have a general interest in the history of philosophy of science; I am also concerned with Realism/Anti-Realism questions in the philosophy of science and their implications for the relationship between science, philosophy and culture.
Michelle Gibbons
I am a second year MA student, though I’ve been taking classes in the HPS department since I came to Pitt two years ago to begin my PhD in Communication. Before coming to Pittsburgh, I completed BAs in English and Cognitive Science at Vassar College and studied literature at the University of Notre Dame. My interests include the rhetoric of science and visual rhetoric, and much of my current research focuses on understanding how scientific images persuade.
Peter Gildenhuys
I came to Pitt from Northwestern University where I worked with David Hull and got a Masters in Philosophy. I mainly study selection theory, both from a historical and philosophical perspective. I am also interested in some traditional philosophical topics in epistemology and metaphysics, as well as the contrast between mechanical and non-mechanical modes of scientific explanation.
Benjamin Goldberg
I am a fourth year student in HPS. I got my BA in philosophy from Carleton College in 2004. Currently I am working on my prospectus, which is at the intersection of the history of philosophy and the history of biology in the early modern period (roughly 16th to 18th centuries). I am interested in understanding early modern theories of generation (e.g., William Harvey, Regnier de Graaf) and their relation to the Mechanical Philosophy and its new conception of matter. Further, I am interested in the epistemic and social status of theories of generation, that is, where they fit into the philosophical and epistemological schemes of early modern philosophers and scientists. I am also interested in issues in the history and philosophy of biology and medicine (especially the epistemology of biological experiments, e.g., the development of the fluctuation method by Luria and Delbrück in the 1940s), feminist philosophy of science (especially Helen Longino's work) and in historiography and historical methodology. I also like fluffy animals.
Balázs Gyenis
I'm a fourth year student in the Ph.D. program. I spend most of my time with writing papers about supertasks, stochastic causality, modeling and explanation in mathematical economics and population genetics, the history of how the normal distribution entered to statistical physics, and the interaction between our number sense and moral decisions. My prospectus attempts to explore and evaluate the mathematical techniques with which mathematized sciences speak about the relationship between micro- and macro-level phenomena. I also try to finish up my MA in the Physics Department.
Eric Hatleback
This is my third year at the University of Pittsburgh. I received Bachelor's degrees in both mathematics and philosophy from the University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh and a Master's degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University. I am currently interested in experimental history of science, probability (especially the Sleeping Beauty problem), logic, history of astronomy, and Renaissance-era history of science.
Yoichi Ishida
I’m a first year student from Japan. I have a B.A. and an M.A. in philosophy from University of Nevada, Reno, where I worked with Tom Nickles. My current research interests include history and philosophy of biology (especially ecology and evolutionary biology), complex systems, mathematical modeling, and various strategies of problem solving and discovery in science. I’m also interested in early modern philosophy (especially Hume).
William Lebing
I am a second year student primarily interested in Philosophy of Physics and History of Mathematics and mathematical sciences. My research has recently been centered on early ways of dealing with the infinite, specifically in Nicholas Cusanus, Huygens, Pascal, and Leibniz. I also like to rock climb and write music.
Jonathan Livengood
I am a third-year student with too many interests for my own good. I have spent a fair bit of time recently thinking about scientific instrumentation and experimentation. I have been especially interested in the early development of chromatography and will be carrying out some of the early experiments in chromatography in the new experimental history of science laboratory this year. I also enjoy attacking constructive empiricism and reading the classical pragmatists, especially Peirce. Moreover, my wife says that I am married to a brilliant woman of unappreciated genius, so that has to be good.
Thomas Pashby
I'm a first year student coming with an MSci in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Bristol, where I became interested in relational interpretations of quantum mechanics and structuralism about science. I intend to continue working on interpretative questions in physics, while getting acquainted with the history of science, particularly the origins of quantum mechanics. I also hope to expand my interests somewhat!
Dennis Pozega
I am a fifth year student interested in scientific realism, in particular in agent-centered defenses of it, and modeling and simulation as tools of scientific knowledge production. I come from the University of Waterloo in Ontario where I completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Design Engineering. There I picked up familiarity with, and enduring interest in, systems theory, both traditional and "complex," and the methods of cognitive psychology and cognitive science more generally.
Aleta Quinn
I'm a first year HPS student primarily focused on the philosophy of biology and environmental ethics. Specifically, I'm interested in philosophically examining conservation biology. I have a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in biology from the University of Maryland. I enjoy dancing, playing chess, and describing myself in short declarative sentences.
Bryan Roberts
My main interests are in the history and philosophy of physics, especially the foundations of spacetime and quantum theories. Recently, I have written about supertasks in Malament-Hogarth spacetimes, group theory in quantum mechanics, classical time machines, and the early history of gravitation and thermodynamics. I also have general interests in logic, metaphysics, and early analytic philosophy. You can speak to me in English, Spanish or French.
Jonah N. Schupbach
Recently, I have been learning and writing a lot about the use of formal systems to pursue questions in the epistemology of science. Thus, recent areas of particular interest include confirmation theory, Bayesianism, and probability theory. More generally, my interests lie within the general philosophy of science, mainstream epistemology, and formal epistemology.
Elay Shech
I'm a second year graduate student from Israel interested mainly in the history and philosophy of physics, especially the philosophy of space and time, foundations of space-time theories, foundations of quantum theories, the arrow of time and experimental history of science. I received my BA degrees in Philosophy and in Physics from Boston University. I have written on Aristotle's notion of individuation, On the notion of time as change, Against particle interpretations of QM & for wave function ontology and Against 'Constructive' Relativity (a version of the Lorentzian interpretation of relativity put forward by Harvey Brown and Oliver Pooley). Most recently I have been conducting research on Coulomb's torsion balance and Galileo's inclined plane at the most excellent HPS lab, in addition to researching the Past Hypothesis. I also play in a rock band.
Catherine Stinson
I'm a third year graduate student. Before coming to Pitt, I did a BSc in Cognitive Science and an MSc in Computer Science at the University of Toronto, then spent a few years doing freelance web development and being a starving artist. My main philosophical interests are epistemological questions in psychology and neuroscience. Specific projects underway are a critique of 'cause' theories of attention, and an investigation of the relationship between evidence and theory in late 19th century neuroscience. Alongside HPS, I'm getting some practical experience poking and prodding brains at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition.
Justin Sytsma
I am in my fifth year in the department. My interests focus on issues in philosophy of mind, psychology, and neuroscience. I am currently working on the philosophical issues surrounding calls for a science of consciousness.
Samuel Thomsen
I am a third-year graduate student with a B.S. in physics from Caltech. My main interests are in emergence, complexity, and the special sciences. Currently, I am investigating the possibility of characterizing emergence in terms of computational complexity.
Julie Zahle
I have a background in philosophy and cultural anthropology. My main interests are philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, and philosophy of mind. I am currently working on my dissertation, entitled "Practices of Social Interaction". The purpose of my dissertation is to defend and provide a detailed account of the view that in many characteristic situations of social interaction, competent practice participants are able directly to perceive whether an action is permissible, impermissible, or required.
Karen Zwier
I am a second-year graduate student from Chicago, Illinois. I have a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, I am researching Aristotle's induction and working on a theory of /epagoge/ as /episteme/. I am also interested in formal theories of causation, and, in particular, the defense of the Causal Markov Condition. Because of my background in computer engineering, I am always interested in philosophy topics that have to do with computation and information processing.