Lydia Patton
Virginia Tech, USA
Fall Term 2009
Modeling Necessity: Hertz, Einstein, and Hilbert

Lydia Patton (Ph.D. McGill University) is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Virginia Tech. Before coming to Virginia Tech, she was a Harper-Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago.

Patton’s research focuses on experiment, modeling, and theory-building in science, and on the associated problem of the interpretation of scientific theories. Her project at the Center focuses on Heinrich Hertz’s demonstration of radio waves, the development of the theory of special relativity, and the unification of electromagnetism and optics. Her project will address several related questions, including the role of experimental design in detecting genuine effects and modeling their parameters; how to evaluate the scope of the warrant for scientific claims; and the usefulness and limits of a manipulability theory of causality. Patton also has research interests in Kant and Neo-Kantian philosophy, including the relationship between Kant and Newton, and the dialogue between neo-Kantianism, empirical psychology, and physiology in the 19 th century.

Her extra-philosophical pursuits include traveling; yoga; keeping up with what’s going on in art, architecture, dance, and politics; Sudoku (which eats up the time for other interests); quixotic autodidacticism in some areas of mathematics and physics; and visiting her family in West Virginia.