Current Controversies in Philosophy of Science

Shamik Dasgupta is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 2016. He works in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and value theory. Ravit Dotan is a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. She specializes in epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of machine learning. Brad Weslake is Associate Professor of Philosophy at NYU Shanghai. His central research interest is philosophy of science, especially causation and explanation.

Introduction Part I: Are Boltzmann Brains Bad? 1. Why Boltzmann Brains Are Bad 2. What Follows from the Possibility of Boltzmann Brains? Part II: Does Mathematical Explanation Require Mathematical Truth? 3. Mathematical Explanation Requires Mathematical Truth 4. Mathematical Explanation Doesn’t Require Mathematical Truth Part III: Does Quantum Mechanics Suggest Spacetime is Non-fundamental? 5. Against Wavefunction Realism 6. Separability, Locality, and Higher Dimensions in Quantum Mechanics Part IV: Is Evolution Fundamental When it Comes to Defining Biological Ontology? 7. Is Evolution Fundamental When It Comes to Biological Ontology? 8. Is Evolution Fundamental When It Comes to Defining Biological Ontology? Yes Part V: Is Chance Ontologically Fundamental? 9. Chance and the Great Divide 10. On Chance (or, Why I am Only a Half-Humean) Part VI: Are Sexes Natural Kinds? 11. Are Sexes Natural Kinds? 12 The Animal Sexes as Historical Explanatory Kinds