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oscarw.bsky.social
Oscar
@oscarw.bsky.social
2K followers 750 following 270 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
deweycenter.siu.edu
Now on YouTube! See Matthew J. Brown’s lunchtime talk, “What is Pragmatist About the New ‘Pragmatist’ Philosophy of Science?”

Link to Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_KQ...

Link to Center for Dewey Studies YouTube Channel:
www.youtube.com/@DeweyCenter
Matthew J. Brown: "What is Pragmatist About the New 'Pragmatist' Philosophy of Science?" Philosophical pragmatism has been enjoying a renaissance in philosophy of science. Brown will bring this recent work into conversation with classical pragmatism to explore the question: What makes a philosophy of science pragmatist? The recent work is in some respects more faithful to the classical pragmatist tradition than earlier appropriations of i pragmatism, but it also differs in emphasis in ways that are problematic. Brown does not argue that there is some single, essential character of philosophical pragmatism, nor does he try to sort the “true pragmatists” from the pretenders. Rather, he attempts to articulate the value of the new pragmatist philosophy of science while also indicating valuable resources from the pragmatist tradition that have yet to receive their proper due, particularly concerning the interplay of science and values. Matthew J. Brown is the Jo Ann and Donald N. Boydston Chair of American Philosophy and Director of the Center for Dewey Studies at SIU. His research areas include the history of 19th and 20th century philosophy and the history and philosophy of science. He is the author of Science and Moral Imagination: A New Ideal for Values in Science (2020) and is currently editor-in-chief of HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.
January 21, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Oscar
shannonvallor.bsky.social
Good news - we have a new ERC-funded 4-year PhD Studentship at the University of Edinburgh, based in Philosophy and our Centre @technomoralfutures.bsky.social, supervised by Dr Emily Sullivan; the project applies philosophy of science to assessing ML's epistemic & social value. Apply by 16 March!
ERC PhD studentship: The Ethics and Philosophy of Science of Machine Learning | Scholarships and Student Funding | Student Administration
This is a four-year ERC funded PhD studentship (starting in September 2026).
registryservices.ed.ac.uk
February 5, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Oscar
ellenclarke.bsky.social
Decisions for symposia at the BSPS have now gone out. But you’re still in time to submit an abstract for an individual presentation! www.thebsps.org/news/bsps-an...
Annual Conference | 2026 | BSPS
The BSPS Annual Conference takes place on 21–23 July 2026 at the University of Leeds
www.thebsps.org
February 2, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Oscar
alejandrofabregastejeda.com
Final days to submit an abstract to #PBCS2026! If you are an early-career scholar looking for a supportive environment to discuss your work & meet international peers, consider applying! Another plus this year: The workshop will be in Madrid! sites.google.com/view/xivpbcs... #HPbio #philsci #philsky
Promotional poster for the XIV Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences. The poster features a dark green background with stylized yellow and red floral illustrations around the edges. Large yellow text announces the workshop title. The event will take place 18–19 June at UNED, Edificio de Humanidades, Paseo de la Senda del Rey 7, Madrid. The keynote speakers listed are Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven), Enara García (SDU), and José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (UNED). The poster highlights a Call for Abstracts (CfA) with an extended deadline of 1st February. Contact information is provided at xivpbcs@gmail.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Oscar
mvagelli.bsky.social
So thrilled this is coming up in just 3 days!

Sharing the updated poster for the Athens roundtable on Reconsidering Historical Epistemology (Feb 2).

Happy to send the Webex link to anyone who’d like to join online — just message me.
January 30, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Oscar
center4philsci.bsky.social
Join us tomorrow for Featured Former Fellow with Christopher Hill: "A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori."

This is an online only lecture. Scan the QR code or visit https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/event/featured-former-fellow-christopher-hill/ for the Zoom link.
January 19, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Oscar
fbritt.bsky.social
Deadline approaching!👇

#philsci
fbritt.bsky.social Frederick Britt @fbritt.bsky.social · Nov 13
Call for Papers

Workshop on 'ENTITY REALISM BEYOND MANIPULATION' (June 16 - 17, 2025) at the University of Bern (CH).

We are very much looking forward to welcoming Nora M. Boyd and @msuarez.bsky.social as keynote speakers and invite further contributions!

#philsci

philevents.org/event/show/1...
Entity Realism Beyond Manipulation
Entity realism (also known as ‘experimental realism’) traditionally ties belief in scientific entities to experimental manipulation. Yet many sciences involve a commitment to entities that...
philevents.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Reposted by Oscar
alisabokulich.bsky.social
The deadline for the Society for Study of Measurement conference has been extended to January 31st! 👇
#philsci #histsci
erantal.bsky.social Eran Tal @erantal.bsky.social · 23d
Deadline today!! Society for the Study of Measurement, June 22-25, 2026, University of Edinburgh. 500-word abstract. #histsci #philsci #PhilSky #MLSky #psycsci #PsychSciSky #dataethics 🧪https://measurementsociety.org/2026-second-biennial-conference/
2026 – Second Biennial Conference – The Society for the Study of Measurement
measurementsociety.org
January 16, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Oscar
miikeessttuuart.bsky.social
I can't believe it! Super excited to start this project, and very grateful to the ERC for the vote of confidence!
December 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Oscar
srdfrench.bsky.social
Coming later this year: The Reality of Structure and The Structure of Reality ed by Fred Muller

Springer, open access

With contributions by the likes of Kerry McKenzie, James Ladyman, Laura Felline & myself, finally nailing down an answer to the question ‘wtf is structure?!’

#philsci
January 15, 2026 at 8:44 AM
oscarw.bsky.social
New paper just published in Synthese: Instrumental Understanding link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In this paper I start developing an account of pragmatic understanding fit for an epistemology of scientific instruments, drawing especially on Davis Baird's Thing Knowledge. #philsci #philsky
Client Challenge
link.springer.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Oscar
danielkostic.bsky.social
Final CFA for the 8th Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe) annual workshop, which will take place May 27-29, 2026, at the IFIS PAN in Warsaw.
Submission deadline: 20 January 2026.
More info: shorturl.at/AUoye
@philsci.bsky.social @eenphilsci.bsky.social @epsaphilsci.bsky.social
Current Workshop
CFA: 8th Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe) annual workshop   Call for abstracts        We invite authors to submit abstracts of up to 750-words for the upcoming...
shorturl.at
January 12, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Oscar
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Canadian Society for the History & Philosophy of Science (CSHPS) invites submissions for annual meeting, to be held in Halifax June 4-6, 2026. Submission Deadline: Monday January 19, 2026
Submission Portal: forms.gle/GVq5SZuLv1yE...
Webpage
cshps.ca
#HPS
Home - CSHPS/SCHPS
Call for Papers:
cshps.ca
January 10, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Oscar
annaalexandrova.bsky.social
Our special issue with @martinkusch.bsky.social is finally complete and here’s at long last our introduction. I pitched the idea to him in 2019! Thank you for your patience and generosity, Martin. I am proud of this manifesto and hope colleagues will join us in rethinking this old debate #philsci
January 9, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Reposted by Oscar
nheinzelmann.bsky.social
Join us for a talk by @ufeest.bsky.social entitled "Operationism and Exploratory Research in Psychology" on Friday 9, 4pm CET at eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/3634599978...

www.philos.uni-hannover.de/de/feest
Prof. Dr. Uljana Feest – Institut für Philosophie – Leibniz Universität HannoverProf. Dr. Uljana Feest – Institut für Philosophie – Leibniz Universität Hannover
www.philos.uni-hannover.de
January 5, 2026 at 6:15 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
I think a similar thing to @noamchompers.bsky.social: that people tend to think that if the vehicles that produce scientific understanding are *false* (idealising, abstracting, distorting) then scientific understanding must (or can be) non-factive.
noamchompers.bsky.social noam chompers @noamchompers.bsky.social · Jan 4
what's the thing in your subdiscipline that loads of people constantly mess up even though by your lights they really ought to know better? (for me it's clearly distinguishing contents and vehicles)
January 4, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Oscar
dellsen.bsky.social
@boruttrpin.bsky.social and I have a new paper out in Philosophical Quarterly. We had both written on how inference to the best explanation could work with uncertain evidence. So we teamed up to test some suggestions for how to do that using computer simulations: academic.oup.com/pq/article/d...
Testing abductions from uncertain evidence
Abstract. Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) is traditionally conceived of as a rule of inference, in which one infers to the hypothesis that provides
academic.oup.com
December 27, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Oscar
alisabokulich.bsky.social
CFP: Society for the Study of Measurement will be held at the University of Edinburgh
June 22-25, 2026. Submit proposals for papers, symposia, & poster on any topics in the theory, history, philosophy, & application of measurement by January 15, 2026 app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/80364...
#HPS
Topics Please see below for a non-exhaustive list of suggested topics; we particularly welcome contributions that make contact with this year's conference theme: Ground Truth and Validity. While the notion of measurement validity is comparatively familiar, ground truth may need more of an introduction. The concept of ground truth has origins in remote sensing, where it is used to contrast the outcomes of a near or ground level measurement with outcomes of a remotely sensed measurement. From these origins, the concept has now moved to a wider use, particularly in machine learning contexts, where it denotes data assumed to be true, which can then be used to calibrate and validate machine learning data. The time seems ripe for a more careful investigation from a measurement perspective of the concept of ground truth-both in its original understanding and in its more metaphorical use. Measurement and Simulation • Connections between measuring and simulating • Can simulation substitute for measurement? Measurement and Data Science Measurement and Data Science • Measurement and data quality • Measurement and data analysis • Measurement and Al Models in Measurement • The role of models in measurement • The role of models in justifying measurement results • Models, intersubjectivity, objectivity, validation Models of Measurement • The general structure of the measurement process • The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement The structure of measurement in social and human sciences • Transduction and calibration in measurement • History of the conception of the structure of measurement History, Philosophy and Sociology of Measurement • Exploration across sciences with diverse philosophical perspectives • New quantification and measurement approaches • Epistemological and metaphysical approaches to measurement Measurement Applications and their conceptual foundations in any area of science • Life & Health Sciences
December 29, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Oscar
mvagelli.bsky.social
Delighted to announce a roundtable discussion of my book Reconsidering Historical Epistemology

🗓️ Feb 2, 2026
📍 Athens (NKUA)

Truly honoured - and excited - to have such outstanding scholars engaging with my work.

Flyer attached ⬇️
December 18, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Oscar
msuarez.bsky.social
The full SHPS book forum on Inference and Representation is now out, with contributions by Chiara Ambrosio, Alexander Bird and Oscar Westerblad: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

I respond here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#philsci #philsky #hps #histsci #philtech #sts #metascience
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science | Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Read the latest articles of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature
www.sciencedirect.com
December 22, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by Oscar
danielkostic.bsky.social
2nd CFA for the 8th Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe) annual workshop, which will take place May 27-29, 2026, at the IFIS PAN in Warsaw.
Submission deadline: 20 January 2026.
More info: shorturl.at/AUoye
@philsci.bsky.social @eenphilsci.bsky.social @epsaphilsci.bsky.social
Current Workshop
CFA: 8th Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe) annual workshop   Call for abstracts        We invite authors to submit abstracts of up to 750-words for the upcoming...
shorturl.at
December 17, 2025 at 9:21 AM
oscarw.bsky.social
Now out in Studies in HPS! 'Artefactualism and the twofold experience of modelling': authors.elsevier.com/a/1mH3%7E8yu...

Short article building on the phenomenology of modelling experience as discussed in @msuarez.bsky.social's excellent book, Inference and Representation.
authors.elsevier.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
“You will be haunted by three spirits.”
The Early Works of John Dewey The Middle Works of John Dewey The Later Works of John Dewey
December 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Reposted by Oscar
brunellus.com
Abstracts are due 15th Dec for the next European Symposium on Medieval Logic & Semantics, to be held in the Netherlands on 23–25 June 2026. The topic is LOGIC & THE SCIENCES, and ‘medieval’ is taken to cover 200–1700 in the broadly Western philosophical tradition. i2erc.wordpress.com/call-for-abs...
Call for Abstracts
Here is the call for abstracts. Please note that the deadline has been extended to the 15th of December, 2025. The abstracts should be sent to esmls25@proton.me. You can find additional information…
i2erc.wordpress.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:04 PM
oscarw.bsky.social
Paper on pragmatic understanding and Ian Hacking, with @henkderegt.bsky.social, now out! We develop new views on pragmatic understanding in science, arguing that pragmatic understanding develops through methods in styles of reasoning and skill in experimentation. academic.oup.com/monist/artic...
A screenshot of the title and abstract of an academic article: Title: Scientific Understanding Beyond Representing: Lessons from Ian Hacking’s Work. Authors: Oscar Westerblad and Henk W. de Regt. Abstract: We argue that Ian Hacking’s work on experimentation and styles of reasoning offers valuable insights for the current debate on the nature of scientific understanding, which so far has largely been focused on the role of theories and explanations. Hacking’s suggestion that reasoning not only involves thinking but also doing helps to recognise the role of experimentation and manipulation in scientific understanding. We apply this idea by relating Hacking’s views on explanation and theorising to the contextual theory of scientific understanding developed by one of us (De Regt 2017). We then take a constructive approach by developing an account of pragmatic understanding that accommodates styles of reasoning and the centrality of manipulation and intervention in Hacking’s philosophy of science. Our overall aim in the paper is to bring the neglected role of experimentation in producing scientific understanding to the fore. We conclude by suggesting that scientific understanding involves both representing and intervening.
December 10, 2025 at 10:16 AM