Oscar
@oscarw.bsky.social
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.
Pinned
Oscar
@oscarw.bsky.social
· May 9
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
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.
Reposted by Oscar
Henk's @henkderegt.bsky.social book Understanding Scientific Understanding (2017) helped elevate understanding in phil of sci, distinct from what it means to explain something.
We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding.
braininspired.co/podcast/225/
We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding.
braininspired.co/podcast/225/
November 21, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Henk's @henkderegt.bsky.social book Understanding Scientific Understanding (2017) helped elevate understanding in phil of sci, distinct from what it means to explain something.
We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding.
braininspired.co/podcast/225/
We discuss where his ideas have taken him since, like how to assess machine understanding.
braininspired.co/podcast/225/
Reposted by Oscar
Starting the last day of PSA Around the World Central and Eastern Europe with a session on scientific understanding. @henkderegt.bsky.social is the first plenary speaker on understanding by an artificial system
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
PSA Around the World 2025 - Philosophy of Science Association
www.philsci.org
November 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Starting the last day of PSA Around the World Central and Eastern Europe with a session on scientific understanding. @henkderegt.bsky.social is the first plenary speaker on understanding by an artificial system
Reposted by Oscar
Reminder! Starts in one hour - “How science is changing” livestream event from 6pm EST tonight! Join MCPS director Alan Love, Lydia Patton, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Craig Callender.
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
November 20, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reminder! Starts in one hour - “How science is changing” livestream event from 6pm EST tonight! Join MCPS director Alan Love, Lydia Patton, Jacqueline Sullivan, and Craig Callender.
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
@profess.bsky.social
@westernu.ca
buff.ly/uMkmXd8
Reposted by Oscar
Deadline for paper or session proposals has been extended to 15 December 2025 for Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) Conference 15–17 July 2026 at
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org/openconf
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org/openconf
SPSP 2026 - OpenConf Abstract Submission, Peer Review, and Event Management System
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org
November 20, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Deadline for paper or session proposals has been extended to 15 December 2025 for Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) Conference 15–17 July 2026 at
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org/openconf
Department of History & Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
spsp2026.philosophy-science-practice.org/openconf
Reposted by Oscar
Online workshop: Methodologies for use of History in Philosophy, hosted by Instituto de Investigatciones Filosoficas–UNAM, organised by María Martínez-Ordaz @mmartinezordaz.bsky.social & Teresa Rodriguez. Registration free. Complete form to receive zoom link forms.gle/qJRncUDEc254...
#HPS #Philsky
#HPS #Philsky
![November 14, 2025
• [15:30-17:00 CET || 08:30-10:00 MX] Keynote
Talk: "Towards a methodologist integration of history and philosophy of science. Marriage counseling from a pragmatist perspective."
Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen (University of Oulu)
• [17:00-17:50 CET || 10:00-10:50 MX] "Counterfactual Sufficiency in Historical Explanation: Old and New History in 1948"
Zainab Sabra (American University of Beirut)
• |17:50-18:00 CET I| 10:50-11:00 MX] MINI-BREAK
• [18:00-18:50 CETI 11:00-11:50 MX] "Historical Macro-Units as a Form of Conceptual Engineering" Bobby Vos (University of Cambridge)
• [18:50-19:40 CET // 11:50 - 12:40 MX] "Early Modern Feminist Approaches to Misogynistic Bias in the Historical Archive"
Natalia Zorrilla (McGill University)
• [19:40 -19:50CET || 12:40-12:50 MX] MINI-BREAK
• [19:50-20:40 CET// 12:50-13:40 MX] "Idealising the history of science for philosophical purposes" Dubian Cañas.
• |20:40-21:30 CET// 13:40-14:30
MX] "Why some inaccurate case studies work?
Reflections on the epistemic value of philosophically biased historical reconstructions"
María del Rosario Martínez-Ordaz](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a7bwjxnqslemro4mrguw5vfv/bafkreif7tjcqxyhw6ivn6cvhv7vysub34sgjn2irva263g2z6wtmhgpsbe@jpeg)
![November 13, 2025
• [16:00-17:30 CET I| 09:00-10:30 MX] Keynote
Talk: "Newton's Metaphysics in Practice" Kirsten Walsh (University of Exeter, England)
• 17:30-18:20 CET I| 10:30-11:20 MX| "Reconstructing Trust: Social-Historical Trajectories of the Physician-Patient Relationship in Post-Unification Italy" Anna Gadignani (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy)
• [18:20-18:30 CET I| 11:20-11:30 MX] MINI-BREAK
• [18:30-19:20 CETI 11:30-12:20 MX] "Aristotle and Proclus on Mathematics as an Axiomatic Science: A Data-Driven Comparison"
Maria Chiara Parisi (University of Amsterdam, NL)
• 19:20-20:10 CET // 12:20 - 13:10 MX] "A reply to incommensurability: from historiography to philosophy of logic"
Evelyn Erickson (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil)
• [20:10 -20:20CET || 13:10-13:20 MX] MINI-BREAK
• [20:20-21:10 CET// 13:20-14:10 MX] "A Meta-Narrativist Approach to the Reconstruction of Internal History: The Autonomy-Continuity Problem" Andrés Vázquez-Quijano (UNAM)
• [21:10-22:00 CET// 14:10-15:00 MX] "Problems in the historical study of the intellectual and spiritual contributions of women in classical Islam from a gender perspective"
Tzitzi Janik Rojas Torres (UNAM)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:a7bwjxnqslemro4mrguw5vfv/bafkreibbyykhaegpswhv3pjthrdrrivitxwqrnidv4ofitkoi43qyhey5m@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Online workshop: Methodologies for use of History in Philosophy, hosted by Instituto de Investigatciones Filosoficas–UNAM, organised by María Martínez-Ordaz @mmartinezordaz.bsky.social & Teresa Rodriguez. Registration free. Complete form to receive zoom link forms.gle/qJRncUDEc254...
#HPS #Philsky
#HPS #Philsky
Reposted by Oscar
Tomorrow 6 November is the first of three meetings of the PSA Around the World! A fantastic online program with plenary panel and parallel sessions. All welcome! Note: time zone is 3pm CET.
Check out the program in the thread! 🥳
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
November 5, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Tomorrow 6 November is the first of three meetings of the PSA Around the World! A fantastic online program with plenary panel and parallel sessions. All welcome! Note: time zone is 3pm CET.
Reposted by Oscar
Excited (and a bit daunted) to be part of a remarkable keynote lineup at Theoretical Rationality and Practical Reason conference at Sofia University next May.
Abstract submissions are open until January 1, 2026.
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Abstract submissions are open until January 1, 2026.
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Theoretical Rationality and Practical Reason
The division of theoretical and practical philosophy was codified by Kant, who set aside the kingdom of natural necessity and the kingdom of moral ends. The last centuries saw gradual erosion of this ...
philevents.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Excited (and a bit daunted) to be part of a remarkable keynote lineup at Theoretical Rationality and Practical Reason conference at Sofia University next May.
Abstract submissions are open until January 1, 2026.
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Abstract submissions are open until January 1, 2026.
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Reposted by Oscar
My response to Ambrosio, Bird and Westerblad is now out in SHPS - as part of a book forum on Inference and Representation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Make sure to check and download it before the curtain closes on December 21.
#philsci #hps #histci #philsky #sts #philtech #metascience
Make sure to check and download it before the curtain closes on December 21.
#philsci #hps #histci #philsky #sts #philtech #metascience
www.sciencedirect.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:08 PM
My response to Ambrosio, Bird and Westerblad is now out in SHPS - as part of a book forum on Inference and Representation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Make sure to check and download it before the curtain closes on December 21.
#philsci #hps #histci #philsky #sts #philtech #metascience
Make sure to check and download it before the curtain closes on December 21.
#philsci #hps #histci #philsky #sts #philtech #metascience
Took this photo today and turned it upside down
November 1, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Took this photo today and turned it upside down
Reposted by Oscar
Thanks very much to The Royal Institute of Philosophy for awarding me the Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize 2025. Thanks as well to the ERC who funded it, Peter Momtchiloff who commissioned it for OUP, all my LSE team members past and present, and everyone who made the book possible!
October 30, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Thanks very much to The Royal Institute of Philosophy for awarding me the Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize 2025. Thanks as well to the ERC who funded it, Peter Momtchiloff who commissioned it for OUP, all my LSE team members past and present, and everyone who made the book possible!
Iceland is certainly living up to its name
October 29, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Iceland is certainly living up to its name
Reposted by Oscar
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
October 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
Reposted by Oscar
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
PSA Around the World 2025 - Philosophy of Science Association
www.philsci.org
October 20, 2025 at 11:18 AM
The PSA Around the World 2025 is coming soon: Nov 6, 14 & 22 (online)!
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
Hosted by @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it highlights #philsci from, about, and connected to Central and Eastern Europe.
Great lineup, still time to register!
www.philsci.org/psa_around_t...
Reposted by Oscar
Check out the schedule of the online conference PSA Around the World Eastern Europe (pm of Nov 6,14,22). A collaboration between @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it showcases #philsci from, about, and otherwise connected to the region. Wonderful names and titles, looking forward!
www.philsci.org
October 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Check out the schedule of the online conference PSA Around the World Eastern Europe (pm of Nov 6,14,22). A collaboration between @philsci.bsky.social and @eenphilsci.bsky.social it showcases #philsci from, about, and otherwise connected to the region. Wonderful names and titles, looking forward!
Reposted by Oscar
Latest by my colleague Tim Lewens. Most envious of people who manage to pack in arguments into 3000 words, especially such meaty arguments as this one #philsci #philsky
Values as Evidence in the Sciences
Abstract. Ethical statements can sometimes serve as legitimate evidence for purely descriptive hypotheses. This role for ethical statements need involve ne
academic.oup.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Oscar
Check out my good friend @niallroe.bsky.social's new paper on Charles S. Peirce on Experiment: philpapers.org/rec/ROECPA-2
Niall Roe, Charles Peirce and Experimental Science - PhilPapers
Among much else, Peirce was concerned with understanding the nature of experimentation. And while Peirce scholarship frequently appeals to the role of experimentation in his philosophy, no one has yet...
philpapers.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Check out my good friend @niallroe.bsky.social's new paper on Charles S. Peirce on Experiment: philpapers.org/rec/ROECPA-2
Reposted by Oscar
My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell
<i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - <i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
www.cambridge.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell
Reposted by Oscar
✨️Full room and dim lights for Peter Galison's lecture on: Author Function in Scientific Collaboration: Around the Event Horizon. 🌌
October 13, 2025 at 2:24 PM
✨️Full room and dim lights for Peter Galison's lecture on: Author Function in Scientific Collaboration: Around the Event Horizon. 🌌
Reposted by Oscar
CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science seminar series) is now on Bluesky! Please see our upcoming talks here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/...
CamPoS | Department of History and Philosophy of Science
CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science) is a network of academics and students working in the philosophy of science in various parts of the University of Cambridge, including the Department of Histor...
www.hps.cam.ac.uk
October 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
CamPoS (Cambridge Philosophy of Science seminar series) is now on Bluesky! Please see our upcoming talks here: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/...
Helen Longino giving the first Annual Institute of Philosophy and Duke University Research Talk at the University of Iceland! The talk was titled “Why Center Interaction? (In science and elsewhere)”
October 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Helen Longino giving the first Annual Institute of Philosophy and Duke University Research Talk at the University of Iceland! The talk was titled “Why Center Interaction? (In science and elsewhere)”
Reposted by Oscar
Didn’t expect to receive a hard copy of this volume. So satisfying to hold. An honour to philosophise alongside these wonderful thinkers. Here’s the link academic.oup.com/aristotelian...
September 30, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Didn’t expect to receive a hard copy of this volume. So satisfying to hold. An honour to philosophise alongside these wonderful thinkers. Here’s the link academic.oup.com/aristotelian...
Reposted by Oscar
If you are in Leuven tomorrow, join us for the first CLPS seminar of the academic year! Our speaker will be @augustenahas.bsky.social (IHPST, University of Paris 1–Sorbonne), who will present on negative feedback, equilibrium explanations, and their relationship to causation & #teleology #HPS #HPbio
October 2, 2025 at 2:20 PM
If you are in Leuven tomorrow, join us for the first CLPS seminar of the academic year! Our speaker will be @augustenahas.bsky.social (IHPST, University of Paris 1–Sorbonne), who will present on negative feedback, equilibrium explanations, and their relationship to causation & #teleology #HPS #HPbio
Reposted by Oscar
Just 2 weeks left to submit for 2025 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics
Topic: Physics in the writings of women 1700-1900
Deadline: October 10, 2025, 11:59 PM GMT
<10K words, blinded, unpublished; prize is open to grad students & scholars w/in 5 years of PhD
www.duchateletprize.org
#HPS
Topic: Physics in the writings of women 1700-1900
Deadline: October 10, 2025, 11:59 PM GMT
<10K words, blinded, unpublished; prize is open to grad students & scholars w/in 5 years of PhD
www.duchateletprize.org
#HPS
September 27, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Just 2 weeks left to submit for 2025 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics
Topic: Physics in the writings of women 1700-1900
Deadline: October 10, 2025, 11:59 PM GMT
<10K words, blinded, unpublished; prize is open to grad students & scholars w/in 5 years of PhD
www.duchateletprize.org
#HPS
Topic: Physics in the writings of women 1700-1900
Deadline: October 10, 2025, 11:59 PM GMT
<10K words, blinded, unpublished; prize is open to grad students & scholars w/in 5 years of PhD
www.duchateletprize.org
#HPS