BJPS Short Reads
By British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
BJPS Short ReadsNov 11, 2021
Drawing the Line
Davide Serpico and Valentina Petrolini on rethinking mental health and pathology through epigenetics.
Read the essay here: https://www.thebsps.org/short-reads/drawing-the-line-serpico-petrolini/
What Do Newtonian Forces Have to Do with the Standard Model?
James Ladyman and Lorenzo Lorenzetti on understanding effective realism through the lens of structural realism
Read the essay here: https://www.thebsps.org/short-reads/standard-model-ladyman-lorenzetti/
The Function of Biochemical Functions
Francesca Bellazzi on what it means to say that a biochemical has a function.
Read the essay here: https://www.thebsps.org/short-reads/biochemical-functions-bellazzi/
Accuracy and Calibration
Robert Williams and Richard Pettigrew ask how we should measure the accuracy of probabilities.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-2iw
Is the Free Energy Principle for Real?
Ian Robertson, Julian Kiverstein, and Michael Kirchhoff on the literalist fallacy and realism about the free energy principle.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-2iw
To Err Is (Not Only) Human
David Oderberg, Jonathan Hill, Christopher Austin, Ingo Bojak, François Cinotti, and Jon Gibbins ask what mistakes mean for philosophy and biology.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-2ix
Accuracy and Coherence
David Thorstad asks if bounded agents can have both accuracy and coherence.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-2ba
What Cognitive Science Has Forgotten about Computation
Analog computation, properly understood, is the best candidate for characterizing neural computation, argues Corey J Maley.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-29f.
The Perfect Time to Reform Peer Review
Liam Kofi Bright and Remco Heesen ask how we determine what to pay attention to.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1SW
What If Light Doesn’t Exist?
Mario Hubert on how an investigation of the initial-value problem challenges our view of electromagnetism.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-22Z
Haecceitism, Rigid Designation, and Thermodynamic Equilibrium
Michael te Vrugt asks if exchanging two indistinguishable particles changes anything.
Read the essay here: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-22Z
How to Open Two Locks with One Key
Eddy Keming Chen offers a new solution to the puzzles of time’s arrow and quantum ontology.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-20r.
Why History Matters in Biology
Justin Garson on the study of mechanisms and the study of history.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1LN.
Mind the Gap
Elanor Taylor on what makes a good explanation.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1IZ
Blurring the Line between Laws and Initial Conditions
Caspar Jacobs on what's wrong with the pristine interpretation.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1TD
Why 'Not'?
Luca Incurvati and Giorgio Sbardolini on the evolution of negation.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1TT.
On the Limits of Scientific Objectivity
Richard Healey on whether there are objective facts in the quantum world.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1SZ.
Tune in and Find Out
Florian J. Boge explains why it may be epistemically acceptable to tune models for experimental analysis.
Read essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1U9.
Models of Scientific Explanation and Inference to the Best Explanation
Yunus Prasetya on what substantive accounts of explanation say about inference to the best explanation.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1Rd
Digital Humanities and the Philosophy of Science
Oliver M Lean, Luca Rivelli, and Charles H Pence on what philosophers can learn from a ‘distant reading’ of science journals.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1Ql
Against Authorship
Josh Habgood-Coote on whether authorship is an obstacle to recognising the division of labour in science.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1NS
COVID-19, Induction, and Social Epistemology
Igor Douven on evolutionary modelling and trust in science.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1No
Does Economics Need Micro-foundations?
Nadia Ruiz and Armin W Schulz offer a complexity-based reconceptualization of the debate.
Read the essay: https://wp.me/paiQQ4-1J4