University of Auckland

Department Member, Philosophy

Honorary Research Fellow

About

I am an honorary research fellow in the Department of Philosophy.

My philosophical interests lie mainly in the Philosophy of Chemistry and  general Philosophy of Science. One of the principles guiding my approach to philosophy is that actual scientific disciplines are generally the best guides to the development of their philosophy. As a result, my work straddles the boundary between actual science and philosophy of science; working with current theories in a relatively advanced form, but at the same time aiming for philosophical robustness. The key principle is that the care with which scientific theories are generally formulated needs to be equally applied in the philosophical analyses of these theories if the results are to hold up over time.

I have recently completed a book about the reduction of chemistry to physics, which will be published later this year. This is also the basis for my PhD in philosophy at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

My current research projects include a small book about the Tractarian view of theories, exploring how the Tractarian view on the one hand derives from developments in nineteenth century mechanics, and how it has influenced the thinking of the early Vienna Circle on theoretical terms and operationalism. The title of this work is 'Wittgenstein on Natural Science'.

My next project, currently in its embryonic stage, involves a research project on theoretical terms, theoretical change and the computational characterisation of scientific theories.

I do not get paid anything to do the research that I do and intend to keep things that way. I work as an IT solutions architect, during the day, partly to provide a balance for my academic work.

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