Dr Emma Tobin

AHRC Metaphysics of Science Postdoctoral Fellow

University of Bristol, Department of Philosophy, 9 Woodland Rd, Bristol BS8 1TB, U.K.

Tel: +44 (0)117 33 18393

E-mail: Emma.Tobin@bristol.ac.uk

Office Hours, Mondays 11:00–12:00

 

Background

Emma is a postdoctoral research fellow on the AHRC Metaphysics of Science Project. She joined the Philosophy Department in Bristol in October 2006. Before that she completed a Ph.D. at Trinity College Dublin, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. She was also a visiting student at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge from May – August 2005. She was awarded her Ph.D. entitled ‘On the Disunity of the Sciences and Ceteris Paribus Laws’ in March 2006, examined by Prof. Stephen Mumford. (Ph.D. Abstract). Emma has one daughter, Ailbhe Joyce Curry, who was born in January 2009.

Research Interests

Her research interests are in the metaphysics of science; natural kinds, laws of nature, causation and dispositions. The particular focus of Emma’s current research is on natural kinds in the special sciences (in particular in Biology and Chemistry) . Her broader research interests include issues about reductionism, scientific unification, explanation and causation.

Metaphysics of Science Project

Emma joined the AHRC sponsored project on the Metaphysics of Science as a postdoctoral research fellow based in Bristol working with Alexander Bird in 2006. This is a three-year project based at the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, and Nottingham. Other project members include Stephen Mumford, Markus Schrenk and Matt Tugby (Nottingham), Helen Beebee, Francis Longworth and Nigel Leary (Birmingham).

More about the Metaphysics of Science Project. Click here to visit our Metaphysics of Science Blog. I am currently compiling a bibliography on Natural Kinds. Please e-mail me if you have any additions.

Publications

  1. “The Metaphysics of Determinable Kinds”, Issues in the Metaphysics of Science, Brian Ellis (ed.), Forthcoming. (Pdf Version)
  2. “Crosscutting Natural Kinds and the Hierarchy Thesis”, The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds, Helen Beebee and Nigel Leary (eds.), Routledge Studies in Metaphysics, Forthcoming March 2010. (Pdf Version) Publishers Website
  3. “Microstructuralism and Macromolecules: The case of moonlighting proteins”, Foundations of Chemistry, 2009, DOI 10.1007/s10698-009-9078-5. (Pdf Version) Publishers Website
  4. “Natural Kinds”, (ed. Edward N. Zalta) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (with Alexander Bird), September 2008.
  5. “Towards a New Model of Explanation for the Special Sciences”, Causality & Explanation: In Honor of Wesley Salmon, Autonomous University Press, 2006.
  6. “What makes the Special Sciences Special – Exploring Scientific Methodology in the Special Sciences”, NOESIS, Cambridge Scholarly Press, 2005.

Book Reviews

  1. Review of Dorato, M. The Software of the Universe, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, (March 2008)
  2. Review of Mumford, S. Laws in Nature, The Journal of Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, Vol. 9. 2006.
  3. Review of Ceteris Paribus Laws (eds.) Earman, Glymour & Mitchell, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2002.) International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 12 No. 4, 2004.

In Progress

Book

Philosophy of Science: An Introduction to Contemporary Problems, London, Continuum Press, Forthcoming 2011.

Teaching 2009/2010