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Prof. Dr. Mathias Frisch
Prof. Dr. Mathias Frisch
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Lange Laube 6
30159 Hannover
30159 Hannover
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Prof. Dr. Mathias Frisch
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Institute of Philosophy
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Institute of Philosophy
Profile
Mathias Frisch studied philosophy and physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and the University of California in Berkeley. After his departure from Munich he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (1990) and a Master of Arts (1992) in physics at Berkeley, before completing his PhD (1998) on the role of models in scientific explanation. He was an assistant professor at Northwestern University from 1998-2003.
From 2003-2015 he was employed by the University of Maryland, becoming a “full professor” in autumn of 2013. From 2011-2013 Mathias Frisch was a guest professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at the LMU; since then he has held the position of permanent visiting professor. He has been a research associate at the Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics since 2008. Mathias Frisch has been the Professor for Theoretical Philosophy, in particular philosophy of science, at the Leibniz University Hannover since February 2016.
Main Areas of Research and Teaching
General Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Physics
Philosophy and Climate Change
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Publications
Monographs
2014
Causal Reasoning in Physics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2003
Inconsistency, Asymmetry, and Non-Locality: A Philosophical Investigation of Classical Electrodynamics, New York: Oxford University Press
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals
2020 "Causation in Physics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) 2017
"Climate Policy in the Age of Trump", Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, Volume 27, 2 Supplement, E87-E106.
2016
"Reassessing the Ritz-Einstein debate on the radiation asymmetry in classical electrodynamics" Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 55. 13-23.
2015
"Book Symposium on Causal Reasoning in Physics: Replies to my critics." Metascience, Volume 24, Issue 3, pp. 366-372.
2015
"Tuning climate models, predictivism, and the problem of old evidence." European Journal for Philosophy of Science 5:2, 171-190.
2015
"Users, Structures, and Representations" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66:2, 285-306.
2014
"Models and Scientific Representation or: who is Afraid of Inconsistency?" Synthese Vol. 191, 13, 3027-3040.
2014
"Laws in Physics", European Review 22, Suppl. S1, 33-S49.
2014
"Physics and the Human Face of Causation," Topoi 33, 2, 407-419. DOI 10.1007/s11245-013-9172-0.
2013
"Classical Electrodynamics: no more toils and troubles?", Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44, 4, 527-531.
2012
"Modeling Climate Policies: A Critical Look at Integrated Assessment Models", Philosophy and Technology 26, 117-137.
2012
"Climate Change Justice," Philosophy and Public Affairs, 225-253.
2012
"No Place for Causes? Causal Skepticism in Physics." European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2:3, 313-336.
2011
"From Boltzmann to Arbuthnot: higher-level laws and the Best System," Philosophy of Science 78, 1001-1011.
2011
"Principle or Constructive Relativity?" Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42, 176-183.
2010
"Causes, Counterfactuals, and Non-Locality," Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 88/4, 655 - 672.
2009
"Causality and dispersion: a reply to John Norton," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60, 487-495.
2009
"'The most Sacred Tenet'? Causal Reasoning in Physics," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60, 459-474.
2009
"Philosophical Issues in Electromagnetism," Philosophy Compass 4/1, 255-270.
2008
"Conceptual Problems in Classical Electrodynamics," Philosophy of Science 75:1, 93-105.
2006
"A Tale of Two Arrows," Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37, 542-558.
2005
"Counterfactuals and the Past Hypothesis," Philosophy of Science 72:5, 739-750.
2005
"Mechanisms, Principles, and Lorentz's Cautious Realism," Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36:4, 659-679.
2004
"Laws and Initial Conditions," Philosophy of Science 71:5, 696-706
2004
"Inconsistency in Classical Electrodynamics," Philosophy of Science 71, 525-549.
2002
"Non-Locality in Classical Electrodynamics," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 1-19.
2000
"(Dis-)Solving the Puzzle of the Arrow of Radiation," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51, 381-410
1999
"Van Fraassen's Dissolution of Putnam's Model-Theoretic Argument," Philosophy of Science, 66, 158-164.
Articles in Edited Volumes
Forthcoming
"Causal Explanation", in Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics, eds. Eleanor Knox and Alastair Wilson.
Forthcoming
"Statistical mechanics and the asymmetry of causal influence," in David Albert's Time and Chance, eds. Barry Loewer, Eric Winsberg, and Brad Weslake, Harvard University Press.
2019
"Calibration, Validation, and Confirmation" in C. Beisbart and N. J. Saam (eds.), Computer Simulation Validation, Simulation Foundations, Methods and Applications. Springer.
2018 "Uncertainty and Values in climate policy optimization models," in Winsberg, E. and Lloyd, E., eds., Conceptual Foundations of Climate Modeling, The University of Chicago Press. 2018
"Modeling Climate Policies: The Social Cost of Carbon and Uncertainties in Climate Predictions" in Winsberg, E. and Lloyd, E., eds., Climate Modeling: Philosophical and Conceptual Issues, Palgrave-MacMillan.
2014
"Unsharp Humean Chances in Statistical Physics: a Reply to Beisbart" together with Luke Glynn, Radin Dardashti, and Karim Theabault in New Directions in the Philosophy of Science, eds. M. Galavotti, et al. 531-542.
2014
"Why Physics Can't Explain Everything," in Chance and Temporal Asymmetry, ed. Alastair Wilson, Oxford University Press, 221-240.
2013
"Time and Causation," in A Companion to the Philosophy of Time, eds. Heather Dykes and Adrian Bardon. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 282-300.
2012
"Kausalität in der Physik," ("Causality in Physics") in Philosophie der Physik, ed. Michael Esfeld, Suhrkamp.
2010
"Causal Models and the Asymmetry of State Preparation" in EPSA Philosophical Issues in the Sciences. Launch of the European Philosophy of Science Association, eds. M. Suárez, M. Dorato and M. Rédei. Springer Verlag.
2010
"Does a low-Entropy constraint prevent us from influencing the Past?," in Time, Chance, and Reduction, eds. Andreas Hüttemann and Gerhard Ernst, Cambridge University Press, 13-33.
2007
"Causation, Counterfactuals and Entropy," in Russell's Republic: The Place of Causation in the Constitution of Reality, eds. Huw Price and Richard Corry, Oxford University Press, 351-395.
2007
"A New Look at Popper's Pond," in Karl Popper: A Centenary Assessment, ed. Ian Jarvie, Ashgate, 77-84.