Philippe Verreault-Julien

Philippe Verreault-Julien

Postdoctoral Researcher

London School of Economics and Political Science

About Me

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS), London School of Economics and Political Science. I carry out a project funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) on the methodological differences between the empirical sciences and philosophy.

I also collaborate on the Towards a Methodology of Modal Modeling for Science project.

My research primarily concerns the epistemology of scientific modelling, understanding, and explanation.

Interests
  • Philosophy of Science
  • Philosophy of Economics
  • Epistemology
  • Philosophy of Biology
  • Metaphilosophy
Education

  • PhD Philosophy, 2019

    Erasmus University Rotterdam

  • MA Philosophy, 2013

    Erasmus University Rotterdam

  • Minor Economics, 2009

    Université Laval

  • BA Philosophy, 2009

    Université Laval

Contributions & Work in Progress

Explanation in economics
Forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics, edited by Julian Reiss and Conrad Heilmann.
Hamilton's rule: a non-causal explanation?
The explanatory power of Hamilton’s rule, the main explanatory principle of social evolution theory, is an ongoing subject of …
Project
Understanding with models (PhD thesis summary)
Cite DOI
Philosophical methodology in theoretical modelling: the case of herd behaviour
Naturalism is the view according to which philosophy should solve its problems using the empirical scientific methodology. It assumes a …
Project
Understanding with models
Theoretical modelling raises many epistemological challenges. Models appear to explain economic phenomena, yet they also seem to lack …
Cite URL
See all contributions

Past & Upcoming Talks

Representing non-actual targets?
Scientists seek to learn about targets of interest by representing them with models. This supposes that we have an account of how …
June 1, 2021 14:00 University of Alberta
Project
Representing and Understanding (Im)Possible Targets?
One strategy that scientists use to understand targets of interest is by representing them with models. Understanding the world by …
March 12, 2020 — March 14, 2020 Emory University, United States
Inferentialism and representation: chasing factivity
In this paper, I argue that two brands of inferentialism (Suárez 2004; Suárez 2015) and what I call the factive inferentialist account …
September 11, 2019 University of Geneva, Switzerland
Philosophical methodology in theoretical modelling: the case of herd behaviour
Naturalism is the view according to which philosophy should solve its problems using the empirical scientific methodology. It assumes a …
July 2, 2019 Lake Como School of Advanced Studies, Italy
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Projects

Meta-Empirical Reasoning and Justification in Philosophy and the Sciences
Methodological naturalism (naturalism henceforth) is the view according to which the empiricist scientific methodology is adequate for both philosophy and the sciences. However, the validity of naturalism crucially depends on the alleged distinctiveness between philosophical and scientific methods.
Models, Understanding, and Explanation
Philosophers have been interested in how models that systematically and deeply idealize may explain or afford understanding if they misrepresent the very things that are supposed to explain and be explained.
Towards a Methodology of Modal Modeling for Science
Project on which I collaborate.
Explanation in Social Evolution Theory
This project concerns the explanatoriness of theoretical principles in social evolution theory, in particular Hamilton’s rule and the Price equation. Whether or how these widely accepted principles provide insight into evolutionary phenomena is the subject of scientific controversy and of philosophical discussion.

Teaching

Instructor of Record

Erasmus University Rotterdam

  • Values, Welfare, and Cooperation (2018, 2019)

The Hague University of Applied Sciences

  • Philosophy of Economics (2015-2020)

VU Amsterdam

  • Political Philosophy (2018)
  • Philosophy of Science (2017)

University of Amsterdam

  • Philosophy of the Social Sciences (MA level, 2017, 2018)

Seminar Instructor

University of Groningen

  • Ethics and International Business (2019)

Erasmus University Rotterdam

  • Philosophy of Economics (2014, 2015)

Université Laval

  • Philosophy of Physics (2011)
  • Introduction to Philosophy of Science (2010, 2011)

Contact