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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.

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 Research Master Philosophy and Economics, 2013

    Erasmus University Rotterdam

  • Certificate Economics, 2009

    Université Laval

  • BA Philosophy, 2009

    Université Laval

Other Publications

Hamilton's rule: a non-causal explanation?

More than fifty years since Hamilton’s (1963; 1964) groundbreaking work on social evolution, the evolutionary explanation of …

Representation and model-based explanation: is factive inferentialism sufficient?

Highly idealized models may serve various epistemic functions, notably explanation, in virtue of representing the world. Inferentialism …

Understanding with models (PhD thesis summary)

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 …

Understanding with models

Theoretical modelling raises many epistemological challenges. Models appear to explain economic phenomena, yet they also seem to lack …
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Past & Upcoming Talks

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

Hamilton’s rule: understanding the disagreement about its explanatoriness

November 9, 2018 University of Twente, The Netherlands
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Teaching

Instructor of Record

Erasmus University Rotterdam

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

The Hague University of Applied Sciences

  • Philosophy of Economics (2015-2019)

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)

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