About Philosophy of Science
Science shapes the modern world. Applications of scientific knowledge permeate our everyday lives, and the results of science strongly influence our view of the world.
- But what is a science?
- Why are scientific results considered particularly credible?
- Is there a uniform scientific method, and if so, what distinguishes it?
- What are scientific theories and how are they related?
- Are there systematic limits to scientific knowledge?
- What constitutes a scientific explanation?
These are issues that concern the philosophy of science. It often addresses common ideas about a science and critically examines them, even with recourse to the history of science. Within the philosophy of science, we distinguish between the epistemology of the science, which examines processes, conditions and limits of the acquisition of knowledge, and the metaphysics of the science, which enables individual scientific results to be fruitful for metaphysical questions.
Research projects
Research interests
General Philosophy of Science
| Probabilities and their interpretation | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| The epistemology of modelling and experiment | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| Limits of knowledge | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| Ceteris Paribus laws | Dr. Matthias Unterhuber |
| Couterfactual Conditionals | Dr. Matthias Unterhuber |
| Generica | Dr. Matthias Unterhuber |
| Scientific Realism | Dr. Matthias Egg |
| Explanation theory | Dr. Matthias Egg |
| Philosophy of climate science | Prof. Dr. Vincent Lam |
Philosophy of Biology
| Concept of life and exobiology | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| Dr. Andrea Loettgers |
Philosophy of Physics
| Philosophy of cosmology | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart | |
| Philosophy of statistical physics | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart | |
| Philosophy of quantum physics | Dr. Matthias Egg | Prof. Dr. Vincen Lam |
| Philosophy of particle physics | Dr. Matthias Egg | |
| Philosophy of spacetime physics | Prof. Dr. Vincent Lam |
Fundamentals of Ethics
| Collective decisions | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| Ethical theories | Marius Baumann |
| Reflective Equilibrium (more, German ) | Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart |
| PD Dr. Georg Brun | |
| Tanja Rechnitzer |
Members
- Name / Titel
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus Beisbart
- Funktion
- Professor extraordinarius with focus on philosophy of science
- claus.beisbart@philo.unibe.ch
- Phone
- +41 31 684 35 90
- Name / Titel
- Prof. Dr. Georg Brun
- Funktion
- Lecturer (tenured)
- georg.brun@philo.unibe.ch
- Phone
- +41 31 684 35 93
- Name / Titel
- Prof. Dr. Vincent Lam
- Funktion
- SNF Professor
- vincent.lam@philo.unibe.ch
- Phone
- +41 31 684 34 55
- Name / Titel
- Dr. Matthias Egg
- Funktion
- Assistant / Bachelor Study Consultation
- matthias.egg@philo.unibe.ch
- Phone
- +41 31 684 37 83
- Name / Titel
- Dr. Julie Jebeile
- Funktion
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- julie.jebeile@philo.unibe.ch
- Name / Titel
- Dr. Vera Matarese
- Funktion
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- vera.matarese@philo.unibe.ch
- Name / Titel
- Dr. Tim Räz
- Funktion
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- tim.raez@philo.unibe.ch
- Name / Titel
- Mason Majszak
- Funktion
- PhD Student
- mason.majszak@philo.unibe.ch