apl. Prof. Dr. Alexander Reutlinger

Akademischer Oberrat (a.L.)

Lehrstuhl für Wissenschaftstheorie, MCMP

Büroadresse:

Ludwigstr. 31

Raum 130

80539 München

Raumfinder

Sprechstunde:

Nach Vereinbarung.

Postanschrift:

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1

80539 München

Further Information

Alexander Reutlinger joined the MCMP in 2013. Currently, he holds the position of an Akademischer Oberrat (auf Lebenszeit) and is außerplanmäßiger Professor. He is – together with Norbert Gratzl – the coordinator of the Master program Logic and Philosophy of Science at LMU Munich.

Alexander Reutlinger earned a Magister Artium (M.A.) in philosophy from the Freie Universität Berlin in 2008, obtained a Dr. phil. from the University of Cologne in 2011, and completed his Habilitation (venia: philosophy) at LMU Munich in 2017. Before arriving in Munich, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cologne. Moreover, he was a visiting fellow at the University of Bristol, the Center for Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh) and the Institute Vienna Circle (University of Vienna).

Research Interests

Alexander’s research is concerned with various topics in (general) philosophy of science and neighboring areas of epistemology and metaphysics – mostly, in the context of the natural sciences.

Alexander’s current research addresses the following topics:

  • Strategic Science Skepticism: demarcating strategic science skepticism from productive and legitimate critique and ‘healthy’ forms of skepticism in the sciences; providing a critical analysis of typical arguments that strategic science skeptics use – arguments based on crucial assumptions about evidence, expertise, (dis)agreement and consensus, non-epistemic values and interests, scientific revolutions, and more.
  • Objectivity: defining objectivity in terms of invariance and independence; exploring how objectivity, if defined in this invariantist manner, relates to justification (or confirmation) via empirical evidence and testimonial evidence (where the latter includes agreement and disagreement among scientists), to symmetry, necessity, causation, and to big picture issues in philosophy of science (such as, the value-free ideal and anti/realism).

Alexander’s older research interests still occasionally inform his current work:

  • Scientific explanation, particularly, counterfactual theories of causal and non-causal explanations.
  • Laws and models in science, specifically, his work on ceteris paribus laws, idealizations and abstractions in the context of law statements and (toy) models, as well as the (non-)universality of laws.
  • Causation, with a focus on counterfactual and interventionist theories of causation and on Neo-Russellian arguments regarding causation in the special sciences and in physics.

Further Activities

Alexander received the teaching award (Preis für gute Lehre) for the academic year 2016/17.

  • Workshop “Invariance and Objectivity” (June 2023), Institute Vienna Circle (University of Vienna), in cooperation with the MCMP; co-organizer: Georg Schiemer.
  • Online-workshop “Philosophy of Science Meets Normative Theory II” (November 19, 2021), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP), co-organizer: Christian List.
  • Online-workshop “Philosophy of Science Meets Normative Theory I” (October 22, 2021), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizer: Christian List
  • Workshop "Contested Expertise" (March 30, 2020), Munich Center fo Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP), co-organizer: Kim Naumann.
  • Organizer of the workshop "Objectivity - New Perspectives on Objective Inquiry", (May 6, 2018), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
  • Jerusalem-Munich Workshop: "Explanation and Reduction in the Sciences" (February 8-10, 2018), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Edelstein Center for History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine); co-organizers: Stephan Hartmann and Orly Shenker.
  • Jerusalem-Munich Workshop; "Explanatory Reasoning in the Sciences" (February 23-24, 2017), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizers: Stephan Hartmann and Orly Shenker.
  • Workshop: "The Physics of Society: Philosophy of Econophysics and Complex Social Systems" (July 22-23, 2016), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizers: Seamus Bradley, Meinard Kuhlmann and Karim Thébault.
  • Symposium: "Non-Causal Aspects of Scientific Explanation", (September 23-26, 2015), EPSA 2015, Düsseldorf, co-organizer: Mathias Frisch.
  • Workshop "Just Playing? Toy Models in the Sciences" (May 8-9, 2015), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizer: Dominik Hangleiter.
  • Symposium on Mathias Frisch’s book "Causal Reasoning in Physics" (February 6, 2015), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
  • Symposium "Non-causal Explanations in the Sciences", Biennal Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (November 2014, Chicago, USA).
  • Conference "Explanation Beyond Causation", with Stephan Hartmann (October 23-24, 2014), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
  • Conference "Causality and Complexity in the Sciences" in the conference series Causality in the Sciences (September 2014, Cologne).
  • Workshop "Explaining without Causes. Non-causal Explanations in the Sciences" (December 2013, Cologne).
  • Workshop "Emergence, Stability, and Parthood in Biological and Physical Systems" (June 2013, Cologne).
  • Symposium "Laws and Complex Systems", Biennal Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (November 2012 in San Diego, USA).

Books

Edited Volumes

  • Reutlinger, A. and Saatsi, J. (eds.) (2018) Explanation Beyond Causation. Philosophical Perspectives on Non-Causal Explanations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Reutlinger, A. and Unterhuber, M. (eds.) (2014) Ceteris Paribus Laws Revisited, Special Issue of Erkenntnis, Volume 79, Issue 10.

Selected Research Papers

Selected Survey Papers

  • Reutlinger, A. (2020): "Strategischer Wissenschaftsskeptizismus", M. Jungert et al. (ed.) Wissenschaftsreflexion. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven zwischen Philosophie und Praxis, Paderborn: Mentis Verlag, 351-369.
  • Reutlinger, A., and Saatsi, J. (2018) "Introduction: Scientific Explanations Beyond Causation", Reutlinger, A., and Saatsi, J. (eds.), Explanation Beyond Causation. Philosophical Perspectives on Non-Causal Explanations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-11. (Preprint.)
  • Reutlinger, A. (2017) "Kausalität", In Metzler Handbuch Metaphysik, M. Schrenk (Hg.), Metzler Verlag: 306-311. (Preprint (PDF, 196 KB).)
  • Reutlinger, A. (2017) "Explanation Beyond Causation? New Directions in the Philosophy of Scientific Explanation", Philosophy Compass, Online First. (Preprint.)
  • Reutlinger, A. Schurz, G. and Hüttemann, A. (2015) "Ceteris Paribus Laws", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
  • Reutlinger, A., and Unterhuber, M. (2014) "Thinking About Non-Universal Laws", Erkenntnis 79: 1703-1713.
  • Reutlinger, A. Schurz, G. and Hüttemann, A. (2011) "Ceteris Paribus Laws", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).

Selected Book Reviews

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