The Theoretical Reasoning cluster is a research cluster of the Philosophy Department at the University of Kent. We share an interest in the epistemology and methodology of current science, mathematics and medicine.

Events: Listed here

Staff:

• David Corfield works in the philosophy of science and mathematics. His interests range from probability theory and physics to psychology and medicine, and he looks both to formal methods and historical narrative to understand disciplinary rationality.
• Graeme Forbes works on time, causation and methodology.
• Virginia Ghiara works on methods in social science and social policy. She is an honorary researcher at Kent and senior research officer at the Early Intervention Foundation.
• Yafeng Shan works on scientific method and change and progress in science.
• Samuel D. Taylor works on philosophy of cognitive science.
• Alexandra Trofimov works on normativity and epistemology, especially in medicine and law.
• Michael Wilde works on evidence in medicine and epistemology.
• Jon Williamson works on the philosophy of causality, the foundations of probability, formal epistemology, inductive logic, and the use of causality, probability and inference methods in science and medicine.
• Past staff include Christian Wallmann, Veli-Pekka Parkkinen, Jason Konek, Ruth Hibbert, Juergen Landes, Julien Murzi, Laurence Goldstein, George Darby, Phyllis Illari, Federica Russo.
• We have a Health Methodology Group, including David Corfield, Virginia Ghiara, Lubomira Radoilska, Yafeng Shan, Alexandra Trofimov, Michael Wilde and Jon Williamson.
• We also run a Methodological Innovation Network around the North Sea (MINANS). This includes (anti-clockwise): Erik Weber (Ghent); Rosa Runhardt (Radboud); Federica Russo (Utrecht); Jan-Willem Romeijn & Boris Kuiper (Groningen); Derek Beach (Aarhus); Hanne Andersen (Copenhagen); Jaakko Kuorikoski & Caterina Marchionni (Helsinki); Till Grüne-Yanoff (KTH, Stockholm); Fredrik Andersen (Østfold, Fredrikstad), Rani Lill Anjum (NMBU, Ås); Elena Rocca (Oslo Met); Simon Andrup (Oslo); Michael Baumgartner, Luna de Souter, Veli-Pekka Parkkinen & Julie Zahle (Bergen); Nancy Cartwright (Durham); Alexandra Trofimov, Michael Wilde & Jon Williamson (Kent).

PhD students:

• Maria Federica Norelli: epistemology of machine learning (joint with Northeastern University London).
• Brian Kett: explanatory AI.
• Hugh Robertson-Ritchie: philosophy of medicine.
• Mark Garron: philosophy of time.
• Vittorio Serra: pragmatism.
• Patrick Killeen: doxastic voluntarism.
• Gavin Thomson: homotopy type-theory and the philosophy of mathematics. (AHRC-funded.)
• Past PhD students include:
  • William Levack-Payne (The application of Evidence-Based Medicine methodologies in sports science: problems and solutions. GTA-funded.)
  • James Hoctor (intersubjectivity and cognition in monozygotic twins. GTA-funded.)
  • Daniel Auker-Howlett (Evidence evaluation and the epistemology of causality, AHRC-funded),
  • Virginia Ghiara (Inferring causation from big data in the social sciences, Eastern-Arc-funded),
  • Erik van Aken (Causal interactionism, GTA-funded),
  • Stefan Dragulinescu (Grading the Quality of Evidence of Mechanisms, Leverhulme-funded),
  • Teddy Groves (Let’s Reappraise Carnapian Inductive Logic! AHRC-funded),
  • Ruth Hibbert (Situated cognition, GTA-funded),
  • Michael Wilde (Causing problems: The nature of evidence and the epistemic theory of causality, GTA-funded),
  • Lorenzo Casini: Causality in Complex Systems – An Inferentialist Proposal

Research projects:

• Evidential Pluralism in evaluations of carcinogenicity and social interventions (AHRC 2023-25).
• EBL+: New philosophical foundations for evidence-based law (Leverhulme Trust 2023-26).
• The Metaphysical Foundation of Evidential Pluralism, BA / Leverhulme Trust 2020-2022.
• EBM+ for more effective COVID-19 interventions, GCRF 2020.
• Evidential pluralism in the social sciences, Leverhulme Trust 2019-22.
• Evaluating evidence in medicine, AHRC 2015-18.
• Grading evidence of mechanisms in physics and biology, Leverhulme Trust 2015-18.
• Inference and logic (BA 2013-15)
• From objective Bayesian epistemology to inductive logic, (AHRC 2012-15).
• Mechanisms and the evidence hierarchy (AHRC 2012)
• Causality across the levels (BA 2009-11)
• A dialogue on infinity (Templeton, 2008-10)
• Exploitation of Context in Communication (Leverhulme 2008-12)
• In defence of objective Bayesianism (Leverhulme 2007-9)
• The levels of causality (BA 2008)
• Mechanisms and causality (Leverhulme 2007-10)
• progicnet: Probabilistic logic and probabilistic networks (Leverhulme 2006-8)
• caOBNET: Objective Bayesian nets for integrating cancer knowledge: a systems biology approach (2006-11)
• Causality and the interpretation of probability in the social and health sciences (BA 2006)

Links:

• The Centre for Reasoning is an interdisciplinary hub for research on reasoning, inference and method at the University of Kent.
• The Reasoner is a monthly gazette on reasoning that we founded.
• The Reasoning Club, is a global network of allied centres, institutes and groups.
• The n-category Café is a blog where the implications for philosophy, mathematics and physics of the exciting new language of higher-dimensional category theory are discussed.
• EBM+ is a consortium of researchers interested in improving the way in which evidence-based medicine handles evidence of mechanisms.
• Causality in the Sciences conference series (CitS).
• Workshops on Combining Probability and Logic (progic).