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Sorin Bangu

Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Personal webpage
  • E-mailSorin.Bangu@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 29 48+47 981 99 964
  • Visitor Address
    Sydnesplassen 12/13, 3. etg.
    Bergen
    Room 
    314A
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7805
    5020 BERGEN

My main area of specialization and competence is contemporary philosophy of science. My work straddles the boundaries of philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of physics, with a component in the foundations of probability and statistics. I also have interests in the history of analytic philosophy, focusing on Quine and Wittgenstein (hence my involvement in the activities of the Wittgenstein Archives hosted by the University of Bergen). Recently I began exploring the philosophical relevance of numerical analysis and of the psychological research on (early) mathematical cognition.

Topics in theoretical philosophy

 

BOOKS

  • Naturalizing Logico-Mathematical Knowledge: Approaches from Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science. (Routledge, 2018) Edited collection of essays, 306p.
  • The Applicability of Mathematics in Science: Indispensability and Ontology. (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2012) Monograph, 252p.

 

SELECTED ARTICLES

  • 'Discontinuities and Singularities, Data and Phenomena: For Referentialism'. Synthese. Forthcoming (2018) Special issue on Infinite Idealizations in Science. Edited by L. Ruetsche, P. Palacios, S. Fletcher, E. Shech
  • 'Phase Transitions'. Commissioned for The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics E. Knox and A. Wilson (eds.) Routledge. Forthcoming.
  • 'Later Wittgenstein and the Genealogy of Mathematical Necessity'. In Wittgenstein and Naturalism. K. Cahill and T. Raleigh (eds.) Routledge, 2018. Pp. 151-73
  • 'Indispensability, Causation and Explanation'. Theoria. Special issue 'Updating Indispensabilities: Hillary Putnam In Memoriam'. M. Leng (ed.) 33(2): 219-32
  • 'The 'Miracle' of Applicability? The Curious Case of the Simple Harmonic Oscillator' (Co-author Robert Moir) Foundations of Physics. 48(5): 507-525 (2018) Special issue on Philosophical Aspects in the Foundations of Physics. Edited by M. Redei, H. Brown, K. Landsman
  • 'Scientific Explanation and Understanding: Unificationism Reconsidered'. European Journal for Philosophy of Science. 7(1): 103-126 (2017) 
  • 'On 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences''. Commissioned for Models and Inferences in Science T. Nickles, E. Ippoliti, F. Sterpetti (eds.). Pp. 11-29. Springer (2016)
  • 'Later Wittgenstein on the Logicist Definition of Number'. Commissioned for Early Analytic Philosophy - New Perspectives on the Tradition. S. Costreie (ed.) Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science Series. General editor W. Demopoulos. Pp. 233-257. Springer (2016)
  • 'Numerical Methods, Complexity and Epistemic Hierarchies'. Co-author N. Fillion. Philosophy of Science 82.5: 941-955 (2015)
  • 'Why does Water Boil? Fictions in Scientific Explanation'. In U. Mäki et al. (eds.) Recent Developments in the Philosophy of Science Pp. 319-330. Springer (2015)
  • 'Neither Weak, Nor Strong? Emergence and Functional Reduction'. In M. Morrison and B. Falkenburg (ed.) Why More is Different. Philosophical Issues in Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems. Springer (2015)
  • 'Indispensability and Explanation' British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64(2): 255-277 (2013)
  • 'Symmetry' In R. Batterman (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics, Oxford Univ. Press (2013), pp. 287-317.
  • 'Later Wittgenstein’s Philosophy of Mathematics' Entry for Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2012)
  • ‘Bridge Laws in Inter-theoretic Relations’. Philosophy of Science 78.5: 1108-1119 (2011) 
  • ‘Probability Assignments and the Principle of Indifference. An Examination of Two Eliminative Strategies’. In M. Suarez (ed.) Probabilities, Causes and Propensities in Physics Synthese Library. Springer (2011), pp. 61-76.
  • 'On Bertrand's Paradox' Analysis 70: 30-35 (2010)
  • 'Understanding Thermodynamic Singularities. Phase transitions, Data and Phenomena' Philosophy of Science76.4: 488-505 (2009)
  • 'Inference to the Best Explanation and Mathematical Realism' Synthese160: 13-20 (2008)

Publications in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Fields of competence 
Philosophy of science
philosophy of mathematics
Wittgenstein