Stockholms universitet
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Paul NeedhamProfessor emeritus

Om mig

Vetenskapsfilosofi, metafysik, logik, kunskapsteori och språkfilosofi

Paul Needham är född 1948 i England och i huvudsak utbildad vid Birminghams universitet. B.Sc. 1969 (kemi, med fysik och matematik), M.A. 1971 (filosofi). Doktorandstudierna avslutades i Uppsala (disp. 1975, teoretisk filosofi). Docent vid Stockholms universitet 1985. Professor vid Stockholms universitet 2001. Undervisat vid flera lärosäten i England under 70-talet, och sedan 1980 knuten till filosofiska institutionen vid Stockholms universitet. 1996 fellow vid Kollegiet för Samhällsforskning (SCASSS) i Uppsala. Ansvarig för grundkursen i vetenskapsteori. Tillhör redaktionskommitéen för den nystartade (1999) tidskriften Foundations of Chemistry. Finansiering för halvtidsforskning 1985-1993 från Stockholms universitet, 1995-2000 från HSFR och sedan 2000 från Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

Huvudområden

Needham arbetar numera huvudsakligen inom vetenskapsfilosofi, men intresserar sig också för frågeställningar inom angränsande områden, som metafysik, logik, kunskapsteori och språkfilosofi. Han har bl.a. arbetat med frågor kring kausalitet, tempus och aspekt, med Aristoteles och stoikernas teori om materia, med Quines och Davidsons filosofi, och han har ett särskilt intresse för Pierre Duhem.

Publikationer i urval

  • “Classical Atomism in Chemistry: Not a Success Story” in Ugo Zilioli, ed., Atomism in Philosophy: A History from Antiquity to the Present, Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming.

  • with Robin Hendry (2018), “Aspects of the Concept of Potentiality in Chemistry”, in Kristina Engelhard and Michael Quante, eds., Handbook of Potentiality, Springer, Berlin; pp. 375-400.

  • “Scientific Realism and Chemistry”, in Juha Saatsi, Ed., The Routledge Handbook on Scientific Realism, Routledge, London, 2018; pp. 345-356. ISBN: 978-1-138-88885-2.

  • Macroscopic Metaphysics: Middle-Sized Objects and Longish Processes, Springer, Dordrecht, 2017; ISBN 978-3-319-70998-7.

  • “Determining Sameness of Substance”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 68(4), (2017), 953–79; doi: 10.1093/bjps/axv050

  • “Elements”, in Johanna Seibt, Guido Imaguire, Stamatios Gerogiorgakis, Eds., Handbook of Mereology, Philosophia Verlag, München (2017). pp. 197-200; ISBN: 978-3-88405-090-3.

  • “Chemistry”, in Johanna Seibt, Guido Imaguire, Stamatios Gerogiorgakis, Eds., Handbook of Mereology, Philosophia Verlag, München (2017); pp. 141-7. ISBN: 978-3-88405-090-3.

  • “Kvotskalor för icke-extensiva storheter” i George Masterton, Kim Solin och Keizo Matsubara, red., Från Skaradjäkne till Uppsalaprofessor: Festskrift till Lars-Göran Johansson, Uppsala Philosophical Studies, No. 60, Uppsala, 2017, ss, 91-118. ISBN: 978-91-506-2642-1. ISSN: 1402-1110

  • “Was Duhem Justified in not Distinguishing Between Physical and Chemical Atomism?”, Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science, 2 (2017), 108-11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24117/2526-2270.2017.i2.10

  • “One Substance or More?”, in Eric Scerri and Lee McIntyre, eds., Philosophy of Chemistry: Growth of a New Discipline, Springer, Dordrecht, 2015, pp. 91-105.

  • “Unearthing a buried memory: Steffano Bordoni, Duhem's third pathway to thermodynamics, Urbino: Editrice Montefeltro, 2012, 288pp.”, Metascience, 23 (2014), 87-91. (Review)

  • “Nineteenth-century chemical theory: Correction of a misunderstanding”, Foundations of Chemistry, 16 (2014), 165-7.

  • “The Source of Chemical Bonding”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 45C (2014), 1–13.

  • “What Does Hydrogen Bonding Say About the Nature of Chemical Bonding?”, in Dennis Dieks and Vassilios Karakostas, eds., EPSA 2011: Perspectives and Foundational Problems in Philosophy of Science, Springer, New York, 2013; pp. 321-30.

  • “The Rise of Quantum Chemistry: Symposium on Kostas Gavroglu and Ana Simoes, Neither Physics nor Chemistry”, Hasok Chang, Jeremiah James, Paul Needham, Kostas Gavroglu and Ana Simoes, Metascience, 22 (2013), 523–544.

  • “Questioning the Justification of Past Science: Review article—Hasok Chang, Is Water H2O?”,  International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 27 (2013), 85–93.

  • “Process and Change: From a Thermodynamic Perspective”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 64 (2013), 395-422.

  • “Hydrogen Bonding: Homing in on a Tricky Concept”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 44 (2013), 51-66.

  • “Mereological Structure in Chemical Substances and Their Transformations: An Analytic Perspective on the Historical Development of These Concepts”, in Jean-Pierre Llored, ed., The Philosophy of Chemistry: Practices, Methodologies and Concepts, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Cambridge, 2013, pp. 527-57. Pre-publication pdf, without the errors in the published version introduced after the submission of proofs.

  • “Natural Kind Thingamajigs”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 26 (2012), 97-101.

  • “The Phase Rule and the Notion of Substance”, in Henk de Regt, Stephan Hartman and Samir Okasha, eds., EPSA Philosophy of Science: Amsterdam 2009, Springer, Dordrecht, 2012; pp. 253-62.

  • “Pierre Duhem (1861-1916)”, “Modality, Mereology and Substance” and “Compounds and Mixtures” in Robin Findlay Hendry, Paul Needham and Andrea J. Woody, eds., Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 6: Philosophy of Chemistry, Elsevir, Amsterdam, 2011. (Pp.113-24, 232-54 and 271-90.)

  • Pierre Duhem, Commentary on the Principles of Thermodynamics, translated, and with an Introduction, by Paul Needham, Series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 277; Springer, Dordrecht, 2011.

  • with Michael Weisberg and Robin Hendry, “Philosophy of Chemistry”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, first published on March 14, 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chemistry/

  • “Duhem's Moderate Realism”, in Anastasios Brenner, Paul Needham, David J. Stump and Robert Deltete, “New Perspectives on Duhem's Aim and Structure of Physical Theory”, Metascience, 20 (2011), 1-25.

  • “Microessentialism: What is the Argument?”, Nous, 45 (2011), 1-21. pdf file

  • “A Mereological Interpretation of the Phase Rule”, Philosophy of Science, 77 (2010), 900-10.

  • with Alan Chalmers, Rom Harré and Eric Scerri, “A Revisionist History of Atomism”, Metascience, 19 (2010), 349-71.

  • with Michael Weisberg,  “Matter, Structure and Change: Aspects of the Philosophy of Chemistry”, Philosophy Compass, 5 (2010), 927-37.

  • “Substance and Time”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 61 (2010), 485-512.

  • “Nagel's Analysis of Reduction: Comments in Defence as Well as Critique”,  Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 41 (2010), 163-70.

  • “Transient Things and Permanent Stuff”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 88 (2010), 147-66.

  • “Water and the Development of the Concept of Chemical Substance”, in T. Tvedt and T. Oestigaard, eds., A History of Water, Vol. 4: The Ideas of Water from Antiquity to Modern Times, I. B. Tauris, London, 2010; pp. 86-123. pdf file

  • “An Aristotelian Theory of Chemical Substance”, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, 12 (2009), 149-64.

  • “Reduction and Emergence: A Critique of Kim”, Philosophical Studies, 146 (2009), 93-116.

  • “Making Theorem-Proving in Modal Logic Easy”, in Logic, Ethics and All That Jazz: Essays in Honour of Howard Sobel, ed. by Lars-Göran Johansson, Jan Österberg and Rysiek Sliwinski, Uppsala Philosophical Studies, No. 57, Department of Philosophy, University of Uppsala, 2009; pp. 187-202. pdf file

  • “Resisting Chemical Atomism: Duhem's Argument”, Philosophy of Science, 75 (2008), 921-31.

  • “Is Water a Mixture?—Bridging the Distinction Between Physical and Chemical Properties”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 39 (2008), 66-77.

  • with Robin Findlay Hendry, “Le Poidevin on the Reduction of Chemistry”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 58 (2007), 339-53.

  • “Macroscopic Mixtures”, Journal of Philosophy, 104 (2007), 26-52.

  • “Ontological Reduction: Comment on Lombardi and Labarca”, Foundations of Chemistry, 8 (2006), 73-80.

  • “Substance and Modality”, Philosophy of Science, 73 (2006), 829-40.

  • "Om vatten och reduktion", Filosofisk Tidskrift, 27 (2006), 24-45.

  • “Aristotle’s Theory of Chemical Reaction and Chemical Substances”, in Davis Baird, Eric Scerri and Lee McIntyre, eds., Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of a New Discipline, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Springer, 2006; pp. 43-67.
    Romanian translation http://webhostinggeeks.com/science/people-pdf-ro

  • ”Mixtures and Modality”, Foundations of Chemistry, 7 (2005), 103-118.

  • "Generation and Destruction of Chemical Substances: An Exposition of the Aristotelian Conception", in Danuta Sobcynska, Pawel Zeidler and Ewa Zielonacka-Lis, eds., Chemistry in the Philosophical Melting Pot, in the series: Dia-Logos: Studies in Philosophy and Social Sciences, Peter Lang Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main, 2004: pp. 357-393.

  • "Mixture and Chemical Combination and Related Essays: A Response to Robert Deltete and Anastasios Brenner", Foundations of Chemistry, 6 (2004), 233-245.

  • "When did Atoms Begin to do any Explanatory Work in Chemistry?", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 18 (2004), 199-219.

  • "Has Daltonian Atomism Provided Chemistry with any Explanations?”, Philosophy of Science, 71 (2004), 1038-47.

  • "Om reduktion", Sats—Nordic Journal of Philosophy, 5 (2004), 69-91.

  • "Chemical Substances and Intensive Properties", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 988 (2003), 99-113.

  • "Continuants and Processes in Macroscopic Chemistry", Axiomathes, 14 (2004), 251-279. Reprinted in Process Theories: Cross-Disciplinary Studies on Dynamic Categories, ed. by J. Seibt, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2003, pp. 237-65.

  • "Duhem's Theory of Mixture in the Light of the Stoic Challenge to the Aristotelian Conception", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 33 (2002), 685-708.

  • "The discovery that water is H20", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 16 (2002), 205-226.

  • Pierre Duhem, Mixture and Chemical Combination, and Related Essays, translated and edited, with an Introduction by Paul Needham, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2002.

  • "Duhem and Quine", Dialectica, 54 (2000), 109-132.

  • "Hot Stuff", in Jan Faye, Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs, eds., Facts, Things, Events, Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Vol. 72, Rodopi, Amsterdam, 2000, 423-449.

  • "Reduction in Chemistry: a second response to Scerri", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 14 (2000), 317-323.

  • "What is Water?", Analysis, 60 (2000), 13-21.

  • "Reduction and Abduction in Chemistry: A Response to Scerri", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 13 (1999), 165-180.

  • "Macroscopic Processes", Philosophy of Science, 66 (1999), 310-331.

  • "Duhem's Physicalism", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 29 (1998), 33-62.

  • "Notes on Temperature", in L. Lindahl, P. Needham and R. Sliwinski, eds., For Good Measure: Philosophical Essays Dedicated to Jan Odelstad on the Occasion of His Fiftieth Birthday, Philosophical Studies, vol. 46, Uppsala, 1997.

  • "Fleeting Things and Permanent Stuff", in Jan Faye, Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs, eds., Perspectives on Time, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 189, Kluwer, 1997, 119-141.

  • "Substitution: Duhem's Explication of a Chemical Paradigm", Perspectives on Science, 4 (1996), 408-33.

  • "Aristotelian Chemistry: A Prelude to Duhemian Metaphysics", Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 26 (1996), 251-269.

  • "Macroscopic Objects: An Exercise in Duhemian Ontology", Philosophy of Science, 63 (1996), 204-223.

  • "Reconciling Micro- and Macro-Perspectives" in Peter Janich and Nikos Psarros, eds., Die Sprache der Chemie, Könighausen und Neumann, Würzburg, 1996.

  • "Tid" och "Tidslogik", Nationalencyklopedin, vol. 17, Bra Böcker, 1995.

  • "Duhems quineska realism", Filosofisk Tidskrift, 16 (1995), 26-40.

  • "The Causal Connective", pdf file in Jan Faye, Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs, eds., Logic and Causal Reasoning, Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1994.

  • "Stuff", Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 71 (1993), 270-90.

  • "Duhem and Cartwright on the Truth of Laws", Synthese, 89 (1991), 89-109.

  • "Spatio-Temporal Analogies" in Sten Lindström and Wlodzimierz Rabinowicz, eds., In So Many Words: Philosophical Essays Dedicated to Sven Danielsson, Philosophical Studies, Uppsala, 1989. pdf file

  • "Causation: Relation or Connective?", Dialectica, 42 (1988), 201-19.

  • "Underbestämning av underbestämningstesen: en jämförelse av van Fraassen med Poincaré, Quine och Cartwright", in Lennart Nordenfelt and Ingemar Nordin, eds.,Vetenskap, etik, samhälle, Linköping, 1987.

  • "Gregg's Paradox and Cladistic Taxonomy" in Paul Needham and Jan Odelstad, eds., Changing Positions: Essays Dedicated to Lars Lindahl, Philosophical Studies, Uppsala, 1986.

  • "Would Cause", Acta Philosophica Fennica, 38 (1985), 156-82.

  • "Temporal Intervals and Temporal Order", Logique et Analyse, 93 (1981), 49-64.

  • "The Speaker's Point of View", Synthese, 32 (1976), 309-27.

  • Temporal Perspective: A Logical Analysis of Temporal Reference in English, Philosophical Studies, Uppsala, 1975.

I övrigt har Needham medverkat i Nationalencyklopedin, skrivit några läroböcker och kompendier i vetenskapsteori och modallogik samt publicerat översättningar från svenska och franska till engelska.

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