Matteo De Benedetto

Hi, I’m Matteo!

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Ruhr University Bochum in the Emmy-Noether research group  “From Perception to Belief and Back Again”.

I obtained my Ph.D. in Philosophy at the “Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy”, of which I remain an external member.

In my research, I study scientific reasoning in connection with several areas of philosophy, such as General Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Philosophy of Computation, and the History of Analytic Philosophy.

More specifically, I work on topics such as conceptual change in science, Carnapian explication, values in science, conceptual spaces, theory choice in science, theoretical terms in science, the normativity of logic, the Church-Turing thesis, naturalized epistemology,  and cognitive models of science. I also have a strong interest for Logical Empiricism, especially for the works of Carnap and Waismann, and for the philosophy of Kuhn.

Articles in Journals:

• (Forthcoming) “Patches, Patchworks, and Epsilon Terms: A Neo-
  Carnapian Account Of Theoretical Terms In Science” (with Elio La Rosa). Journal of Philosophical Logic.

 

• (2024) “Theoretical Concepts as Goal-Derived Concepts”. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 107, 82-91. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “The Open Texture of ‘Algorithm’ in Legal Language” (with
  Davide Baldini). AI & Society. link   (open access)

 

• (2024) “Logical Norms as Defeasible Obligations: Disentangling sound
  and feasible inferences” (with Alessandra Marra). Inquiry. link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “Theory Choice as Niche Construction: The feedback loop between scientific theories and epistemic values” (with Michele Luchetti). Philosophy of Science. link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “What Conceptual Engineering Can Learn From The History of Philosophy of Science: Healthy Externalism and Metasemantic Plasticity”. HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science.link (preprint)

 

• (2023) “Lakatosian and Euclidean Populations: A pluralist account of conceptual change in mathematics”. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 13: 37.link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “Carnap’s Geometrical Methodology: Explication as a transfer principle”. Journal for the History of Analytic Philosophy, 11(4). link   (open access)

 

• (2023) “Specialisation by Value Divergence: The role of epistemic
  values in the branching of scientific disciplines” (with Michele Luchetti). International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 36(2), 121-141. link   (preprint)

 

• (2022) “Taking Up Thagard’s Challenge: A Formal Model Of Conceptual Revision” (with Sena Bozdag). Journal of Philosophical Logic, 51, 791-824, link.(open access)

 

•  (2022) “Explicating ‘Explication’ via Conceptual Spaces”. Erkenntnis, 87, 853-889, link. (open access)

 

•  (2021) “Taming Conceptual Wanderings: Wilson-Structuralism”. Synthese, 199, 13225–13246 , link. (open access)

 

•  (2021) “Explication as a Three-Step Procedure: the case of the Church-Turing Thesis”. European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (1): 21, link. (open access)

 

Chapters in Books:

• • • (Forthcoming) “Worlds, Algorithms, and Niches: The feedback-loop idea in Kuhn’s philosophy” (with Michele Luchetti). Forthcoming in Shan, Y. (Ed.), Rethinking Thomas Kuhn’s Legacy, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, Springer, Cham.

 

 

Dissertation:

• • (2022) “Frameworks, Models, and Case Studies: A new methodology for studying conceptual change in science and philosophy”. LMU München: Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and the Study of Religion, link. (open access)

Here you can download my full CV.

Employment:

•  (10/2021-)
  Postdoctoral Researcher (Ruhr-University Bochum)
  Member of the Emmy-Noether Research Group    “From Perception to Belief and Back Again” (PI: Peter Brössel).

 

Education:

• (2017-2022)
  PhD in Philosophy (MCMP, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)
  Ph.D. Thesis: Frameworks, Models, and Case Studies: A New Methodology for Studying Conceptual Change in Science and Philosophy.
  Supervisor: Hannes Leitgeb                                                                                         Examiners: Hannes Leitgeb, Leon Horsten, Kärin Nickelsen

 

• (2014-2017)
  M.A. in Logic, Philosophy and History of Science (University of Florence)

 

• (2011-2014)
  B.A. in Philosophy (University of Florence)

 

Here are some of the courses I taught. For a full list of my teaching experience, see my CV.

•  WS22/23 Scientific Progress – (University of the Republic, Montevideo, graduate level).
• WS22/23 Scientific Revolutions – (Ruhr University Bochum, graduate level).
• SS22 Epistemology (together with Peter Brössel) – (Ruhr University Bochum, graduate level).
•  WS20/21 Concepts: from philosophy to cognitive science – (LMU Munich, undergraduate level, online).
•  WS19/20 Consistency, Incompleteness, and Undecidability (together with Norbert Gratzl) – (LMU Munich, graduate level).

 

You can write me an email at:  mtt.debenedetto[at]gmail.com

 

Ruhr-University of Bochum
Department of Philosophy II
Universitätsstrasse 150
44780 Bochum
matteo.debenedetto[at]ruhr-uni-bochum.de