Dr. Javier Anta

Further Information

My research focuses on analyzing interdisciplinary (HPS+) and pluralistically (descriptive, evaluative, normative, etc.) the use of everyday and technical information concepts in statistical physics from 1930-2024. As an Alexander von Humboldt visiting researcher at MCMP, I will develop a research project entitled “Assessing Information Concepts in Black Hole Physics.”

Among the research-teaching positions I hold and have held is being a Juan de la Cierva fellow at the University of Seville and FPU doctoral candidate as a student member of LOGOS-BIAP at the University of Barcelona, where I defended the doctoral thesis entitled “Historical and Conceptual Foundations of Information Physics” supervised by Car Hoefer. In addition, I have carried out research stays at The Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh (2020), the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics (2021), and the Centro de Filosofia das Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (2023). As PI, I have carried out research projects such as “Assessing Informationalism in Science” (JdC 2022/0843) and “Misusing Information Concept in Statistical Mechanics” (EST19/00254).

In addition to research, I also try to disseminate the field of philosophy of information in the Spanish-speaking world with the forthcoming book ‘Información y Significado. Una introducción a la filosofía de la información' (Herder 2024) or his entry 'Filosofía de la información' in the online SEFA Encyclopedia.

Selected Publications

• 2023. Can information concepts have physical content? Perspectives on Science. 31 (2): 207-232. https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00424.

• 2022. A Philosopher against the Bandwagon: Carnap and the Informationalization of Thermal Physics. Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 12(1): 43-67. https://doi.org/10.1086/718416.

• 2021. Sympathy for the Demon. Rethinking Maxwell’s Thought Experiment in a Maxwellian Vein. Teorema: International Journal of Philosophy: Vol. XL/3, 1-16.

• 2021. Ignorance, Milk and Coffee: Can Epistemic States be Causally-Explanatorily Relevant in Statistical Mechanics? Foundations of Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09803-3.

• 2021. Ignorance, Milk and Coffee: Can Epistemic States be Causally-Explanatorily Relevant in Statistical Mechanics? Foundations of Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09803-3.

• 2021. The epistemic schism of statistical mechanics. Theoria. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science. 36(3): 399-419. https://doi.org/10.1387/theoria.22134.

• 2021. Can informational thermal physics explain the approach to equilibrium? Synthese: 199 (1-2): 4015-4038. https://doi-org.sire.ub.edu/10.1007/s11229-020-02967-8.

For further information on my publications, see https://philpapers.org/s/Javier%20Anta.