Dr. phil. habil. Alexander Reutlinger

Alexander Reutlinger earned an M.A. in philosophy from the Freie Universität Berlin in 2008, he obtained a Dr. phil. from the University of Cologne in 2011, and he completed his Habilitation in philosophy at LMU Munich in 2017. Alexander has held positions as a visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science (University of Pittsburgh) and as a postdoctoral research fellow within the research group Causation and Explanation in Cologne (funded by the German Research Council, DFG). In October 2013, Alexander joined the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at the LMU Munich.

Research Interests

Alexander's research is concerned with topics in philosophy of science and neighboring areas of epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mathematics, ethics and political philosophy.

Alexander's research topics include:

• Social Limitations of Science (biases in science, science skepticism, objectivity, expertise, academic freedom)
• Aspects of Scientific Explanation (non-causal and causal explanations, explanation and understanding, how-possibly explanations)
• Interpreting Models (idealizations, toy models, computer simulations)
• Between Explication and Metaphysics of Science (causation, ceteris paribus laws, probabilities)

Further Activities

Alexander received the teaching award (Preis für gute Lehre) for the academic year 2016/17.

Editorial Work

• Alexander and Juha Saatsi are currently co-editing a volume on non-causal explanations entitled "Explanation Beyond Causation".

 Organization of Conferences and Workshops (selected)

• Organizer of the workshop “Objectivity - New Perspectives on Objective Inquiry”, (May 6, 2018), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
• Jerusalem-Munich Workshop: “Explanation and Reduction in the Sciences” (February 8-10, 2018), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Edelstein Center for History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine); co-organizers: Stephan Hartmann and Orly Shenker.
• Jerusalem-Munich Workshop; “Explanatory Reasoning in the Sciences” (February 23-24, 2017), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizers: Stephan Hartmann and Orly Shenker.
• Workshop: "The Physics of Society: Philosophy of Econophysics and Complex Social Systems" (July 22-23, 2016), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizers: Seamus Bradley, Meinard Kuhlmann and Karim Thébault.
• Symposium: "Non-Causal Aspects of Scientific Explanation", (September 23-26, 2015), EPSA 2015, Düsseldorf, co-organizer: Mathias Frisch.
• Workshop “Just Playing? Toy Models in the Sciences” (May 8-9, 2015), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP); co-organizer: Dominik Hangleiter.
• Symposium on Mathias Frisch’s book “Causal Reasoning in Physics” (February 6, 2015), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
• Symposium “Non-causal Explanations in the Sciences”, Biennal Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (November 2014, Chicago, USA).
• Conference “Explanation Beyond Causation”, with Stephan Hartmann (October 23-24, 2014), Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP).
• Conference “Causality and Complexity in the Sciences” in the conference series Causality in the Sciences (September 2014, Cologne).
• Workshop “Explaining without Causes. Non-causal Explanations in the Sciences” (December 2013, Cologne).
• Workshop “Emergence, Stability, and Parthood in Biological and Physical Systems”, (June 2013, Cologne).
• Symposium “Laws and Complex Systems”, Biennal Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (November 2012 in San Diego, USA).

Recent and Forthcoming Publications

Books 

• (2017) Rethinking Scientific Explanation. (Habil-Schrift)
• (2013) A Theory of Causation in the Biological and Social Sciences, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. For further Details look at the pages on amazon and palgrave.

Edited Volumes

• (forthcoming) Explanation Beyond Causation, Oxford University Press, co-edited with Juha Saatsi.
• (2014) Ceteris Paribus Laws Revisited, Special Issue of Erkenntnis, Volume 79, Issue 10, co-edited with Matthias Unterhuber.

Selected Research Papers

• Reutlinger, A. (work in progress): "What is Epistemically Wrong with Research Affected by Sponsorship Bias? The Evidential Account".
• (work in progress): a paper on explanations in pure mathematics
• Saatsi, J. and Reutlinger, A. (forthcoming) "Taking Reductionism to the Limit: How to Rebut the Anti-Reductionist Argument from Infinite Limits", Philosophy of Science. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (forthcoming) “Extending the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation”, Reutlinger, A., and Saatsi, J. (eds.), Explanation Beyond Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Reutlinger, A. (2017)  “Are Causal Facts Really Explanatorily Emergent? Ladyman and Ross on Higher-level Causal Facts and Renormalization Group Explanation“, Synthese 194: 2291-2305. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A., Hangleiter, D., and Hartmann, S. (2017) "Understanding (with) Toy Models", The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2017) “Do Renormalization Group Explanations Conform to the Commonality Strategy?”, Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 48(1), 143-150. (Preprint.)
• Thébault, K., Bradley, S., and Reutlinger, A. (2017) "Modelling Inequality", The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Online First. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A., and Andersen, H. (2016) "Abstract versus Causal Explanations?”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 30.2: 129-146. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2016) “Warum Atheisten den methodologischen Atheismus nicht brauchen”, Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 70. 4: 550-561.  (Preprint, 156 Kb)
• Reutlinger, A. (2016) "Is There A Monist Theory of Causal and Non-Causal Explanations? The Counterfactual Theory of Scientific Explanation", Philosophy of Science 83: 733-745. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2016) "Does the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation Apply to Non-Causal Explanations in Metaphysics?", European Journal for Philosophy of Science 7: 239–256. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2014) “Why Is There Universal Macro-Behavior? Renormalization Group Explanation As Non-causal Explanation.” Philosophy of Science 81: 1157-1170. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2014) "Do Statistical Laws Solve the 'Problem of Provisos'?", Erkenntnis 79: 1759-1773. (Preprint.)
• Backmann, M., and Reutlinger, A. (2014) "Better Best Systems - Too Good to Be True", Dialectica 68: 375-390. (Preprint.)
• Farr, M., and Reutlinger, A. (2013) “A Relic of a Bygone Age? Causation, Time Symmetry and the Directionality Argument”, Erkenntnis 78: 215-235. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2013) “Can Interventionists be Neo-Russellians? Interventionism, the Open Systems Argument and the Arrow of Entropy”, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 27(3): 275-295. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2012) “Getting Rid of Interventions”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Part C 43 (4): 787-795. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (2011) “A Theory of Non-universal Laws“, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 25, 97-117. (Preprint.)

Selected Survey Papers

• Reutlinger, A., and Saatsi, J. (forthcoming) "Introduction: Scientific Explanation Beyond Causation", Reutlinger, A., and Saatsi, J. (eds.), Explanation Beyond Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. (forthcoming) "Kausalität", In Metzler Handbuch Metaphysik, M. Schrenk (Hg.), Metzler Verlag: 306-311. (Preprint, 196 Kb)
• Reutlinger, A. (2017) "Explanation Beyond Causation? New Directions in the Philosophy of Scientific Explanation", Philosophy Compass, Online First. (Preprint.)
• Reutlinger, A. Schurz, G. and Hüttemann, A. (2015) "Ceteris Paribus Laws", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
• Reutlinger, A., and Unterhuber, M. (2014) "Thinking About Non-Universal Laws", Erkenntnis 79: 1703-1713.
• Reutlinger, A. Schurz, G. and Hüttemann, A. (2011) “Ceteris Paribus Laws”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).

Selected Book Reviews

• Reutlinger, A. (2017): "Review of Marc Lange's Because Without Cause: Non-Causal Explanations in Science and Mathematics", Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
• Reutlinger, A., and Hartmann, S. (2016) "Review of Margaret Morrison's Reconstructing Reality: Models, Mathematics and Simulations", The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
• Reutlinger, A. (2015) “Metaphysics, Prescription, and Methodological Disagreement. A Comment on Mathias Frisch’s Causal Reasoning in Physics”, Metascience 24.3: 351-372.
• Reutlinger, A. (2013) “Review of John T. Roberts’s The Law-Governed Universe”, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy 16: 390-394.
• Reutlinger, A. (2011) “Review of Marc Lange’s Laws and Lawmakers”, Philosophical Quarterly 61: 415-418.
• Reutlinger, A. (2009) “Markus Schrenk’s The Metaphysics of Ceteris Paribus Laws”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60: 229-233.

Media and Outreach

• Reutlinger, A. (2018): "Bedrohte akademische Freiheit. Der Fall Central European University", prae|faktisch - Ein Philosophieblog.
• Following a good old tradition in philosophy of science, I give philosophy talks at the Volkshochschule.
• Maria Kronfeldner and Alexander Reutlinger (2018): "Was sollen Philosoph/innen tun? Kommentar zur Podiumsdiskussion 'Bedrohtes Denken' (DGPhil Kongress 2017)", Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 72.1: 114-118. (Preprint, 118 Kb)
• Reutlinger, A. (2018): "Evidenz trumpft! Eine Kritik am Begriff der alternativen Fakten", Cogito 11: 21-22.(Preprint, 87 Kb)
• Alexander Reutlinger has published "Zur Rebellion gegen die Intellektuellen" in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. He defends the epistemically and politically valuable role of scientific experts and intellectuals in the public domain. His article is a reply to Nassim Nicholas Taleb's essay "Die Wohlwissenden".
• Artistic protest in Munich supporting the Central European University (Budapest).

Teaching

Summer term 2018:

• Vorlesung: Theoretische Philosophie I: Wissenschaftstheorie
• Objektivität in den Wissenschaften: Historische und philosophische Perspektiven

Winter term 2017/2018:

• Metaphysics of Science
• John Stuart Mill

Summer term 2017:

• Vorlesung: Theoretische Philosophie I: Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie
• Epistemology: Bias and Objectivity

Winter term 2016/17:

• Social Epistemology - Central Topics
• Was ist Kausalität - Eine Einführung

Summer term 2016:

• Vorlesung - Theoretische Philosophie I: Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie
• Religionsphilosophie: Glaube, Wissenschaft und Ethik

Winter term 2015/16:

• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophie, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft: Begleitseminar zum Münchner Philosophischen Kolloquium

Summer term 2015:

• Metaphysics of Science
• Introduction to General Philosophy of Science (block seminar)