Professor Peter Vickers

Professor / Director PG Research / Co-Director CHESS

BSc, MA, PhD

Affiliations
Affiliation	Room number	Telephone
Professor / Director PG Research / Co-Director CHESS in the Department of Philosophy
Co-Director in the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS)

Biography

Follow on Twitter:

@petejvickers

OFFICE: Room 207 in the Philosophy Department

My office hours:

Tuesdays: 10-11 and 1-3

In 2003 I received a BSc in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of York, followed by an MA (2005) in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Leeds. This led to a PhD in history and philosophy of science (2009), also at Leeds, supervised by Prof. Steven French. The starting point was certain difficulties concerning the representation and reconstruction of inconsistent scientific theories. Gradually I developed a new methodology for analysing debates about inconsistencies in science which I called ‘theory eliminativism’. This was the major focus during my year as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, USA (2010-11). I received a contract from Oxford University Press to develop my PhD thesis into a book, entitled Understanding Inconsistent Science, and this was published in 2013. I started as a lecturer at Durham University in 2011. Philosophy aside, I am a keen runner.

Supervision

I am happy to supervise dissertations on any of the topics listed under 'Research Interests', and on closely related topics. Some examples of specific topics I would be happy to supervise are as follows:

'Expecting the unexpected in the search for alien life'

'How do we identify future-proof science?'

'Theory and evidence in light of the dynamics of the scientific community'

'When (if ever) is an inconsistency in science a serious problem?'

'Is it possible to be a scientific realist about quantum mechanics?'

'What is a biosignature?'

'How can we measure the strength of a scientific consensus?'

'When does a scientific theory turn into a fact?'

Works in Progress

Monograph (2022/23): The World Delusion: Nothing is as it seems (An alternative introduction to science and philosophy)

Postgraduate Teaching

Philosophical Issues in Science and Medicine (PISM)

Undergraduate Teaching

Administrative Duties

IT officer 2011-2015
Seminar and RIP lecture organiser 2011-14
Admissions Tutor 2014-2018
Secretary of the Research Committee 2012-14
Deputy Director of Research 2013-14
Ethics rep 2012-14
Science, Medicine, and Society research cluster coordinator 2017-18
Director of postgraduate research, from October 2018

Research Groups

EURiCA Leverhulme project research group (philosophy of astrobiology)
Science, Medicine, and Society Research Cluster

Research interests

Philosophy of astrobiology
Social epistemology
Exoplanet science
Scientific realism/anti-realism
Evidence
Inconsistency in science
The relationship between history of science and philosophy of science
Eliminativism and pluralism about concepts

Research groups

Esteem Indicators

2023: CLMPST invited speaker: I am an invited speaker at the ;17th edition of the International Congress on Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science and Technology, with the theme 'Science and Values in an Uncertain World'.
2022: Associate Editor of the BJPS: In 2022 I took up the role of Associate Editor at the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
2022: Invited plenary address in Poland: Invited plenary address, at ‘Philosophical Perspectives on Sciences’, an international conference celebrating the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland. ;
2022: Invited presentation at The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge: I presented at an event series entitled 'The Role of Uncertainty in Mathematical Modelling of Pandemics'
2022: Keynote speaker in Israel: I am a keynote speaker at 'The Future of the Past', a conference at the Sidney M. Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Israel.
2021: Invited presentation at the Center for Philosophy of Science, Pittsburgh: Invited presentation at the Center for Philosophy of Science, Pittsburgh, USA: 'Identifying Future-Proof Science'.
2021: Leverhulme Research Project grant: From 2021-24 I am leading a Leverhulme-funded project entitled ;Exploring Uncertainty and Risk in Contemporary Astrobiology, or ‘EURiCA’.
2019: British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship: I held a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship from 2019-21, with the project 'Can We Identify Future-Proof Science?'
2019: Talk at NASA: Invitation to speak at NASA Goddard on the topic 'Expecting the unexpected in the search for alien life'.
2018: Associate Editor of Studies: I was Associate Editor of the journal ;Studies in History and Philosophy of Science ;from 2018-2022.
2017: Invitation to UNAM, Mexico: In February 2017 I was invited to UNAM, Mexico City, to deliver two graduate seminars and two research presentations, with a focus on my book ;Understanding Inconsistent Science.
2017: Keynote lecture in Nottingham: I was invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the 13^th Annual UK Integrated History and Philosophy of Science Workshop, held in Nottingham 20^th-22^nd June 2017.
2014: AHRC Research Grant: In 2014 I was awarded an AHRC Research Grant for a 42 month project (ending 31st January 2018) entitled 'Contemporary Scientific Realism and the Challenge from the History of Science'. This major project follows on directly from the success of the pilot project conducted in 2012, and builds directly on the issues explored in my 2013 paper 'A Confrontation of Convergent Realism'. The project is a collaboration with (Co-I) Timothy Lyons, based at Indiana University-Purdue University Indiansapolis (IUPUI), in the United States. Several international events are planned over the next few years as part of the project.
2012: AHRC Exploratory Award: In 2012 I received an AHRC Science in Culture Scheme Exploratory Award for a six-month project exploring the possibility that there are currently many episodes in the history of science which bear on contemporary scientific realism. The project was entitled 'Evaluating Scientific Realism: A New Generation of Historical Case Studies', and it ;led directly to my paper 'A Confrontation of Convergent Realism' (2013).

Publications

Authored book

Vickers, P. (2022). Identifying Future-Proof Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vickers, P. (2013). Understanding Inconsistent Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chapter in book

Vickers, P. (2017). Historical Challenges to Realism. In The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism. Saatsi, J. Routledge. 48-59.
Vickers, P (2016). Why Kirchhoff's Approximation Works. In Gustav Robert Kirchhoff's Treatise “On the Theory of Light Rays” (1882). Klaus Hentschel & Ning Yan Zhu World Scientific.
Vickers, P. (2012). Theory Flexibility and Inconsistency in Science. In Is Science Inconsistent?. Special Issue of Synthese.
Vickers, P. & Bueno, O. (2012). Introduction. In Is Science Inconsistent?.
Vickers, P. (2011). A Brief Chronology of the Philosophy of Science. In The Continuum Companion to the Philosophy of Science. Continuum Press.

Edited book

Lyons, T. D. & Vickers, P. (2021). Contemporary Scientific Realism and the Challenge from the History of Science. Oxford University Press.
Vickers, P & Bueno, O (2011). Is Science Inconsistent?. Special issue of Synthese.

Edited Journal

Bueno, Otávio & Vickers, Peter (2014). Is Science Inconsistent?. Synthese, 191 (13): Springer.

Journal Article

Other (Print)

Vickers, Peter (2017). Sommerfeld’s Miracle: The Ultimate Challenge to Scientific Realism.
Vickers, P. (2015). Contemporary Scientific Realism and the 1811 Gill Slit Prediction.
Vickers, P. (2014). Case Studies in the Scientific Realism Debate: From pilot project to international collaboration.
Vickers, P. (2013). Is science inconsistent?

Staff profile