Areas of Research: Philosophy of Economics; Social Epistemology; Philosophy of Science
Current Projects:
- Philosophy of Economics
The main research project I am carrying out while at Bayreuth University is on the epistemology of expertise, with particular application to economics. The main research question that interests me is how expert-based science works, in particular expert-based social science. As a matter of fact, most of the social science being produced at the moment is expert-based, hence my interest in bringing the issue up in the philosophical as well as the economic debate. This project involves the use of expertise as a methodological tool in economics. Using experts (rather than statistical methods, or other mechanical tools) to obtain forecasts, risk estimation, and problem-space analysis is a known practice in medicine, engineering and other sciences, but still fairly unexplored in economics or other social sciences. My project aims at filling that gap: the narrow project is a discussion of the criteria for expert committees used in some economic applications, and of how such committees achieve a consensus. The wider project is the outline of a theory of expert-based consensus formation in economics.
- Social Epistemology
Another project of mine concerns models for consensus in small groups (e.g. committees, working groups, etc.). So far, I have written two papers on this project, the first paper (published) can be found at this link, the abstract of the second one (accepted) can be found here. Related to this project is the topic of my Ph.D. thesis: an investigation on consensus formation in small committees. The project involves an analysis of some of the most prominent models for consensus (such as the Lehrer-Wagner model, the Bounded-Confidence, and the Delphi Method), and of the epistemic properties of consensus formation processes.
- Epistemology of Disagreement
I have also written a paper (under review) on the epistemology of disagreement, starting from the standard question in the literature: “What should you do, as a rational agent, when you disagree with an epistemic peer?” In particular, I analyze the details of Bayesian and linear updating in the light of disagreement. I argue that disagreement does not have an evidential role in epistemology. A brief description of this paper can be found here.
Selected Talks and Presentations:
2011
The Impossibility of Resolving Disagreement with Bayesian or Linear Updating. ECAP 7 – European Congress of Analytical Philosophy. (Milan) September 2011
Modeling Experts – The Role of Experts in the Methodology of Economics. IX Conference of the International Network for Economic Methodology. (Helsinki) September 2011
Modeling Experts – The Role of Experts in the Methodology of Economics. 2011 Conference on the Philosophy of the Social Sciences. (Copenhagen) August 2011
Modeling Expertise in Economics. 14th Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. (Nancy) July 2011
The Future of Scientific Philosophy – Learning from “Scientific Economics”. Crossing Borders, 9th Congress of the Austrian Society for Philosophy. (Vienna) June 2011
The Impossibility of Resolving Disagreement with Bayesian or Linear Updating. European Epistemology Network Meeting. (Lund) March 2011
Outline of a normative theory of consensus formation in economics. Research Colloquium – Institut für Philosophie – Universität Bayreuth. (Bayreuth) February 2011
2010
A Puzzle about Belief Updating. SILFS 2010 - International Congress of the Italian Society for Logic and Philosophy of Science. (Bergamo) December 2010
Using Expert Judgment for the Formation of Economic Consensus. (Invited talk) International Workshop on Recent Contributions to the Philosophy of Social Sciences – UNED. (Madrid) December 2010
The Role of Experts in the Methodology of Economics. 1st Dutch-Flemish Graduate Conference on Philosophy of Science and Technology. (Ghent) November 2010
Some Lessons from Social Epistemology for the Methodology of Economics. Philsoc Seminar Series. Australian National University. (Canberra) September 2010
Expert Judgment as a Methodological Problem in Economics. Research Seminar Series – History and Philosophy of Science – University of Sydney. (Sydney) August 2010
Why the Conciliatory Position is an Inadequate View on Disagreement. Current projects seminar – Department of Philosophy – University of Sydney. (Sydney) August 2010
The Role of Experts in the Methodology of Economics. 2010 AAHPSSS Conference (Sydney) July 2010
A Puzzle about Belief Updating. 2010 AAP Convention (Sydney) July 2010. Abstract
Modeling in Economics: Some Epistemological Considerations, workshop “Modelling in the Social and Behavioural Sciences I” (Paris) May, 2010
Experts and the Methodology of Economics. Vijfde Vlaams-Nederlands Congres voor Algemene en Speciale Wetenschapsfilosofie – Philosophy of Science in a Forest (Leusden – NL) May, 2010
A Puzzle about Belief Updating. TiLPS EPS research seminar (Tilburg) April, 2010
The Role of Experts in the Epistemology of Economics. Symposium “The Economist as Expert” with Maria Jimenez-Buedo, Julian Reiss, and David Teira. ESHET 2010 (Amsterdam) March, 2010.
2009
The Role of Experts in the Epistemology of Economics. PPE and Philosophy Seminar at the University of Pennsylvania PPE Program (Philadelphia) December, 2009
Symposium: Formal Social Epistemology (organized together with Jason McKenzie Alexander, Igor Douven and Rainer Hegselmann). European Philosophy of Science Association (Amsterdam) October 2009. Symposium Description
From Theory to Practice, The Benefits of Collective Deliberation in Economics. GAP7 – Gesellschaft für Analytische Philosophie – Section: Normative Ethics, Metaethics, Philosophy of Action and Decision-Making (Bremen) September 2009. Abstract
Network Structures and Decision-Making for Public Policy. Evidence Science and Public Policy (Sydney Center for the Foundations of Science – Sydney) March 2009
Judgement Aggregation in Networked Groups. Coalition Theory Network Workshop 2009 - Matching, Coalitions, Networks and Behavior (Maastricht ) January 2009
Semantic Analysis of Judgement Aggregation Models. VAF 2009 (Vereniging voor Analytische Filosofie) (Tilburg University) January 2009
2008
Discussant of Pau Balart’s Equality of opportunity and welfare in a model of job allocation. Ph.D. seminar series, Department of Economics and Business Administration (Tilburg University ) November 2008
Self-Judgment in the the Lehrer-Wagner Model. Bochum-Lausanne-Tilburg Graduate School: Philosophy of Language, Mind and Science. (Tilburg University) November 2008
Consensus, Deliberation and Bayesian Modeling. Formal Modeling in Social Epistemology (Tlburg University ) October 2008
Judgement Aggregation in Networked Groups. Workshop on Simulations in Social Epistemology. (University of Leuven ) October 2008
Self-Judgment in the Lehrer-Wagner Model. Annual Conference of the Italian Society of Analytical Philosophy, SIFA2008 (University of Bergamo) September 2008
