Alison Fernandes

My work investigates the importance of scientific relations for our practical and theoretical lives. The aim is to use agential standards to pick out objective relations and explain their temporal features. In my PhD dissertation (Columbia University, 2016), I argued that we should make sense of causation by thinking about its relevance for deliberation. According to the ‘Deliberative Account’, causal relations correspond to the evidential relations we need when we decide on one thing in order to achieve another. This account explains why causation matters to us—causal relations are needed for good decision-making. By relating causation to fundamental laws, the account reconciles causation with the picture of the world presented by fundamental physics. And by relating causation to physical asymmetries, the account explains why causes come prior in time to their effects. In current work, I also consider the relations between deliberation, evidence and causation in the context of time travel.

At the Center, I’ll explore three further contexts in which agential standards may help make sense of scientific relations: unificationism about laws and explanation, how we rule out theories whose truth would undermine their evidential bases (including ‘Boltzmann brain’ scenarios), and how objective chances guide reasoning. I’m also an editor and contributor to Science Visions, the Philosophy of Science Association Women’s Caucus blog.

After finishing her year at the Center, Alison was accepted into another post-doc position at the University of Warwick.