Martin Thomson-Jones

Educational Background

• B.A. (Joint Hons.), Physics and Philosophy, Oxford University, 1986
• Ph. D., Philosophy, Stanford University, 1991

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Martin Thomson-Jones works in the philosophy of physics, metaphysics, and the philosophy of science, and teaches mainly in these areas and in logic. His current research is primarily focussed on metaphysical issues in the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and on representation, idealization, and the nature of models in scientific theorizing. He has published papers in both philosophy and physics journals, and he is co-editor, with Nancy Cartwright, of Correcting the Model: Idealization and Abstraction in the Sciences (Editions Rodopi B.V., 2005). 

Recent papers include:

"Holism and Nonsupervenience in Quantum Mechanics" (currently under revision).

"Models and the Semantic View," (forthcoming in the proceedings of the 2004 Philosophy of Science Association Meetings).

"Idealization and Abstraction: A Framework" (in Correcting the Model),

"The Concept of Prematurity and the Philosophy of Science," in Prematurity and Scientific Discovery: On Resistance and Neglect, edited by E. Hook (University of California Press, 2002),

Before coming to Oberlin, Thomson-Jones was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University (1991-2), and at the University of California, Berkeley (1992-8), where he was also a member of the Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science. He is a Centre Affiliate of the Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an Associate of the Center for the Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He has twice been a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Bristol, and in spring 2005 he held a Visiting Fellowship at the Center for the Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh.

E-mail: martin.thomson-jones@oberlin.edu

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