Paul Humphreys is a significant contributor to the philosophy of emergent properties, as well as other areas in the Philosophy of science

Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...

 and Philosophy of probability. He is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

, specialising in philosophy of science

Philosophy of science

The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...

, metaphysics, and epistemology. His current interests include the metaphysics

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

 and epistemology of emergence

Emergence

In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....

, computational science

Computational science

Computational science is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyze and solve scientific problems...

, empiricism

Empiricism

Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...

 and realism

Philosophical realism

Contemporary philosophical realism is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc....

, and strategy

Strategy

Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...

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Humphreys has published a substantial number of books and scholarly articles. He is Series Editor for the Oxford Studies in the Philosophy of Science. He serves on the editorial Boards of the American Philosophical Quarterly

American Philosophical Quarterly

The American Philosophical Quarterly is a scholarly journal for the publication of work in philosophy. It was created in 1964 and is published quarterly by University of Illinois Press. Some significant contributors include John Rawls...

, Philosophy of Science (journal)

Philosophy of Science (journal)

Philosophy of Science is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association. The journal contains essays, discussion articles, and book reviews in the field of the philosophy of science. The first issue of Philosophy of...

, and Foundations of Science

Foundations of Science

Foundations of Science is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal focussing on methodological and philosophical topics concerning the structure and the growth of science. It is the official journal of the Association for Foundations of Science, Language and Cognition and is published...

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Select publications

• Emergence: Contemporary Readings in Science and Philosophy. Mark Bedau and Paul Humphreys (eds). The MIT Press, 2007
• Extending Ourselves: Computational Science, Empiricism, and Scientific Method (Oxford, 2004)
• "Some Considerations on Conditional Chance," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (2004)
• "Computational Models", Philosophy of Science 69 (2002), S1-S11
• "Are There Algorithms that Discover Causal Structure?" Synthese (1999, with David Freedman)
• "How Properties Emerge," Philosophy of Science 64 (1997), 1-17
• The Chances of Explanation (Princeton, 1989)
• "Why Propensities Cannot Be Probabilities," The Philosophical Review 94 (1985), 557-570