Eric Winsberg (born February 4, 1968) is an American philosopher who is a professor of philosophy at the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

. From 2023 until 2027 he will hold a Global Professorship from the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is known for his research in

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

, in particular the philosophy of climate science, and the

philosophy of physics In philosophy, philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in modern physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Philosophy of physics can be broadly divided into thr ...

. He is especially interested in the role of

computer simulation Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

s in the physical sciences. His work in the philosophy of

climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stud ...

specifically relates to its application in science policy and ethics. He was an early critic of many of the public health policies aimed at mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic, arguing that the quality of the science justifying these policies was poor or missing, and that many of the policies unnecessarily sacrificed the welfare of the young and the poor. He also writes on truth and on scientific authorship.

Early life and education

Winsberg was born in New York City on February 4, 1968. His father was a physician and his mother was a data scientist. At an early age, his family moved to Montreal, where he spend most of his childhood. He attended college at The

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, and then earned his Ph.D, in

History and Philosophy of Science The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an Discipline (academia), academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the History of science and technology, history of science. Although many scholars in the field are trained ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

in 1999.

Philosophical work

Winsberg wrote his doctoral dissertation on the use of

to study complex physical systems. Over the next several years, he published a number of articles on computer simulation, including their implications for understanding the nature of scientific theories and their application, scientific realism, the role of fiction in science, and the nature of inter-theoretic reduction. His work on computer simulation has been called "pioneering," "groundbreaking," and "trailblazing." He also contributed to the literature on the role of the

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

for understanding the

arrow of time The arrow of time, also called time's arrow, is the concept positing the "one-way direction" or " asymmetry" of time. It was developed in 1927 by the British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington, and is an unsolved general physics question. This ...

. More recently he has devoted much of his attention to topics in

, especially the role of values therein, the importance of the chaotic nature of the atmosphere, the nature of probabilities and the role of robust results in

climate model Numerical climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate, including atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the cl ...

ing and climate science generally.

Publications

Books

*''Philosophy and Climate Science''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2018. *''Science in the age of computer simulation''

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...

, 2010. *''Climate Modelling: Philosophical and Conceptual Issues,'' edited with

Elisabeth Lloyd Elisabeth Anne Lloyd (born September 3, 1956) is an American philosopher of science specialising in the philosophy of biology. She is currently Distinguished Professor of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine - as well as Adjunct Professor ...

Palgrave MacMillan
2018.

Journal articles

*"Simulated Experiments: Methodology for a virtual World." ''

Philosophy of Science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...

'' 70: 105-125. 2003.
GoogleScholar author summary *"Sanctioning models: the epistemology of simulation." ''

Science in Context Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence fo ...

'' 12: 275-202. 1999. *"Simulations, models, and theories: Complex physical systems and their representations". ''Philosophy of Science'' 70, 105-125. 2001. *"Severe weather event attribution: Why values won't go away." with

and

Naomi Oreskes Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of H ...

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
'

References

External links

Personal faculty website
*
The Philosophy of Climate Science
article in the ''

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...

'' 1968 births University of South Florida faculty Living people Philosophers of science Indiana University alumni University of Chicago alumni {{US-philosopher-stub