James Robert Brown (born 1949) is a Canadian philosopher of science. He is an emeritus professor of philosophy at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In the

philosophy of mathematics The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. It aims to understand the nature and methods of mathematics, and find out the place of mathematics in people's ...

, he has advocated mathematical Platonism, visual reasoning, and in the

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 ...

he has defended

scientific realism Scientific realism is the view that the universe described by science is real regardless of how it may be interpreted. Within philosophy of science, this view is often an answer to the question "how is the success of science to be explained?" Th ...

mostly against anti-realist views associated with

social constructivism Social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge according to which human development is socially situated and knowledge is constructed through interaction with others. Like social constructionism, social constructivism states th ...

. He has also argued for the socialization of medical research (especially pharmaceutical research). He is largely known for his work on

thought experiments A thought experiment is a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. History The ancient Greek ''deiknymi'' (), or thought experiment, "was the most anci ...

. Elected: Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften) 2004,

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

2007,

Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences The International Academy for Philosophy of Science, better known as the (AIPS) is an international organization located in Brussels, which promotes fundamental issues of philosophy of science in an open interdisciplinary dialogue. Its members ...

2010 Brown was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He is married to the philosopher Kathleen Okruhlik.https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/sites/uoguelph.ca.arts/files/public/Brown%20talk.pdf

Books

*1989 ''The Rational and the Social'' (Routledge 1989) *1991 ''The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural Sciences'' (Routledge 1991, second edition 2010) *1994 ''Smoke and Mirrors: How Science Reflects Reality'' (Routledge 1994) *1999 ''Philosophy of Mathematics: An Introduction to the World of Proofs and Pictures'' (Routledge 1999, second edition 2008) *2001 ''Who Rules in Science? An Opinionated Guide to the Wars'' (Harvard 2001) *2012 ''Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge'' (Routledge 2012) *2017 ''On Foundations of Seismology: Bringing Idealizations Down to Earth'' (with M. Slawinski) Books edited include: *2012 ''Thought Experiments in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts'' (ed. with M. Frappier and L. Meynell ) (Routledge 2012) *2018 ''The Routledge Companion to Thought Experiments'' (ed. with M. Stuart and Y. Fehige), (Routledge 2018)

References

External links

James Brown’s Homepage"Plato's Heaven: A User's Guide - A conversation with James Robert Brown"
''Ideas Roadshow'', 2013 20th-century Canadian philosophers Academics from Montreal Canadian philosophers Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Living people Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Moral realists Philosophers of mathematics Philosophers of science University of Guelph alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto 1949 births {{Canada-philosopher-stub