Jan Faye is a Danish

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

. He is currently

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

. Faye has contributed to a number of areas in

including

explanation An explanation is a set of Statement (logic), statements usually constructed to description, describe a set of facts which clarifies the causality, causes, wiktionary:context, context, and Logical consequence, consequences of those facts. It may ...

, interpretation, philosophy of the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

and the

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the Gene expression, expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to ...

naturalism, philosophy of

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...

, and topics concerning

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

, causation, and backward causation (

Retrocausality Retrocausality, or backwards causation, is a concept of cause and effect in which an effect precedes its cause in time and so a later event affects an earlier one. In quantum physics, the distinction between cause and effect is not made at the mos ...

Early life

He is educated in

and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the University of Copenhagen, was a

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

under the

Carlsberg Foundation Carlsberg Foundation ( da, Carlsbergfondet) was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in the Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Palace. ...

, a

Visiting Fellow In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, USA, and held a

postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

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 ...

, England. He has taught philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark since 1995.

Research

Metaphysics

In the area of

Faye defends the possibility of backward causation in his book ''The reality of the future'' (1989). Faye argues that the direction of causation can in principle be reversed with respect to time and that if something like backward causation were physically possible, then it would involve causal processes carrying

negative energy Negative energy is a concept used in physics to explain the nature of certain fields, including the gravitational field and various quantum field effects. Gravitational potential energy Gravitational potential energy can be defined as being ne ...

forward in time. Also within

, in his ''Experience and Beyond'' (2016), Faye strongly rejects

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

about

abstract objects In metaphysics, the distinction between abstract and concrete refers to a divide between two types of entities. Many philosophers hold that this difference has fundamental metaphysical significance. Examples of concrete objects include plants, hum ...

by claiming that humans are not adapted by

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...

to grasp real abstract entities. In contrast, he holds that we need to invent abstract concepts in order to be able to talk, say, about identity over time.

Philosophy of science

In his book ''Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy'' (1991) and in several edited volumes dedicated to Bohr’s interpretation of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, ...

, Faye has contributed to the understanding of Bohr's philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics. Faye originally called Bohr an objective anti-realist because he sees Bohr’s interpretation as a case of

anti-realism In analytic philosophy, anti-realism is a position which encompasses many varieties such as metaphysical, mathematical, semantic, scientific, moral and epistemic. The term was first articulated by British philosopher Michael Dummett in an argume ...

with respect to the theory of quantum mechanics, but not with respect to atomic entities. But where Bohr rejected representationalism with respect to the quantum formalism and regarded quantum theory as a tool for prediction, Faye has later advocated the view according to which the basic laws of nature properly understood are explicit language rules. However, parts of the

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

and naturalism that form the back-bone of Faye’s own philosophy may be traced back to his understanding of Bohr. In ''Rethinking Science'' (2002), ''After Postmodernism'' (2012), and ''The Nature of Scientific Thinking (2014)'', Faye variously promotes the methodological

unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

among the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. Faye defends this claim by developing a general pragmatic-rhetorical theory of

that attempts to cover all kinds of explanations in the sciences and the humanities.

Philosophy of mind

Within the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the ontology and nature of the mind and its relationship with the body. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a number of other issues are addre ...

, Faye has explored how we can understand

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

from the evolutionary-naturalistic program he also pursues in his work on

. His thesis is that the properties of consciousness must be understood as extrinsic properties that arise from the organism's

neural system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

constantly interacting with its surroundings. This is in contrast to traditional

materialistic Materialism is the view that the universe consists only of organized matter and energy. Materialism or materialist may also refer to: * Economic materialism, the desire to accumulate material goods * Christian materialism, the combination of Chris ...

explanations of consciousness that have sought to understand consciousness by referring to

intrinsic properties In science and engineering, an intrinsic property is a property of a specified subject that exists itself or within the subject. An extrinsic property is not essential or inherent to the subject that is being characterized. For example, mass ...

of the

brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...

Published books (In English)

* ''The reality of the future. An essay on time, causation and backward causation.'' Odense University Press, Odense 1989, 320 pp. * ''Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy. An anti-realist view of quantum mechanics''. Series: ''Science and Philosophy, vol. 6''. Kluwer academic publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London 1991, i-xxii + 263 pp. Book reviews: * ''Rethinking Science. A Philosophical Introduction to the Unity of Science''. Ashgate. Aldershot/Burlington/Singapore/Sidney 2002. i-viii + 219 pp. (An enlarged version of ''Athenes Kammer''). * ''After postmodernism''. ''A naturalistic reconstruction of the humanities''. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2012, 224 pp. * ''The Nature of Scientific Thinking. On Interpretation, Explanation, and Understanding''. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2014, xiv + 333 pp. * ''Experience and Beyond''. ''The Outline of a Darwinian Metaphysics''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016. xiv + 342 pages. * ''How Matter Becomes Conscious: A Naturalistic Theory of the Mind''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2019. 329 pages.

Edited books (In English)

* with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy''. Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye og Henry Folse. Series: ''Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 153.'' Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London 1994. i-xxvii + 377 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Logic and Causal Reasoning''. Preface and Introduction by J. Faye, U. Scheffler & M. Urchs (s. 1-25). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1994. i-ix + 287 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Perspectives on Time''. Preface and Introduction by J. Faye, U. Scheffler & M. Urchs (s. 1-58). Series: ''Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 189''. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/-London 1997, 460 pp.mISBN 0-7923-4330-1 * with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Causality and Complementary. Niels Bohr's Philosophical Writings, Volume 4.'' Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye og Henry Folse (vii, pp. 1–23). Ox Bow Press 1999. 191 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Things, Facts and Events.'' Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye, Uwe Scheffler & Max Urchs (pp. 1–64). Series: ''Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 76'', Rodopi, Amsterdam/Atlanta 2000. 506 pp. * with Evandro Agazzi (eds.): ''The Problems of the Unity of Science''. Introduction by Evandro Agazzi og Jan Faye (pp. v-xiii) World Scientific Publishing Co. New Jersey/London/Singapore/Hong Kong 2001. 194 pp. * with Paul Needham, Uwe Scheffler & Max Urchs (eds.): ''Nature's Principles''. Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye, Paul Needham, Uwe Scheffler og Max Urchs. (s. 1-53). Series: ''Logic, Epistemology and the Unity of Science, vol. 4''. Springer. Dordrecht 2005. 292 pp. * with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Niels Bohr and Philosophy of Physics. Twenty First Century Perspectives.'' London: Bloomsbury 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faye, Jan Living people Danish philosophers Metaphysicians University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Year of birth missing (living people) Philosophers of science Philosophers of mind