Alisa Bokulich
Biographic Data
| ID | 1102261 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alisa Bokulich |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alisa |
| FAMILY NAME | Bokulich |
| SIGNATURE | BOKULICH A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Boston University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9406-3904 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 185 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Peirce, Abduction, and Inverse Problems in the Geosciences
Charles Peirce’s most well-known contribution to logic and scientific methodology is his account of abduction . However, what exactly Peirce meant by abduction is subject to perennial dispute. My aim in this paper is two-fold: First, I interpret Peirce’s abduction through the lens of his research in geophysics and argue this supports interpreting it as a kind of inverse modeling. Second, I show that the methods Peirce outlined for managing the un…
Are We in a Sixth Mass Extinction? The Challenges of Answering and Value of Asking
In both scientific and popular circles, it is often said that we are in the midst of a sixth mass ex-tinction. Although the urgency of our present environmental crises is not in doubt, such claims ofa present mass extinction are highly controversial scientifically. Our aims are, first, to get to thebottom of this scientific debate by shedding philosophical light on the many conceptual andmethodological challenges involved in answering this scient…
Understanding data uncertainty
Taming the tyranny of scales
Using models to correct data
Calibration, Coherence, and Consilience in Radiometric Measures of Geologic Time
In 2012, the Geological Time Scale, which sets the temporal framework for studying the timing and tempo of all major geological, biological, and climatic events in Earth’s history, had one-quarter of its boundaries moved in a widespread revision of radiometric dates. The philosophy of metrology helps us understand this episode, and it, in turn, elucidates the notions of calibration, coherence, and consilience. I argue that coherence testing is a …
Towards a Taxonomy of the Model-Ladenness of Data
Model-data symbiosis is the view that there is an interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship between data and models, whereby models are data-laden and data are model-laden. In this article I elaborate and defend the second, more controversial, component of the symbiosis view and construct a taxonomy of the different ways in which theoretical and simulation models are used in the production of data sets. Each is defined and briefly illus…
Representing and Explaining
The ontic conception of explanation, according to which explanations are full-bodied things in the world, is fundamentally misguided. I argue instead for what I call the eikonic conception, according to which explanations are the product of an epistemic activity involving representations of the phenomena to be explained. What is explained in the first instance is a particular conceptualization of the explanandum phenomenon, contextualized within …
Maxwell, Helmholtz, and the unreasonable effectiveness of the method of physical analogy
Distinguishing Explanatory from Nonexplanatory Fictions
There is a growing recognition that fictions have a number of legitimate functions in science, even when it comes to scientific explanation. However, the question then arises, what distinguishes an explanatory fiction from a nonexplanatory one? Here I examine two cases—one in which there is a consensus in the scientific community that the fiction is explanatory and another in which the fiction is not explanatory. I shall show how my account of “m…
How scientific models can explain
Scientific structuralism
Can Classical Structures Explain Quantum Phenomena
In semiclassical mechanics one finds explanations of quantum phenomena that appeal to classical structures. These explanations are prima facie problematic insofar as the classical structures they appeal to do not exist. Here I defend the view that fictional structures can be genuinely explanatory by introducing a model-based account of scientific explanation. Applying this framework to the semiclassical phenomenon of wavefunction scarring, I argu…
The Evolving Concepts of Nature, Time, and Causation
Heisenberg Meets Kuhn
The aim of this paper is to examine in detail the similarities and dissimilarities between Werner Heisenberg's account of closed theories and Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific revolutions. My analysis draws on a little-known discussion that took place between Heisenberg and Kuhn in 1963, in which Heisenberg, having just read Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions , compares Kuhn's views to his own account of closed theories. I conclude that w…
Open or closed? Dirac, Heisenberg, and the relation between classical and quantum mechanics
Horizontal Models
At the center of quantum chaos research is a particular family of models known as quantum maps. These maps illustrate an important “horizontal” dimension to model construction that has been overlooked in the literature on models. Three ways in which quantum maps are being used to clarify the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics are examined. This study suggests that horizontal models may provide a new and fruitful framework for ex…
How scientific models can explain
Distinguishing Explanatory from Nonexplanatory Fictions
There is a growing recognition that fictions have a number of legitimate functions in science, even when it comes to scientific explanation. However, the question then arises, what distinguishes an explanatory fiction from a nonexplanatory one? Here I examine two cases—one in which there is a consensus in the scientific community that the fiction is explanatory and another in which the fiction is not explanatory. I shall show how my account of “m…
Can Classical Structures Explain Quantum Phenomena
In semiclassical mechanics one finds explanations of quantum phenomena that appeal to classical structures. These explanations are prima facie problematic insofar as the classical structures they appeal to do not exist. Here I defend the view that fictional structures can be genuinely explanatory by introducing a model-based account of scientific explanation. Applying this framework to the semiclassical phenomenon of wavefunction scarring, I argu…
Calibration, Coherence, and Consilience in Radiometric Measures of Geologic Time
In 2012, the Geological Time Scale, which sets the temporal framework for studying the timing and tempo of all major geological, biological, and climatic events in Earth’s history, had one-quarter of its boundaries moved in a widespread revision of radiometric dates. The philosophy of metrology helps us understand this episode, and it, in turn, elucidates the notions of calibration, coherence, and consilience. I argue that coherence testing is a …
Using models to correct data
Towards a Taxonomy of the Model-Ladenness of Data
Model-data symbiosis is the view that there is an interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship between data and models, whereby models are data-laden and data are model-laden. In this article I elaborate and defend the second, more controversial, component of the symbiosis view and construct a taxonomy of the different ways in which theoretical and simulation models are used in the production of data sets. Each is defined and briefly illus…
Representing and Explaining
The ontic conception of explanation, according to which explanations are full-bodied things in the world, is fundamentally misguided. I argue instead for what I call the eikonic conception, according to which explanations are the product of an epistemic activity involving representations of the phenomena to be explained. What is explained in the first instance is a particular conceptualization of the explanandum phenomenon, contextualized within …
Maxwell, Helmholtz, and the unreasonable effectiveness of the method of physical analogy
Are We in a Sixth Mass Extinction? The Challenges of Answering and Value of Asking
In both scientific and popular circles, it is often said that we are in the midst of a sixth mass ex-tinction. Although the urgency of our present environmental crises is not in doubt, such claims ofa present mass extinction are highly controversial scientifically. Our aims are, first, to get to thebottom of this scientific debate by shedding philosophical light on the many conceptual andmethodological challenges involved in answering this scient…
Taming the tyranny of scales
Heisenberg Meets Kuhn
The aim of this paper is to examine in detail the similarities and dissimilarities between Werner Heisenberg's account of closed theories and Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific revolutions. My analysis draws on a little-known discussion that took place between Heisenberg and Kuhn in 1963, in which Heisenberg, having just read Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions , compares Kuhn's views to his own account of closed theories. I conclude that w…
Horizontal Models
At the center of quantum chaos research is a particular family of models known as quantum maps. These maps illustrate an important “horizontal” dimension to model construction that has been overlooked in the literature on models. Three ways in which quantum maps are being used to clarify the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics are examined. This study suggests that horizontal models may provide a new and fruitful framework for ex…
Horizontal Models
At the center of quantum chaos research is a particular family of models known as quantum maps. These maps illustrate an important “horizontal” dimension to model construction that has been overlooked in the literature on models. Three ways in which quantum maps are being used to clarify the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics are examined. This study suggests that horizontal models may provide a new and fruitful framework for ex…
Open or closed? Dirac, Heisenberg, and the relation between classical and quantum mechanics
The Evolving Concepts of Nature, Time, and Causation
Heisenberg Meets Kuhn
The aim of this paper is to examine in detail the similarities and dissimilarities between Werner Heisenberg's account of closed theories and Thomas Kuhn's model of scientific revolutions. My analysis draws on a little-known discussion that took place between Heisenberg and Kuhn in 1963, in which Heisenberg, having just read Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions , compares Kuhn's views to his own account of closed theories. I conclude that w…
Can Classical Structures Explain Quantum Phenomena
In semiclassical mechanics one finds explanations of quantum phenomena that appeal to classical structures. These explanations are prima facie problematic insofar as the classical structures they appeal to do not exist. Here I defend the view that fictional structures can be genuinely explanatory by introducing a model-based account of scientific explanation. Applying this framework to the semiclassical phenomenon of wavefunction scarring, I argu…
How scientific models can explain
Scientific structuralism
Distinguishing Explanatory from Nonexplanatory Fictions
There is a growing recognition that fictions have a number of legitimate functions in science, even when it comes to scientific explanation. However, the question then arises, what distinguishes an explanatory fiction from a nonexplanatory one? Here I examine two cases—one in which there is a consensus in the scientific community that the fiction is explanatory and another in which the fiction is not explanatory. I shall show how my account of “m…
Maxwell, Helmholtz, and the unreasonable effectiveness of the method of physical analogy
Representing and Explaining
The ontic conception of explanation, according to which explanations are full-bodied things in the world, is fundamentally misguided. I argue instead for what I call the eikonic conception, according to which explanations are the product of an epistemic activity involving representations of the phenomena to be explained. What is explained in the first instance is a particular conceptualization of the explanandum phenomenon, contextualized within …
Calibration, Coherence, and Consilience in Radiometric Measures of Geologic Time
In 2012, the Geological Time Scale, which sets the temporal framework for studying the timing and tempo of all major geological, biological, and climatic events in Earth’s history, had one-quarter of its boundaries moved in a widespread revision of radiometric dates. The philosophy of metrology helps us understand this episode, and it, in turn, elucidates the notions of calibration, coherence, and consilience. I argue that coherence testing is a …
Towards a Taxonomy of the Model-Ladenness of Data
Model-data symbiosis is the view that there is an interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship between data and models, whereby models are data-laden and data are model-laden. In this article I elaborate and defend the second, more controversial, component of the symbiosis view and construct a taxonomy of the different ways in which theoretical and simulation models are used in the production of data sets. Each is defined and briefly illus…
Taming the tyranny of scales
Using models to correct data
Are We in a Sixth Mass Extinction? The Challenges of Answering and Value of Asking
In both scientific and popular circles, it is often said that we are in the midst of a sixth mass ex-tinction. Although the urgency of our present environmental crises is not in doubt, such claims ofa present mass extinction are highly controversial scientifically. Our aims are, first, to get to thebottom of this scientific debate by shedding philosophical light on the many conceptual andmethodological challenges involved in answering this scient…
Understanding data uncertainty
Peirce, Abduction, and Inverse Problems in the Geosciences
Charles Peirce’s most well-known contribution to logic and scientific methodology is his account of abduction . However, what exactly Peirce meant by abduction is subject to perennial dispute. My aim in this paper is two-fold: First, I interpret Peirce’s abduction through the lens of his research in geophysics and argue this supports interpreting it as a kind of inverse modeling. Second, I show that the methods Peirce outlined for managing the un…
Epistemology (14 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (13 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Mathematics (5 works) · Philosophy of science (5 works) · Physics (5 works) · Quantum mechanics (5 works) · Science and Climate Studies (5 works) · Sociology (5 works)