Jenny Nguyen
Biographic Data
| ID | 194530 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jenny Nguyen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jenny |
| FAMILY NAME | Nguyen |
| SIGNATURE | NGUYEN J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Notre Dame |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6919-1365 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 66 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Understanding philosophy
What is the primary intellectual aim of philosophy? The standard view is that philosophy aims to provide true answers to philosophical questions. But if our aim is to settle controversy by answering such questions, our discipline is an embarrassing failure. Moreover, taking philosophy to aim at providing true answers to these questions leads to a variety of puzzles: How do we account for philosophical expertise? How is philosophical progress poss…
Stabilising understanding
We present an account of how idealised models provide scientific understanding that is based on the notion of stability: a model provides understanding of a target behaviour when both the model and the target’s perfect model are in a class of models over which that behaviour is stable. The class is characterised in terms of what we call the model’s noetic core, which contains the features that are indispensable to both the model’s and the target’…
‘High hopes for treatment’
INTRODUCTION: Advanced therapies offer unprecedented opportunities for treating rare neurological disorders (RNDs) in children. However, health literacy, perceptions and understanding of novel therapies need elucidation across the RND community. This study explored healthcare professionals' and carers' perspectives of advanced therapies in childhood-onset RNDs. METHODS: In this mixed-methodology cross-sectional study, 20 healthcare professionals …
Confidence in Covid-19 models
Epidemiological models of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 played an important role in guiding the decisions of policy-makers during the pandemic. Such models provide output projections, in the form of time -series of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths, under various different parameter and scenario assumptions. In this paper I caution against handling these outputs uncritically: raw model-outputs should not be presented as direct projections…
Disrupting the colonial algorithm
Indigenous voices and outlooks are often overlooked within public discourses in Australia and throughout the world. Settler-colonialism has resulted in centuries of dispossession, manifesting in the denial of Indigenous citizenship, autonomy and sovereignty. Throughout this article we discuss how Indigenous people are increasingly turning to social media to illuminate how colonialism continues to oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peop…
Do fictions explain
I argue that fictional models, construed as models that misrepresent certain ontological aspects of their target systems, can nevertheless explain why the latter exhibit certain behaviour. They can do this by accurately representing whatever it is that that behaviour counterfactually depends on. However, we should be sufficiently sensitive to different explanatory questions, i.e., ‘why does certain behaviour occur?’ versus ‘why does the counterfa…
Mirrors without warnings
Veritism, the position that truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability, seems to be in tension with the observation that much of our best science is not, strictly speaking, true when interpreted literally. This generates a paradox: (1) truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability; (2) the claims of science have to be taken literally; (3) much of what science produces is not literally true and yet it is acceptable. We frame Elgin’s project i…
Mathematics is not the only language in the book of nature
Shared Decision Making and Treatment for Minority Children With ADHD
Shared decision making (SDM) involves the patient and family in medical decisions regarding treatment. The purpose of this article is to utilize the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health to explore whether family engagement in SDM increases the odds of treatment for children with ADHD, and more specifically, if the presence of SDM is associated with the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in treatment. Multivariate logistic regression …
Data-Driven Discovery of Predictors of Virtual Reality Safety and Sense of Presence for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Virtual reality (VR) offers children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) an inexpensive and motivating medium to learn and practice skills in a personalized, controlled, and safe setting; however, outcomes of VR interventions can vary widely. In particular, there is a need to understand the predictors of VR experience in children with ASD to inform the design of these interventions. To address this gap, a sample of children with ASD (n=35, mean a…
It’s Not a Game
Drawing on ‘interpretational’ accounts of scientific representation, I argue that the use of so-called ‘toy models’ provides no particular philosophical puzzle. More specifically; I argue that once one gives up the idea that models are accurate representations of their targets only if they are appropriately similar, then simple and highly idealized models can be accurate in the same way that more complex models can be. Their differences turn on t…
Why Surplus Structure Is Not Superfluous
The idea that gauge theory has ‘surplus’ structure poses a puzzle: in one much discussed sense, this structure is redundant; but on the other hand, it is also widely held to play an essential role in the theory. In this article, we employ category-theoretic tools to illuminate an aspect of this puzzle. We precisify what is meant by surplus structure by means of functorial comparisons with equivalence classes of gauge fields, and then show that su…
Hybridized Black Authenticity
This research explores how popular media content promotes hybridized black authenticity – consisting of controlling images, expectations, and ideals – through aspirational lifestyle advice for black women. Through a content analysis of Essence, we examine tensions between meanings of authenticity (true self) and black authenticity (social constructions of being legitimately black). We find integrations of race-specific expectations with culturall…
Research and Identity
In the spring of 2016, university students with little to no research experience volunteered to assist with surveying for a larger project on college success. Volunteers discussed their field experiences through written statements and semistructured interviews. Eighty log sheets and 14 in-depth interviews serve as the qualitative data for this study. We followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Thematic Analysis approach and reviewed the log sheets for …
From Yellow Peril to Model Minority
Objectives The purpose of this project is to assess (1) presence of anger toward Asian Americans “taking jobs,” and (2) whether stereotypes, feelings of competitive threat, and principles of equality predict increased presence of anger. Methods We used an experimental list survey of 416 participants, which reduces social desirability effects compared to traditional surveys. Results Findings show feelings of group competition and threat were stron…
Military Service and Physical Capital
There are 22 million veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. Past research on the musculoskeletal health of military veterans has explored the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but largely avoids situating findings within a theoretical framework. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital to contextualize veteran's greater rates of MSDs compared to nonmilitary civilians. Cultural capital consists of objectified, instit…
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Grade Retention in a National Sample of US Children
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include extreme economic hardship, abuse, neglect, household and family dysfunction, and exposure to community violence. Children with ACEs are at a higher risk of developing mental, physical, and developmental disorders that can lead to difficulty in school. Using the 2012 National Survey of Children's Health, we use multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between ACEs and grade retention …
What Should Be the Scope of Physicians' Roles in Responding to Gun Violence
What role, if any, physicians should have in the response to gun violence is a question not only of professionalism but also of law, culture, and ethics. We argue that physicians do have important roles to play in the larger landscape of advocacy, public opinion, and reduction of gun violence, but that it is not ethically or legally appropriate for them to serve as gatekeepers of gun privileges by assessing competency
Identity, rights and surveillance in an era of transforming citizenship
This review essay focuses on the problem of citizenship in three different areas, namely human rights, identity politics and surveillance. Heli Askola’s work focuses on the magnitude of demographic challenges that contemporary migrant-receiving states in the Global North face, and specifically focuses on the broader demographic picture of low birth rates, and increasing diversity and populations ageing; thus, focusing the problem of identity poli…
Family Predictors of Child Mental Health Conditions
Research suggests that minority children with one mental health condition are more likely than White children to have a secondary mental health condition. However, there are no current studies that test the interaction between race and family resources to examine this apparent racial difference in mental health conditions in children. Yet research suggests that family resources vary by race/ethnicity. This study examines the interaction between f…
Scientific Representation and Theoretical Equivalence
In this article I connect two debates in the philosophy of science: the questions of scientific representation and both model and theoretical equivalence. I argue that by paying attention to how a model is used to draw inferences about its target system, we can define a notion of theoretical equivalence that turns on whether models license the same claims about the same target systems. I briefly consider the implications of this for two questions…
On the Pragmatic Equivalence between Representing Data and Phenomena
Van Fraassen argues that data provide the target-end structures required by structuralist accounts of scientific representation. But models represent phenomena not data. Van Fraassen agrees but argues that there is no pragmatic difference between taking a scientific model to accurately represent a physical system and accurately represent data extracted from it. In this article I reconstruct his argument and show that it turns on the false premise…
Black Authenticity
This review presents an overview of research on Black authenticity. As the definition of Black authenticity is often not made explicit in literature, the complexity and nuance of this cultural resource can be overlooked. We explore two trends of Black authenticity present within literature, which we label as commodifying realness and legitimating membership. Beyond offering a working definition and review of these trends, this review also attempt…
Why Surplus Structure Is Not Superfluous
The idea that gauge theory has ‘surplus’ structure poses a puzzle: in one much discussed sense, this structure is redundant; but on the other hand, it is also widely held to play an essential role in the theory. In this article, we employ category-theoretic tools to illuminate an aspect of this puzzle. We precisify what is meant by surplus structure by means of functorial comparisons with equivalence classes of gauge fields, and then show that su…
From Yellow Peril to Model Minority
Objectives The purpose of this project is to assess (1) presence of anger toward Asian Americans “taking jobs,” and (2) whether stereotypes, feelings of competitive threat, and principles of equality predict increased presence of anger. Methods We used an experimental list survey of 416 participants, which reduces social desirability effects compared to traditional surveys. Results Findings show feelings of group competition and threat were stron…
It’s Not a Game
Drawing on ‘interpretational’ accounts of scientific representation, I argue that the use of so-called ‘toy models’ provides no particular philosophical puzzle. More specifically; I argue that once one gives up the idea that models are accurate representations of their targets only if they are appropriately similar, then simple and highly idealized models can be accurate in the same way that more complex models can be. Their differences turn on t…
Disrupting the colonial algorithm
Indigenous voices and outlooks are often overlooked within public discourses in Australia and throughout the world. Settler-colonialism has resulted in centuries of dispossession, manifesting in the denial of Indigenous citizenship, autonomy and sovereignty. Throughout this article we discuss how Indigenous people are increasingly turning to social media to illuminate how colonialism continues to oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peop…
Mirrors without warnings
Veritism, the position that truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability, seems to be in tension with the observation that much of our best science is not, strictly speaking, true when interpreted literally. This generates a paradox: (1) truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability; (2) the claims of science have to be taken literally; (3) much of what science produces is not literally true and yet it is acceptable. We frame Elgin’s project i…
Scientific Representation and Theoretical Equivalence
In this article I connect two debates in the philosophy of science: the questions of scientific representation and both model and theoretical equivalence. I argue that by paying attention to how a model is used to draw inferences about its target system, we can define a notion of theoretical equivalence that turns on whether models license the same claims about the same target systems. I briefly consider the implications of this for two questions…
Mathematics is not the only language in the book of nature
On the Pragmatic Equivalence between Representing Data and Phenomena
Van Fraassen argues that data provide the target-end structures required by structuralist accounts of scientific representation. But models represent phenomena not data. Van Fraassen agrees but argues that there is no pragmatic difference between taking a scientific model to accurately represent a physical system and accurately represent data extracted from it. In this article I reconstruct his argument and show that it turns on the false premise…
Military Service and Physical Capital
There are 22 million veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. Past research on the musculoskeletal health of military veterans has explored the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but largely avoids situating findings within a theoretical framework. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital to contextualize veteran's greater rates of MSDs compared to nonmilitary civilians. Cultural capital consists of objectified, instit…
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Grade Retention in a National Sample of US Children
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include extreme economic hardship, abuse, neglect, household and family dysfunction, and exposure to community violence. Children with ACEs are at a higher risk of developing mental, physical, and developmental disorders that can lead to difficulty in school. Using the 2012 National Survey of Children's Health, we use multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between ACEs and grade retention …
Do fictions explain
I argue that fictional models, construed as models that misrepresent certain ontological aspects of their target systems, can nevertheless explain why the latter exhibit certain behaviour. They can do this by accurately representing whatever it is that that behaviour counterfactually depends on. However, we should be sufficiently sensitive to different explanatory questions, i.e., ‘why does certain behaviour occur?’ versus ‘why does the counterfa…
Identity, rights and surveillance in an era of transforming citizenship
This review essay focuses on the problem of citizenship in three different areas, namely human rights, identity politics and surveillance. Heli Askola’s work focuses on the magnitude of demographic challenges that contemporary migrant-receiving states in the Global North face, and specifically focuses on the broader demographic picture of low birth rates, and increasing diversity and populations ageing; thus, focusing the problem of identity poli…
Black Authenticity
This review presents an overview of research on Black authenticity. As the definition of Black authenticity is often not made explicit in literature, the complexity and nuance of this cultural resource can be overlooked. We explore two trends of Black authenticity present within literature, which we label as commodifying realness and legitimating membership. Beyond offering a working definition and review of these trends, this review also attempt…
On the Pragmatic Equivalence between Representing Data and Phenomena
Van Fraassen argues that data provide the target-end structures required by structuralist accounts of scientific representation. But models represent phenomena not data. Van Fraassen agrees but argues that there is no pragmatic difference between taking a scientific model to accurately represent a physical system and accurately represent data extracted from it. In this article I reconstruct his argument and show that it turns on the false premise…
Scientific Representation and Theoretical Equivalence
In this article I connect two debates in the philosophy of science: the questions of scientific representation and both model and theoretical equivalence. I argue that by paying attention to how a model is used to draw inferences about its target system, we can define a notion of theoretical equivalence that turns on whether models license the same claims about the same target systems. I briefly consider the implications of this for two questions…
What Should Be the Scope of Physicians' Roles in Responding to Gun Violence
What role, if any, physicians should have in the response to gun violence is a question not only of professionalism but also of law, culture, and ethics. We argue that physicians do have important roles to play in the larger landscape of advocacy, public opinion, and reduction of gun violence, but that it is not ethically or legally appropriate for them to serve as gatekeepers of gun privileges by assessing competency
Identity, rights and surveillance in an era of transforming citizenship
This review essay focuses on the problem of citizenship in three different areas, namely human rights, identity politics and surveillance. Heli Askola’s work focuses on the magnitude of demographic challenges that contemporary migrant-receiving states in the Global North face, and specifically focuses on the broader demographic picture of low birth rates, and increasing diversity and populations ageing; thus, focusing the problem of identity poli…
Family Predictors of Child Mental Health Conditions
Research suggests that minority children with one mental health condition are more likely than White children to have a secondary mental health condition. However, there are no current studies that test the interaction between race and family resources to examine this apparent racial difference in mental health conditions in children. Yet research suggests that family resources vary by race/ethnicity. This study examines the interaction between f…
Research and Identity
In the spring of 2016, university students with little to no research experience volunteered to assist with surveying for a larger project on college success. Volunteers discussed their field experiences through written statements and semistructured interviews. Eighty log sheets and 14 in-depth interviews serve as the qualitative data for this study. We followed Braun and Clarke’s (2006) Thematic Analysis approach and reviewed the log sheets for …
From Yellow Peril to Model Minority
Objectives The purpose of this project is to assess (1) presence of anger toward Asian Americans “taking jobs,” and (2) whether stereotypes, feelings of competitive threat, and principles of equality predict increased presence of anger. Methods We used an experimental list survey of 416 participants, which reduces social desirability effects compared to traditional surveys. Results Findings show feelings of group competition and threat were stron…
Military Service and Physical Capital
There are 22 million veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. Past research on the musculoskeletal health of military veterans has explored the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but largely avoids situating findings within a theoretical framework. This article uses Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital to contextualize veteran's greater rates of MSDs compared to nonmilitary civilians. Cultural capital consists of objectified, instit…
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Grade Retention in a National Sample of US Children
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include extreme economic hardship, abuse, neglect, household and family dysfunction, and exposure to community violence. Children with ACEs are at a higher risk of developing mental, physical, and developmental disorders that can lead to difficulty in school. Using the 2012 National Survey of Children's Health, we use multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between ACEs and grade retention …
Shared Decision Making and Treatment for Minority Children With ADHD
Shared decision making (SDM) involves the patient and family in medical decisions regarding treatment. The purpose of this article is to utilize the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health to explore whether family engagement in SDM increases the odds of treatment for children with ADHD, and more specifically, if the presence of SDM is associated with the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities in treatment. Multivariate logistic regression …
Data-Driven Discovery of Predictors of Virtual Reality Safety and Sense of Presence for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Virtual reality (VR) offers children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) an inexpensive and motivating medium to learn and practice skills in a personalized, controlled, and safe setting; however, outcomes of VR interventions can vary widely. In particular, there is a need to understand the predictors of VR experience in children with ASD to inform the design of these interventions. To address this gap, a sample of children with ASD (n=35, mean a…
It’s Not a Game
Drawing on ‘interpretational’ accounts of scientific representation, I argue that the use of so-called ‘toy models’ provides no particular philosophical puzzle. More specifically; I argue that once one gives up the idea that models are accurate representations of their targets only if they are appropriately similar, then simple and highly idealized models can be accurate in the same way that more complex models can be. Their differences turn on t…
Why Surplus Structure Is Not Superfluous
The idea that gauge theory has ‘surplus’ structure poses a puzzle: in one much discussed sense, this structure is redundant; but on the other hand, it is also widely held to play an essential role in the theory. In this article, we employ category-theoretic tools to illuminate an aspect of this puzzle. We precisify what is meant by surplus structure by means of functorial comparisons with equivalence classes of gauge fields, and then show that su…
Hybridized Black Authenticity
This research explores how popular media content promotes hybridized black authenticity – consisting of controlling images, expectations, and ideals – through aspirational lifestyle advice for black women. Through a content analysis of Essence, we examine tensions between meanings of authenticity (true self) and black authenticity (social constructions of being legitimately black). We find integrations of race-specific expectations with culturall…
Do fictions explain
I argue that fictional models, construed as models that misrepresent certain ontological aspects of their target systems, can nevertheless explain why the latter exhibit certain behaviour. They can do this by accurately representing whatever it is that that behaviour counterfactually depends on. However, we should be sufficiently sensitive to different explanatory questions, i.e., ‘why does certain behaviour occur?’ versus ‘why does the counterfa…
Mirrors without warnings
Veritism, the position that truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability, seems to be in tension with the observation that much of our best science is not, strictly speaking, true when interpreted literally. This generates a paradox: (1) truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability; (2) the claims of science have to be taken literally; (3) much of what science produces is not literally true and yet it is acceptable. We frame Elgin’s project i…
Mathematics is not the only language in the book of nature
Disrupting the colonial algorithm
Indigenous voices and outlooks are often overlooked within public discourses in Australia and throughout the world. Settler-colonialism has resulted in centuries of dispossession, manifesting in the denial of Indigenous citizenship, autonomy and sovereignty. Throughout this article we discuss how Indigenous people are increasingly turning to social media to illuminate how colonialism continues to oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peop…
‘High hopes for treatment’
INTRODUCTION: Advanced therapies offer unprecedented opportunities for treating rare neurological disorders (RNDs) in children. However, health literacy, perceptions and understanding of novel therapies need elucidation across the RND community. This study explored healthcare professionals' and carers' perspectives of advanced therapies in childhood-onset RNDs. METHODS: In this mixed-methodology cross-sectional study, 20 healthcare professionals …
Confidence in Covid-19 models
Epidemiological models of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 played an important role in guiding the decisions of policy-makers during the pandemic. Such models provide output projections, in the form of time -series of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths, under various different parameter and scenario assumptions. In this paper I caution against handling these outputs uncritically: raw model-outputs should not be presented as direct projections…
Stabilising understanding
We present an account of how idealised models provide scientific understanding that is based on the notion of stability: a model provides understanding of a target behaviour when both the model and the target’s perfect model are in a class of models over which that behaviour is stable. The class is characterised in terms of what we call the model’s noetic core, which contains the features that are indispensable to both the model’s and the target’…
Understanding philosophy
What is the primary intellectual aim of philosophy? The standard view is that philosophy aims to provide true answers to philosophical questions. But if our aim is to settle controversy by answering such questions, our discipline is an embarrassing failure. Moreover, taking philosophy to aim at providing true answers to these questions leads to a variety of puzzles: How do we account for philosophical expertise? How is philosophical progress poss…
Psychology (13 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Epistemology (10 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (8 works) · Political science (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works)