James Ladyman

Professor of Philosophy, University of Bristol

Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Leeds: ‘Structural Realism and the Model-Theoretic Approach to Scientific Theories’; supervisor: Steven French
M.Sc. in History and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, King's College London, pass with distinction
B.A.(hons) in Pure Mathematics (main) and Philosophy (subsidiary), University of York, first class honours

Philip Leverhulme Prize in Philosophy and Ethics 2005
Choice (American Library Association) Outstanding Academic Text Award for Understanding Philosophy of Science

Research

scientific realism
constructive empiricism
structural realism (I made the distinction in my 1998 paper between epistemic and ontic forms of structural realism and I have defended the latter)
scientific representation
physicalism
the relationship between the special sciences and physics
naturalised metaphysics
philosophy of information and computation
philosophy of physics

I am writing a textbook, Philosophy of Physics, under contract with Acumen.
I am co-editor (with Professor Alexander Bird) of The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (for which I was previously a deputy editor and assistant editor).
I was Honorary Secretary of The British Society for the Philosophy of Science (2003-2007)

Publications

Books

• Ladyman, J. (2002), Understanding Philosophy of Science, Routledge, 302 pages
• Ladyman, J. and Ross, D. (with Spurrett, D. and Collier, J.) (2007), Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalised, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Articles

• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (forthcoming), ‘In Defence of Ontic Structural Realism’ to appear in Alissa and Peter Bokulich (eds) Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Scientific Structuralism, forthcoming with Boston University Press
• Ladyman, J. (forthcoming), ‘Reply to Hawthorne’ to appear in S.Saunders, J.Barrett, A.Kent and D.Wallace (eds), Everett at the crossroads: the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Brown, R. and Ladyman, J. (forthcoming), ‘Physicalism and the Fundamental Level’, to appear in The Philosophical Quarterly
• Ladyman, J., Presnell, S., and Short, A. (forthcoming), ‘The Use of the Information-Theoretic Entropy in Thermodynamics’, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
• Ladyman, J. (2008), ‘Structural Realism and the Relationship Between Physics and the Special Sciences’, to appear in Philosophy of Science
• Leitgeb, H. and Ladyman, J. (2008), ‘Criteria of Identity and Structuralist Ontology’, to appear in Philosophica Mathematica
• Ladyman, J. (2008), ‘Can the empiricist and materialist stances be reconciled?’ to appear in a special issue of Synthese on ‘Stance and Rationality’
• Ladyman, J. (2008), ‘Idealisation’, to appear in M.Curd and S.Psillos (eds), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science (London: Routledge)
• Ladyman, J. (2007), ‘Physics and Computation: The Status of Landauer’s Principle’, in Cooper, S.B., Löwe, B. and Sorbi, A. (eds), Compuation and Logic in the Real World: Third Conference on Computability in Europe, CIE 2007, Sienna, Italy, June 18-23, 2007, Proceedings (Berlin: Springer) pp. 446-454
• Ladyman, J. (2007), ‘Does Physics Answer Metaphysical Questions’, in Philosophy of Science: Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement: 61 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 179-202
• Ladyman, J. (2007), ‘On the Identity and Diversity of Objects in a Structure’, to appear in The Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
• Ross, D. and Ladyman, J. (forthcoming), ‘The Alleged Coupling/Constitution Fallacy and Mature Sciences’, in R.Menary (ed.) The Extended Mind, Ashgate
• Ladyman, J., Presnell, S., Short, A. and Groisman, B. (2007), ‘The connection between logical and thermodynamic irreversibility’, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 38, pp. 58-79
• Ladyman, J. (2007), ‘Structural Realism’ entry in The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
  Ladyman, J. (2007), ‘Ontological, Epistemological and Methodological Positions’, in Handbook of Philosophy of Science - Focal Issues (Edited by T.Kuipers, Kluwer)
• Ladyman, J. (2006), Theories and Theoretical Terms’, in Donald Borchert, ed. Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA
• Ladyman, J. (2005), ‘Mathematical Structuralism and the Identity of Indiscernibles’, Analysis, 65, pp. 218-221
• Ladyman, J. (2005), ‘Wouldn’t it be Lovely: Explanation and Scientific Realism’, review symposium in Metascience, 14, pp. 331-361
• Ladyman, J. (2004), ‘Supervenience: not local and not two-way’ in Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 27, p. 630
• Ladyman, J. (2004), ‘Discussion   Empiricism versus Metaphysics’, Philosophical Studies, 121, pp. 133-145
• Ladyman, J. (2004), ‘Modality and Constructive Empiricism: a reply to van Fraassen’, in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 55, pp. 755-765
• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (2003), ‘Remodelling Structural Realism: Quantum Physics and the Metaphysics of Structure’, Synthese, 36, pp. 31-66
• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (2003), ‘Between Platonism and Phenomenalism: Reply to Cao’, Synthese, 36, pp. 73-78
• Ladyman, J. (2002), ‘Science, Metaphysics and Structural Realism’, Philosophica, 67, pp. 57-76
• Bueno, O., French, S. and Ladyman, J. (2002) ‘On Representing the Relationship between the Mathematical and the Empirical,’ in Philosophy of Science, 69, pp. 452-473
• Ladyman, J. (2000), ‘What's Really Wrong with Constructive Empiricism?: van Fraassen and the Metaphysics of Modality’, in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 51, pp. 837-856
• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (1999), ‘Reinflating the Semantic Approach’, International Studies in Philosophy of Science, 13. pp. 99-117
• Ladyman, J. (1998), ‘What is Structural Realism?’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 29, pp. 409-424
• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (1998), ‘A Semantic Perspective on Idealisation in Quantum Mechanics’, N.Shanks (ed.) Idealization in Physics
• Ladyman, J., Douven, I., Horsten, L. and van Fraassen, B.C. (1997), ‘In Defence of van Fraassen's Critique of Abductive Reasoning: A reply to Psillos’, in Philosophical Quarterly, 47, pp. 305-321
• French, S. and Ladyman, J. (1997), ‘Superconductivity and Structures: Revisiting the London Account’, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 28, pp. 363-393

Book Reviews

• Review of Identity in Physics: A Historical, Philosophical and Formal Analysis, by Steven French and Décio Krause (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006) in Notre Dame Journal of Philosophy
• Review of A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny, in The Times Higher Educational Supplement, April 8th 2005, volume 1664, p.
• Review of Fundamentals of Philosophy edited by John Shand, and 101 Ethical Dilemmas by Martin Cohen in The Times Higher Educational Supplement, October 25th 2004, volume 1663, p.27
• Review of An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics by Marc Lange, in Mind (2004), 113, pp. 562-565
• Review of Myths We Live By by Mary Midgley, in The Times Higher Educational Supplement, October 24th 2003, volume 1612, p.29
• Review of Philosophy in the Next Century by Anthony O’Hear, in Times Higher Educational Supplement, October 11th 2002, volume 1559, p. 28
• Review of Unifying Scientific Theories: Physical Concepts and Mathematical Structures by Margaret Morrison, in The Journal of Economic Methodology, (2002), 10, pp. 91-96
• Review of Quantum Philosophy: Understanding and Interpreting Contemporary Science, and Understanding Quantum Mechanics, by Roland Omnès, in Metascience, (2001), 10, pp. 99-103
• Review of Harmless Naturalism by Robert Almeder, in Philosophical Books, (2000), 41, pp. 123-125
• Review of A Novel Case for Scientific Realism by Jarrett Leplin, in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (1999), 50
• Review of Intellectual Impostures by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, in Imprints (1999), 3, pp. 265-276
• Review of Representing the World by Scientific Theories: The Case for Scientific Realism by H.C.D.G. De Regt, in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (1996), 47, pp. 487-490