Curriculum Vitae

I received my first degree in molecular biology from the University of Basel (1987) and my Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Konstanz (1996). After a postdoc at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, I was lecturer at the Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science (ZEWW) at the Leibniz University Hannover (1997-2003). From 2004-2009, I was Swiss National Science Foundation Professor at the Science Studies Program and Department of Philosophy, University of Basel. I also spent a term at the Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and taught as visiting professor at the Institute for Philosophy at the Humboldt-University, Berlin and the Institute of Zoology, University of Zurich. From 2009-2011, I was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Konstanz. I am Editor of dialectica and Associate Editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Since 2012, I am a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Download full cv (.pdf) here.

Areas of interest

• philosophy of biology
• general philosophy of science
• epistemology
• philosophy of mind

Selected publications

• Weber, Marcel (2012), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.): Experiment in Biology .
• Dieks, D.; Gonzalez, W.J.; Hartmann, S.; Stöltzner, M.; Weber, M.(2012) (Eds.): Probabilities, Laws, and Structures. 512 pages.
• Dieks, D., Gonzales, W.J., Hartmann, S., Uebel, Th., Weber, M. (2011) (Eds.): Explanation, Prediction, and Confirmation. 540 pages.
• Schmid, Hans Bernhard, Sirtes, Daniel and Weber, Marcel (2011) (Eds.): Collective Epistemology. 241 pages.
• Stadler, F., Dieks, D., González, W. J., Hartmann, S., Uebel, T., and Weber, M. (2010) (Eds.): The Present Situation in the Philosophy of Science. 325 pages.
• Knell, Sebastian und Weber, Marcel (2009) : Menschliches Leben (Grundthemen Philosophie, Hrsg. D. Birnbacher, P. Stekeler-Weithofer und H. Tetens). 222 pages.
• Weber, Marcel (2009): Crux of Crucial Experiments(.pdf)The British Journal for Philosophy of Science 60(1): 19-49.Online version.
• Weber, Marcel (2008): Causes without Mechanisms: Experimental Regularities, Physical Laws, and Neuroscientific Explanation(.pdf) Philosophy of Science 75: 995-1007. Online version.
• Weber, Marcel (2006): The Central Dogma as a Thesis of Causal Specificity(.pdf)History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 28: 565-580.
• Weber, Marcel (2005): Genes Causation and Intentionality(.pdf) History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 27: 399-411.
• Weber, Marcel (2005): Indeterminism in Neurobiology(.pdf) Philosophy of Science 72 (5). Online version.
• Weber, Marcel (2005): Philosophy of Experimental Biology Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Biology, ed. M. Ruse), Cambridge / New York: Cambridge University Press, 376 pages. Now available in paperback.
• Weber, Marcel (2001): Determinism, Realism, and Probability in Evolutionary Theory Philosophy of Science 68: S213-S224.
• Weber, Marcel (1999): The Aim and Structure of Ecological Theory(.pdf) Philosophy of Science 66: 71-93. Online version.
• Weber, Marcel (1998): Representing Genes: Classical Mapping Techniques and the Growth of Genetical Knowledge Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 29: 295-315.
• Weber, Marcel (1998): Die Architektur der Synthese: Entstehung und Philosophie der modernen Evolutionstheorie (Quellen und Studien zur Philosophie, Band 45, Hrsg. J. Mittelstraß, G. Patzig und W. Wieland). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 325 pages.

For a complete list of publications see my full cv (.pdf).

Conferences

• Eighth international conference organized by the Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP), title: "What may we believe? What ought we to do?" Monday to Thursday, 17-20 September 2012 University of Constance, Germany. Information here
• Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation 3 (PSX3), Friday and Saturday, October 5 and 6, 2012 University of Colorado, Boulder. Apply here
• Second European Advanced Seminar in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences. In Vivo, ex Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico: Models in the Life Sciences. Apply here(.pdf)

Research Projects and Collaborations

• I am a member of the Research Network on Philosophy of the Life Sciences .
• I am a member of the Institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva iGE3.
• New project on counterfactual reasoning and thought experiments in biology. Two Ph.D. positions available, Apply here.
• Interdisciplinary research group "What if? On the Meaning, Epistemology and Scientific Relevance of Counterfactual Claims and Thought Experiments", University of Konstanz.
• European Science Foundation Research Networking Programme "Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective"
• Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, workshop series "Causal Reasoning in Biology".

Recent Talks

1. Experimental Modeling: Exemplification and Representation as Theorizing Strategies, PSA 2012 (Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association), San Diego, 15-17 November 2012
2. Biological Counterfactuals. Workshop "Causal Reasoning in Biology II", Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, 3-6 May 2012
3. Individual, Cell Lineage, and Functional Integration. Workshop "Objects, Kinds and Mechanisms in Biology", University of Leeds, 13 April 2012
4. Life and Mind: Two Related Concepts? Séminaire interdisciplinaire "Langage et Pensée", Archives Jean Piaget, Université de Genève, 13 March 2012
5. Leben und Geist: Zwei verwandte Begriffe? Ringvorlesung "Grenzen des Geistigen", Universität Göttingen, 18 January 2012
6. What Is an Individual Organism? Rencontre Philosophique Romande, Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale CUSO, Lausanne, 19 December 2011
7. Why Biology Without Objects or Without Fundamentals Wouldn't Be Biology. EPSA11 (Third Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Athens, Greece, 5-8 October 2011
8. Genes and the Philosophy of Causation. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 21 September 2011
9. Minnesota Pluralism: The Case of Biogerontology. Workshop on Interdisciplinarity, Department of Science Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark, 17-18 August 2011
10. Causation and Information in Biology, or: Biological Counterfactuals. Institut d'histoire et philosophie des sciences et des techniques, Université Paris 1 / CNRS / École Normale Supérieure, 8 April 2011
11. Experimentation, Theory Choice, and Social Choice. Workshop "Points of Contact between the Philosophy of Physics and Philosophy of Biology", London School of Economics, 13-15 December 2010
12. Keynote: Experimentation, Theory Choice, and Social Choice. Workshop "Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation: A Challenge to the Philosophy of Science", University of Pittsburgh, 15-16 October 2010
13. Invited Lecture: "Is Information Talk in Biology About Causal Specificity?", Annual Meeting of the British Society of Philosophy of Science, Dublin, 8-9 July 2010
14. Probabilistic Causation and the Brain, Workshop on Multi-level Causation, Institut d'histoire et philosophie des sciences et des techniques, Université Paris 1 / CNRS / École Normale Supérieure, 25-26 March 2010
15. Experimentation versus Theory Choice: A Social-epistemological Approach, Visiting Speakers Series in Philosophy of Science, Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, 11 March 2010
16. Biologischer und psychologischer Altruismus, Philosophische Gesellschaft Zürich, 25 November 2009
17. Biologischer und psychologischer Altruismus, Philosophische Gesellschaft Bremen, 17 November 2009
18. Reference, Truth, and Biological Kinds. Second Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association (Symposium Realism and the Biological Sciences, with C. Kenneth Waters, Kyle Stanford and John Dupré), Amsterdam, 21-24 October 2009
19. Epistemology of Experimentation, Invited lecture, American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, 27-30 December 2008
20. The Place of the Life Sciences: Life in a Physical World, First conference of the European Science Foundation Research Networking Program “Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective”, Vienna, 18-20 December 2008
21. Commentary, Symposium “Extrapolation and Public Policy”, PSA 2008, The Twenty-first Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Pittsburgh, 6-9 November 2008
22. Reference, Truth, and Natural Kinds, Ninth Meeting of eidos, The University of Geneva Centre in Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science, 22-23 October 2008
23. Behavioral Traits, Biological Functions, and the Intentional Stance, Conference Biological Explanations of Behavior, Leibniz Universität Hannover, 11.-15. Juni 2008
24. A New Look at Biological Functions, Workshop Causation in the Biomedical Sciences II, Section de philosophie, université de Lausanne et Institut de l’histoire de la médicine et de la santé, université de Genève, Montreux, 31. März – 2. April 2008
25. Leben und Geist: Intentionalismus in der Philosophie der Biologie, Philosophische Gesellschaft Bremen, 10. Januar 2008
26. Scientific Significance Scrutinized (zus. mit Daniel Sirtes), 1st Congress of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Madrid, 11-15 November
27. Reference, Truth, and Biological Kinds, Annual Lecture Series, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, 5. Oktober 2007
28. Causal Specificity, Information, and the 'Central Dogma of Molecular Biology', Workshop Information in Physics and Biology, Division of History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Philosophy, University of Leeds, 14 September 2007
29. Life, Death, and Biological Kinds, Keynote lecture, Conference Teaching Ethics in the Biosciences, Inter Disciplinary Ethics Applied, a National Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (IDEA CETL), University of Leeds, 13 September 2007
30. Evidenz und Kausalität aus philosophischer Sicht, asim Jahresymposium Evidenz und Kausalität, Academy of Swiss Insurance Medicine, Basel, 5. September 2007
31. Causes without Mechanisms: The Hodgkin-Huxley Model Revisited, Meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB). Organizer of the Symposium Carving Out Action Potentials: Electrophysiology and the Causal Structure of the Nervous System (co-symposiasts: Bill Bechtel, Carl Craver, Daniel Sirtes, Don Goodman, Kenneth Schaffner), Exeter, UK, 25-29 July, 2007
32. Explanatory Strategies in Experimental Biology", Meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB). Roundtable Mechanisms, Functions, Organization, and Emergence: New Perspectives on Reductionism, Exeter, UK, 25-29 July, 2007
33. "Mechanism, Experimental Reasoning and Inference to the Best Explanation", International workshop Generating Experimental Knowledge, Universität Wuppertal, 14.-17. Juni 2007
34. "Biological Functions: A Systems Account", Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / CNRS / École normale supérieure, 26. April 2007
35. "The Crux of Crucial Experiments: Confirmation in Molecular Biology." Joint conference Confirmation, Induction, and Science, Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, London, March 8-10, 2007
36. "The Central Dogma as a Thesis of Causal Specificity." International conference History of the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology and its Epistemological Status Today, Institute for the History of Medicine and Department of Medical Genetics, University of Geneva, February 22-23, 2007
37. "The Coming of Age of the Mechanical Philosophy?" Keynote lecture, international conference Idealization, Mechanism and Reduction: New Directions in the Philosophy of Proximal Biology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 16-17 December 2006
38. "Information, Regulation und Intentionalität als Kategorien zur Beschreibung des Lebendigen." Center for the History of Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 14 December 2006
39. "On the Use of Physical Theory in Neurobiological Explanation." Symposium Where Physics Meets Neuroscience (co-symposiasts: Kenneth Schaffner, Carl Craver and Jim Bogen), PSA 2006: 20^th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, 2-5 November 2006
40. "Three Kinds of Conceptual Change in Science." Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 30 October 2006
41. "Rules, Relativism, and Normativity: A Naturalistic Rejoinder." GAP.6: Sixth Congress of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy, Free University Berlin, 11-14 September 2006
42. "Naturalistic Replies to Social Relativism" Reconstructing Science and Ethics, Symposium on the occasion of Paul Hoyningen-Huene’s 60^th birthday, University of Hanover, 13-15 July 2006
43. "On the Use of Physical Theory in Neurobiological Explanation." Sixth Congress of HOPOS, The International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, Paris, 14-18 June 2006. Organiser of the symposium Explanation in Neuroscience: Past and Present, with Carl Craver, Tara Abraham and William Bechtel
44. "Wissenschaftstheorie der Evaluation." Conference Qualitätssicherung von Wissenschaft im Wandel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) und Zentrum für Wissenschafts- und Evaluationsforschung, Berlin, 1-3 June 2006
45. "Three Kinds of Conceptual Change in Natural Science." Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, 27 April 2006
46. "What's Special About Genes? Some Philosophical Considerations." Conference Embracing Life – Challenges and Questions in Patenting for Life Sciences. Swiss Academy of Sciences, Gwatt, 3-4 November 2005
47. "Genes, Causation and Intentionality." Center for Philosophy of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 18 October 2005
48. "Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change: The Case of the Gene." Triangle Colloquium in Philosophy of Science, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 17 October 2005
49. "How Strong is the Case for Social Relativism in Science?" Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 14 October 2005.
50. "Genes, Causation and Intentionality." Colloquium, History of Science Program, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 7 October 2005