Eric B. Winsberg

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Philosophy of Science · Ethics of Computer Simulation · Philosophy of Climate Science

h-index: 29 · i10-index: 43 · Google Scholar citations: 4,977

Employment

British Academy Global Professor of History and Philosophy of Science

University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK — 2023–

Professor of Philosophy

University of South Florida (on leave 2023–2027), Tampa, FL — 2014–

Associate Professor of Philosophy

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL — 2006–

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL — 2001–

Postdoctoral Fellow

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL — 1999–

Education

Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN — 1999

B.A., History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science and Medicine

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL — 1989

Grants

Complex modelling and political decision making: Addressing technical and moral problems

The British Academy, 2022–2026 — £890,000. Winsberg, E.

Involving transdisciplinary model users in policy-oriented simulation modelling

Collaborator [PI: Kate Johnson, UBC]. SSHRC; CIHR; Michael Smith Health Research BC, 2025–2028 — CA$199,543.

How can health economic models better reflect patient and public values?

Collaborator [PI: Mohsen Sadatsafavi, UBC]. Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Convening and Collaborating Grant, 2021 — CA$15,000.

Demographic factors in intended major and completed major: a comparison of philosophy and other disciplines

American Philosophical Association, 2018 — $2,800. Winsberg, E., Schwitzgebel, E., Thompson, M.

Fellowships

  • British Academy Global Professor, History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK — 2023–27
  • Visiting Scholar, Institute for Practical Ethics, University of California San Diego, CA, USA — 2020
  • Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany — 2016
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, MCMP, Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich, Germany — 2013
  • Visiting Scholar, Department of Philosophy, University of California Berkeley, CA, USA — 2013
  • Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, University of Durham, Durham, UK — 2008
  • Fellow, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (ZiF), University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany — 2006

Books

  • Philosophy and Climate Science. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Eric Winsberg. Reviewed in: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, BJPS, Philosophy of Science, JGPS, Ethics Policy and Environment. CHOICE Honorable Mention, Atmospheric Science Librarians International.
  • Science in the Age of Computer Simulation. University of Chicago Press, 2010. Eric Winsberg. Short list for the 2011 Lakatos Award. Reviewed in: Science, Physics Today, Metascience, NDPR, Theoria, Minds and Machines. Author meets critics at 2011 Eastern APA.
  • Cambridge Elements: Models in Science and Decision Making. Cambridge University Press, 2024. Eric Winsberg and Stephanie Harvard.
  • The Probability Map of the Universe: Essays on David Albert’s Time and Chance. Harvard University Press, 2023. Barry Loewer, Brad Weslake, and Eric Winsberg, eds. Collection on foundations of statistical mechanics and the arrow of time.
  • Climate Modeling: Philosophical and Conceptual Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Elisabeth S. Lloyd and Eric Winsberg, eds. Contributors include Nancy Cartwright, Mathias Frisch, Reto Knutti, Michael Mann, Linda Mearns, Jonathan Rougier, Ben Santer, Elisabeth Lloyd, Jay Odenbaugh, Naomi Oreskes, Wendy Parker, Eric Winsberg.

Edited Journals

  • Special Issue on Gatekeeping in Science, Synthese (ed. w/ Katherine Dormandy), 2025.
  • Special Issue on Climate Science, Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 2014.

Public Contributions

Documentary: Moral Models: Crucial Decisions in the Age of Computer Simulation (Salazar Film, 2022) — 25-minute interview on simulation modeling in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Video: Science & Social Values: Values in Modelling (Harvard, S., Winsberg, E., 2020) — 7-part series on modelling and social values in health economics.

Print: The Chronicle of Higher Education (2023); The Conversation (2020, w/ Schliesser, Levy); The New Statesman (2020, w/ Schliesser).

Other: Epidemiological Modeling, Policy, and Covid-19 (Meaningoflife.tv, 2020, w/ Symons, Kaufman); Pandemic and Policy (University of Cambridge Public Seminar in HPS, 2020, w/ Anderson, Broadbent).

Journal Articles & Book Chapters

See Publications for a full chronological list of journal articles and book chapters.

Encyclopedia Entries

  • Computer Simulation in Science. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2013.
  • Computer Simulation and the Philosophy of Science. Philosophy Compass, Vol 4, 2009.
  • Simulation. Oxford Companion to the History of Science, 2002.

Book Reviews

  • Nature, the Artful Modeler (Nancy Cartwright). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2019.
  • Simulation and Similarity (Michael Weisberg). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2013.
  • Science without Laws: Model Systems, Cases, Exemplary Narratives (A. Creager & E. Lunbeck, eds). Metascience 18(2): 265-8, 2009.
  • Model-Based Reasoning: Technology, Science, Values (L. Magnani & N. Nersessian, eds). Philosophy of Science, 2003.
  • The Dappled World: Essays on the Boundaries of Science (Nancy Cartwright). Journal of Philosophy, 2002.
  • Wittgenstein, Finitism and the Foundations of Mathematics (Mathieu Marion). Philosophy of Science, 2000. (with Frisch, M., Darling, K., and Fine, A.)

Summer Schools Taught

  • Scientific Models and Decision Making — Davidson University, North Carolina, 2024.
  • Climate Science: Historical, Philosophical and Sociological Issues — University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2022.
  • Philosophy of Cosmology — Western University and University of California, Irvine, London, Ontario, 2018.

Selected Recent Presentations

  • Representational Risk in Climate Models — Stanford University, Philosophy and the Environment Workshop, December 2024.
  • Managing Values in Science: a return to decision theory — University of Hannover, SOCRATES workshop: Trust in Science, June 2024.
  • From Modelling Climate Change to Modelling Epidemics and Beyond — KU Leuven, Biennial Herman Roelants Lecture on Science, May 2024.
  • So Friggin’ Likely: Gatekeeping during the Covid Pandemic — University of Innsbruck, Scientific Gatekeeping, April 2024.
  • Managing Values in Science — University of Bristol, Department Colloquium, October 2023.
  • What can Covid Modeling Teach us about public Participation in Science? — University of Cambridge, Department Colloquium, February 2023.
  • Cost Benefit Models and their Alternatives — University of Lund, Climate Economics Workshop, September 2023.

Service

Contributions to Diversity: Mentor for PSA’s Underrepresented Philosophy of Science Scholars Program.

Grant review: NSF, National Humanities Center (USA); SSHRC (Canada); FWF (Austria); NWO (Netherlands); DFG (Germany); British Academy, Wellcome Trust (UK).

Journal referee: Philosophy of Science; British Journal for the Philosophy of Science; Philosopher’s Imprint; Erkenntnis; Synthese; Studies in HPS; Studies in HPS Modern Physics; Studies in HPS Biology; Perspectives on Science; International Studies in Philosophy of Science; Cognitive Science; Entropy; Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal; Philosophy of Technology; Public Affairs Quarterly; Simulation and Gaming; Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics; Royal Society Open Science.

Manuscript review: Cambridge University Press; University of Chicago Press; Routledge; Prentice-Hall.

Program Committees: Philosophy of Science Association; Models and Simulations Conferences (MS1–MS7); Inconsistency Robustness.

Department: Undergraduate Advisor; Undergraduate Committee (chair); Director of Placement; Philosophy of Mind Search Committee (co-chair); Special Committee on Logic and Critical Thinking (chair); Graduate Committee; Tenure and Promotion Committee (chair).

University: Honors and Awards Committee; Instructor Promotions Committee; special grade grievance committee.