Philosophy
I am currently working on a few different projects. One is to rewrite a book on the foundations of quantum mechanics that, in a somewhat different form, was started by Rob Clifton and me several years ago. Rob passed away after a struggle with cancer. This book will have two distinct parts, the first of which is an exposition, at a beginning graduate level, of the mathematical foundations of the theory, the second of which exposits a version of a ‘quantum logic’ interpretation of the theory, based on a somewhat neo-Kantian epistemology.
Another project concerns multi-criterion decision analysis, which is a family of formal tools to aid decision-making in contexts where several agents bring different criteria for success to the table. I am especially interested in how assumptions about probability can implicitly import values into the process, and I consider cases involving large-scale interventions in nature.
Finally, I am working with Jeff Barrett to develop evolutionary game-theoretic models of predictive behavior. The idea here is, in part, to explore just how far down the road of ‘theorizing’ agents described purely behavioristically can go.
My Work in Philosophy
I am a philosopher of science who has occasionally strayed from the path to do work in ancient philosophy and in meta-philosophy (especially the epistemology of metaphysics). I briefly describe my current projects below.
The links to the right will take you to more detail, should you wish.
Apart from the public-domain images, the material on this site is Copyright 2010, Michael Dickson.