Dr. Natalia Carrillo
I am a philosopher of science with a background in mathematics and theoretical neuroscience. Over the past six years, I have been interested in a current debate in neuroscience in which mathematical models have led researchers to incompatible explanations of the nerve signal. I am interested both in the question of what this case study teaches us about mathematical modeling, and how philosophical reflections on modeling can help us develop an epistemological interpretation of this situation. This has led me to become engaged with the discussion regarding idealization and abstraction in scientific modeling. In addition, I have become interested in the relationship between the history of science and the philosophy of science, since many of the different idealizations in the various models I have come to examine can be traced down historically to earlier modeling attempts. In relation to this, I am also interested in analogy and metaphor in scientific modeling, and how they come to shape abstractions and idealizations of scientific models. In general, I research the epistemological dimension of modeling, and how model-based reasoning supports scientific research.
