Prof. Tarja Knuuttila
I am a philosopher of science studying scientific modeling, representation, and interdisciplinary relations between different scientific disciplines. As part of my philosophical work, I have developed an artefactual account of scientific modeling that contributes to our understanding of what makes models epistemically fruitful (Knuuttila 2005, 2011 2018). Although the philosophical questions I am interested in are general, my approach is geared towards contemporary science, and is practice-oriented. In particular, I combine philosophical analysis with historical and empirical case studies, often in collaboration with scientists or scholars from the history and sociology of science. In addition to synthetic biology and economics, I have been working on language technology and on the engineering sciences more generally, as well as on the commercialization of scientific research.
One of my areas of expertise is science and technology studies – I served as an Editor-in-Chief of Science & Technology Studies. For this project, I am focusing on the modal dimension of scientific modelling, especially in the context of the life sciences. Another goal of mine is to further develop the artifactual approach to modelling. Finally, I am addressing the dissemination of formal and computational methods across disciplinary boundaries through the close study of some widely used model templates.
