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Tobin, Emma

_{Lecturer in Philosophy of Science}

email: e.tobin (at) ucl.ac.uk
phone: 0207 679 1321 (internal 31321)
office: 22 Gordon Square, room 2.4b
recent publications (UCL database)

(Dr Tobin is on leave for the academic year 2011/2012)

Expertise

Emma's research interests are in the metaphysics of science; natural kinds, laws of nature, causation and dispositions. Her current research is on natural kinds in biology and chemistry. She is particularly interested the scientific classification of biomolecules. Her future research project concerns the philosophy of biochemistry. Her broader research interests include issues about reductionism, scientific unification, explanation and causation.

Biography and Research Activities

Emma joined STS in October 2010. Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow on the AHRC Metaphysics of Science Project. She joined the Philosophy Department in Bristol in October 2006. After completing her B.A. in University College Dublin, Emma completed a Ph.D. at Trinity College Dublin, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. She was also a visiting student at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge from May–August 2005, where she worked with Professor Peter Lipton. She was awarded her Ph.D. entitled ‘On the Disunity of the Sciences and Ceteris Paribus Laws’ in March 2006, examined by Prof. Stephen Mumford. (Ph.D. Abstract). Emma is originally from West Cork in Ireland and has one daughter Ailbhe Joyce Curry, who was born in January 2009.

Metaphysics of Science Project

Emma joined the AHRC sponsored project on the Metaphysics of Science as a postdoctoral research fellow based in Bristol working with Alexander Bird in 2006. This was a project based at the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, and Nottingham. Other project members included Stephen Mumford, Markus Schrenk and Matt Tugby (Nottingham), Helen Beebee, Francis Longworth and Nigel Leary (Birmingham).

More about the Metaphysics of Science Project.

As part of the project,I compiled a bibliography on Natural Kinds. 

Publications

Book

Philosophy of Science: An Introduction to Contemporary Problems, London, Continuum Press, Forthcoming 2012.

Research Papers

1. “Chemical Laws” Science and Education, Special Issue on “Philosophy of Chemistry and the Teaching of Chemistry” (ed. Sibel Erduran) (2012), DOI: 10.1007/s11191-012-9445-9 Publishers Website
   
2. Review Essay on Ellis B. “The Metaphysics of Scientific Realism” for Metascience, (Forthcoming) (Pdf Version).
   
3. “Are Natural Kinds and Natural Properties Distinct?”, Metaphysics and Science, Stephen Mumford and Matt Tugby (eds.) Accepted.
   
4. “The Metaphysics of Determinable Kinds”, Properties, Powers and Structures: Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism, Alexander Bird, Brian Ellis and Howard Sankey (eds.), Routledge Studies in Metaphysics, Forthcoming. (Pdf Version)
5. “Crosscutting Natural Kinds and the Hierarchy Thesis”, The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds, Helen Beebee and Nigel Leary (eds.), Routledge Studies in Metaphysics, Forthcoming March 2010. (Pdf Version) Publishers Website
6. “Microstructuralism and Macromolecules: The case of moonlighting proteins”, Foundations of Chemistry, 2010, 12(1), 41-54. (Pdf Version) Publishers Website
7. “Natural Kinds”, (ed. Edward N. Zalta) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (with Alexander Bird), September 2008.
8. “Towards a New Model of Explanation for the Special Sciences”, Causality & Explanation: In Honor of Wesley Salmon, Autonomous University Press, 2006.
9. “What makes the Special Sciences Special – Exploring Scientific Methodology in the Special Sciences”, NOESIS, Cambridge Scholarly Press, 2005.

Book Reviews

1. Review of Dorato, M. The Software of the Universe, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, (March 2008)
2. Review of Mumford, S. Laws in Nature, The Journal of Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, Vol. 9. 2006.
3. Review of Ceteris Paribus Laws (eds.) Earman, Glymour & Mitchell, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2002.) International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 12 No. 4, 2004.

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