Offre de thèse
Explanatory progress and the gradable extension of understanding in the mathematized science.
Date limite de candidature
30-03-2026
Date de début de contrat
01-10-2026
Directeur de thèse
IMBERT Cyrille
Encadrement
projet ANR GRASP (2026-2030)
Type de contrat
école doctorale
équipe
contexte
The candidate will carry out his/her doctoral dissertation within the framework of the research project GRASP (“Gradability across Science and Epistemic Practices”), which was funded by the ANR in 2025 for 4 years (start date: April 2026; PI: Cyrille Imbert) (https://anr.fr/fileadmin/aap/2025/selection/aapg-2025-selection.pdf, p. 313). Dedicated site available soon. As such, the doctoral candidate will benefit from an optimal research environment with the possibility to interact regularly with the researchers involved in the project and to participate in the research activities of the project. Interactions with other researchers and domains within the project (in particular philosophers of (applied) mathematics) are expected. The GRASP project is devoted to the analysis of how success is gradably achieved within particular activities, both in empirical and formal sciences. A specificity of the GRASP project is to put together general philosophers of science, mainstream epistemologists, and philosophers of physics, mathematics, applied mathematics, and biology (in particular Cyrille Imbert, Vincent Ardourel, Marianna Antonutti Marfori, Jean-Marie Chevalier, Alberto Naibo, Philippe Huneman, Andy Arana, Yacin Hamami; Jacques-Henri Vollet). Expected supervision. The successful candidate will be supervised by Cyrille Imbert (AHP, CNRS, Université de Lorraine) together with another researcher at IHPST (expectedly Vincent Ardourel, IHPST, CNRS, Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne).spécialité
Philosophielaboratoire
AHP-PReST - Archives Henri Poincaré - Philosophie et Recherches sur les Sciences et les Technologies
Mots clés
Gradability, Explanation, Understanding, Progress, Applied Mathematics, Physics
Détail de l'offre
The doctoral candidate will investigate the issue of how explanations of specific phenomena and their understanding may be gradably improved in cases where these phenomena are covered by existing well-entrenched theories, laws, or models, have mathematical descriptions, and mathematical methods contribute to their exploration. For example (the following list is not exhaustive), approximation schemes, series expansions, perturbation techniques, renormalization group methods, asymptotic analysis, optimization strategies, or coarse-grained/fine-grained approaches contribute to investigating physical phenomena and potentially improving their explanations. Specific care will be devoted to the identification, description, and discussion of case studies that exemplify improvements in explanatory value and/or understanding. The examples are expected to be drawn from physics, and strong connections with the literature on explanation and understanding are expected. A cross-comparison with similar questions in mathematics may be welcome.
Keywords
Gradability, Explanation, Understanding, Progress, Applied Mathematics, Physics
Subject details
The doctoral candidate will investigate the issue of how explanations of specific phenomena and their understanding may be gradably improved in cases where these phenomena are covered by existing well-entrenched theories, laws, or models, have mathematical descriptions, and mathematical methods contribute to their exploration. For example (the following list is not exhaustive), approximation schemes, series expansions, perturbation techniques, renormalization group methods, asymptotic analysis, optimization strategies, or coarse-grained/fine-grained approaches contribute to investigating physical phenomena and potentially improving their explanations. Specific care will be devoted to the identification, description, and discussion of case studies that exemplify improvements in explanatory value and/or understanding. The examples are expected to be drawn from physics, and strong connections with the literature on explanation and understanding are expected. A cross-comparison with similar questions in mathematics may be welcome.
Profil du candidat
Requirements: MA Degree in Philosophy (an additional degree in a relevant scientific field is an asset), CV, Statement of Interest, Research Project. Details will be provided online soon.
Skills. Ability to interact with other people. Good philosophical writing. Good English proficiency. Mastery of French is not required, but the candidate is expected to develop his/her fluency over these doctoral years to make the best of his/her environment.
Deadline: Spring 2026 (a more precise date will be made more specific soon).
Contact: Cyrille.Imbert@univ-lorraine.fr; Vincent.Ardourel@univ-paris1.fr
Candidate profile
Requirements: MA Degree in Philosophy (an additional degree in a scientific field is an asset), CV, Statement of Interest, Research Project. Details will be provided online soon.
Skills. Ability to interact with other people. Good philosophical writing. Good English proficiency (at least B2, hopefully higher). Mastery of French is not required, but the candidate is expected to develop his/her fluency over these doctoral years to make the best of his/her environment.
Deadline: Spring 2026 (a more precise date will be made more specific soon; we have indicated March 30 as a preliminary estimate).
Contact: Cyrille.Imbert@univ-lorraine.fr; Vincent.Ardourel@univ-paris1.fr
Référence biblio
Relevant references corresponding to the
- philosophical literature about scientific explanation
- philosophical literature about understanding
- relevant literature about the philosophy of applied mathematics
- scientific literature about the relevant cases