Dr. Patrick M. Duerr

Patrick
Dr.
Patrick M.
Duerr
Philosophy of Physics

Philosophy of Physics
History and Philosophy of Science
Metaphysics of Science

 

Email: patrick-duerr@gmx.de 

    Current Projects: 

Conventionalism in modern spacetime and gravitational physics, notions of unification in cosmology, gauge theory, forms of geometrization, philosophical reflections on dark matter and dark energy, and history of philosophy of science

 Curriculum Vitae:

My background is both in the sciences, as well as in philosophy (with postgraduate degrees in maths, theoretical physics and philosophy). In 2021, I completed my DPhil in (=PhD) in Philosophy from the University of Oxford, UK, with a thesis on “Gravitational Energy and Energy Conservation in General Relativity and Other Theories of Gravity”.  

Fellowships and Grants 

Doctoral Scholarship of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science for PhD studies at the University of Oxford, UK; Heinrich-Hertz Fellowship for History and Philosophy of Physics at the University of Bonn, DE; Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, US

Research grant of the Land Bremen

Departmental Lecturer

From 2022 until 2023, I hold the position of a Departmental Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK

Publications

(2019)

“It Ain’t Necessarily So: Gravitational Waves and Energy Transport“
Studies  in History  and Philosophy of Modern Physics Vol. 65, February 2019, pp. 25-40, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.08.005

(2019)

“Fantastic Beasts and Where (not) to Find Them: Energy Conservation and Local Gravitational Energy in General Relativity“
Studies  in History  and Philosophy          of Modern Physics,  Vol. 65, February 2019, pp. 1-14 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2018.07.002

(2019)

“Gravitational Energy in Newtonian Gravity – A Response to Dewar and
Weatherall“
; co-authored with James Read (Oxford)
Foundations of Physics, 49, pp. 1086–1110 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-019-00301-y

(2020)

“Unweyling Three Mysteries of Nordström Gravity“
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Vol. 69, February 2020, pp. 32-49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsb.2019.08.005

(2020)

“Against ‘Functional Gravitational Energy’: A Critical Note on Functionalism, Selective Realism, Geometric Objects, and Gravitational Energy“
Synthese (in press), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02503-3  

(2021)

“Strong Claims About Weak Values: How (Not) To Understand Weak Measurements” co-authored with Johannes Fankhauser (Oxford, UK)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Volume 85, February 2021, pp. 16-29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2020.12.002

(2021)

“Conventionalism and Theory Equivalence in f(R) Gravity“
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Volume 88, August 2021, pp. 10-29, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.04.007

(2021)

“The Physics and Metaphysics of Tychistic Bohmian Mechanics“; co-authored with Alexander Ehmann (Lingnan, HK)  Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, forth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.09.014

(2021)

“The General-Relativistic Case for Super-Substantivalism”; co-authored with Claudio Calosi (Geneva, CH)
Synthese, forth.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03398-9

(forth)

Popper - critical rationalist, conventionalist, and virtue epistemologist. HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science. forth.

(forth.) 

Why Reichenbach wasn’t entirely wrong, and Poincaré was almost right, about geometric conventionalism. (With Yemima Ben-Menahem, Jerusalem). Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, forth.

 

    Doctoral Dissertation:

 

"Gravitational Energy and Energy Conservation in General Relativity and Other Theories of Gravity", University of Oxford, UK