[PHILOS-L] Doctoral position in Philosophy of Science (Archives Poincaré & IHPST)
Cyrille Imbert
Call for Applications: Doctoral position in Philosophy of Science (Archives Poincaré (Nancy) & IHPST (Paris)
Topic. Explanatory progress and the gradable extension of understanding in the mathematized science.
The doctoral candidate will investigate how explanations of specific phenomena and their understanding can be gradably improved when 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 attention will be devoted to identifying, describing, and discussing case studies that exemplify improvements in explanatory value and/or understanding. Examples are expected to be drawn from physics, and strong connections to the literature on explanation and understanding are required. A cross-comparison with similar questions in mathematics may be welcome.
Keywords. Explanation. Understanding. Knowledge. Gradability. Progress. Applied Mathematics. Physics.
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).
As such, the doctoral candidate will benefit from an excellent research environment with the opportunity to interact regularly with the researchers involved in the project and participate in the corresponding research activities. Interactions with other researchers and domains within the project (in particular philosophers of (applied) mathematics) are expected.
The GRASP project is devoted to analyzing how success is gradably achieved in particular activities, both in the 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).
The GRASP project has a strong international dimension. The PhD candidate is expected to leverage the international networks and activities related to the project and its members.
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).
Starting date. October 1, 2026 (but may be somewhat flexible).
Institutional affiliation. The PhD will be completed at the Archives Poincaré (Université de Lorraine). A doctoral co-supervision with the IHPST and Université Paris 1 will be organized so that the doctoral student may benefit from both research environments.
Duration of funding. Three years (watch out, this is shorter than the four-year GRASP project).
Wages. 2300 € (“brut”). This corresponds roughly to 1920 euros once (compulsory) Social Security and pension levies have been deducted. This includes rights to unemployment benefits (up to 18 months) at the year of the 3-year contract.
Workload. No teaching duties are involved. However, the candidates are encouraged to get involved in some (optional) teaching activities (depending on University needs) with a limit of 64 hours a year (which may add up to 150-200 euros to the monthly wages, depending on the teaching load).
Application. More details about the position and how to apply will be posted on the Adum site, will be available in an updated document in a public folder (here: https://sharedocs.huma-num.fr/wl/?id=vMOHFDMLNLGROARW83MOznG7tcKvBd2u), and will be advertised on Cyrille Imbert's personal page.
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 (at least B2). 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: First name dot Name at univ-lorraine; First name dot Name at univ-paris1
(add the right termination for an email address in our country).
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