apl. Prof. Dr. Alexander Reutlinger

Personal information

Alexander Reutlinger is Senior Assistant Professor (Akademischer Oberrat auf Lebenszeit) and Adjunct Professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (Chair of Philosophy of Science) and the Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Studies. Together with Norbert Gratzl, he coordinates the Master program in Logic and Philosophy of Science.

Alexander Reutlinger researches and teaches on topics in (general) philosophy of science and neighboring areas of epistemology and metaphysics. His current research interests include critical analyses of the arguments of science skeptics as well as invariance theories of scientific objectivity.

Curriculum vitae

Selected publications

1. Reutlinger, A. (2022): When Do Non-Epistemic Values Play an Epistemically Illegitimate Role in Science? How to Solve One Half of the New Demarcation Problem. In: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science 92: 152-161.
2. Reutlinger, A. (2020): What is Epistemically Wrong With Research Affected by Sponsorship Bias? An Evidential Account. In: European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10: 1-26.
3. Reutlinger, A., Hangleiter, D., Hartmann, S. (2018): Understanding (With) Toy Models. In: The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 69: 1069-1099.
4. Reutlinger, A. (2018): Extending the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation. A Monist Account of Causal and Non-Causal Explanations. In: A. Reutlinger and J. Saatsi (eds.), Explanation Beyond Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 74-95.
5. Reutlinger, A. (2016): Is There A Monist Theory of Causal and Non-Causal Explanations? The Counterfactual Theory of Scientific Explanation. In: Philosophy of Science 83: 733-745.
6. Reutlinger, A. (2016): Does the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation apply to Non-Causal Explanations in Metaphysics?. In: European Journal for Philosophy of Science 7: 239–256.
7. Reutlinger, A. (2014): Why Is There Universal Macro-Behavior? Renormalization Group Explanation As Non-causal Explanation. In: Philosophy of Science 81: 1157-1170.
8. Reutlinger, A. (2014): Do Statistical Laws Solve the Problem of Provisos? In: Erkenntnis 79: 1759-1773.
9. Reutlinger, A. (2013): A Theory of Causation in the Biological and Social Sciences, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
10. Reutlinger, A. (2012): Getting Rid of Interventions. In: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Part C 43 (4): 787-795.

Academic distinctions

• 2017 and 2021: Teaching Excellency Award (first place 2017, third place 2021), awarded by the Philosophy Fachschaft at LMU Munich
• 2013 Offerman-Hergarten Prize for doctoral dissertations, Cologne University
• 2008 - 2010 Doctoral scholarship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

Research projects

Alexander Reutlinger's current research projects and interests include:

• Strategic science skepticism (especially the critical analysis of science-skeptic arguments, the distinction between strategic science skepticism and legitimate/productive criticism of science)
• Scientific objectivity (especially invariance-theoretic definitions of objectivity, consequences of such invariance theories for conceputal connections between objectivity and (empirical and testimonial) evidence, symmetry, necessity, and causality)

Older research interests which still influence Alexander Reutlinger's research:

• Scientific explanations (especially counterfactual theories of causal and non-causal explanations in scientific and mathematical contexts)
• Natural laws and models (especially ceteris paribus laws, idealized laws and models, universality and invariance of laws)
• Causality (especially counterfactual and interventionist theories of causality, neo-Russellian arguments about causation)

Teaching

Alexander Reutlinger's current courses can be found on LSF.

If you wish to write a thesis under Alexander Reutlinger's supervision, please contact him by email, including a few sentences outlining the planned topic.

Other activities

Alexander Reutlinger is engaged in communicating philosophy of science to the wider public. Here is a selection of his communication projects:

• 2024 Installation of a memorial plaque for Otto Neurath at the Haydnhof Gemeindebau in Vienna (January 2024). The project was initiated together with Günther Sandner (University of Vienna) and brought to fruition in cooperation with "Wiener Wohnen" and Karmen Minassian (SPÖ) of the Meidling district council in Vienna.
• 2023 Consulting work for the blog "Verfassungsblog. On Matters Constitutional" on strategic science skepticism and attacks on science motivated by right-wing extremism.
• 2020 - 2021 Socially Engaged Philosophy - a communication project by Maria Kronfeldner (Central European University, Vienna), Martin Kusch (University of Vienna), and Alexander Reutlinger. In a series of videos, they discuss how philosophy of science can contribute to a better understanding of social and political problems of the present day.
• Reutlinger, A. and Sandner, G. (2022): Warum demokratische Beteiligung mehr Wissenschaftskompetenz braucht. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, magazine of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung) 26-27 (issue on science, the public, and democracy): pp. 21-27. Full article (PDF, 413 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2021): Wir möchten philosophisch fundierte Wissenschaftskompetenz vermitteln. Interview with Wissenschaftskommunikation.de, Interviewer: Inga Dreyer, 20.12.2021.
• Reutlinger, A. and Sandner, G. (2021): Wissenschaftliche Expertise in der Demokratie. Zur Aktualität von Otto Neuraths politischer Wissenschaftsphilosophie. In: G. Waldner (ed.): Die Konturen der Welt. Geschichte und Gegenwart visueller Bildung nach Otto Neurath, Vienna and Berlin: Mandelbaum Verlag, pp. 79-100. Full article (PDF, 536 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2021): Wissenschaftsfreiheit? Nur dem Namen nach! Ein kritischer Kommentar zum ‚Netzwerk Wissenschaftsfreiheit‘. In: prae|faktisch – Ein Philosopieblog, 9.3.2021.
• Reutlinger, A. (2021): Falsche Freunde. In: Merkur. Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken, Merkur Blog, 25.02.2021.
• Kusch, M. and Reutlinger, A (2021): Criticising Science. In: Philosophy Now. A Magazine of Ideas 142, pp. 12-15. Full article (PDF, 559 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2020): Wissenschaftskommunikation in Krisenzeiten. In: AVISO. Magazin für Kunst und Wissenschaft in Bayern 2/20: pp. 16-17.
• Reutlinger, A. (2020): Expertenherrschaft oder Wissenschaftskommunikation? Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung in Zeiten der Corona-Krise. In: prae|faktisch – Ein Philosopieblog, 10.5.2020.
• Reutlinger, A. (2020): Otto Neurath. Über einen politisch engagierten Philosophen, Cogito 13 (issue on "Modernity").
• Reutlinger, A. (2020): Interview über Wissenschaftsskeptizismus und Werte in den Wissenschaften. In: Die Funzel 4: pp. 39-41.
• Reutlinger, A. (2019): Die Wissenschaft als magische Glaskugel. Über den „March For Science“ 2019. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, online, 9.5.2019.
• Reutlinger, A. (2019): Wie man die Wahrheit in der Wissenschaft erkennt. Interview about strategic science skepticism. In: "Die Profis", radioeins RBB, 26.01.2019.
• Reutlinger, A. (2019): Klimawandel? Welcher Klimawandel? Die Wissenschaft hat viele Feinde. Einige geben sich großzügig wie Freunde. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung 18, 22.1.2019, pp. 13. Full article (PDF, 63 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2018): Bedrohte akademische Freiheit. Der Fall Central European University. In: prae|faktisch - Ein Philosophieblog.
• Maria Kronfeldner and Alexander Reutlinger (2018): Was sollen Philosoph/innen tun? Kommentar zur Podiumsdiskussion 'Bedrohtes Denken' (DGPhil Kongress 2017). In: Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung 72.1: pp. 114-118. Preprint (PDF, 118 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2018): Evidenz trumpft! Eine Kritik am Begriff der alternativen Fakten. In: Cogito 11: pp. 21-22. Preprint (PDF, 87 KB)
• Reutlinger, A. (2016): Zur Rebellion gegen die Intellektuellen. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 1.12.2016, pp. 14.
• Since 2018 Alexander Reutlinger has regularly held lectures on topics from the philosophy of science at the Munich Adult Education Centre (Münchner Volkshochschule).