Dr. Alice Murphy
Research Associate
Chair of Philosophy of Science, MCMP
Personal information
Alice Murphy is a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy of science at the MCMP. Prior to joining the center, she received her PhD (2020) from the University of Leeds, her MA (2015) from the University of Warwick, and her BA (2014) from the University of Bristol.
Public engagement
Podcasts
- Imagination in Science, Forum for Philosophy
- Science and Aesthetics, Philosophy Exchange
Popular Writings
- In What Way are Experiments Like Artworks? (with Milena Ivanova), Commonplace. 2023
- 'Seeing' in Understanding (with Federica I. Malfatti), Junkyard. 2021
- Beauty and the Scientific Imagination, Junkyard. 2019
Research interests
Alice is interested in imagination, creativity, and aesthetic values in science, as well as the relations between thought experiments and other practices such as computer simulations and physical experiments. She is co-editor of The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments (Routledge, 2023) and is currently working on the role of aesthetic values and imagination in the context of central topics in the epistemology of science such as understanding, testimony and trust, and the impact of social values.
More about her work, and her published and working papers, can be found on her website.
Selected publications
- Murphy, A. Imagination and Creativity in the Scientific Realm. Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination and Creativity, edited by Amy Kind and Julia Langkau. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming.
- Murphy, A. Form and Content: A Defence of Aesthetic Value in Science. Philosophy of Science 90 (3). 2023.
- Ivanova, M. and A. Murphy (eds.) The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. Routledge. 2023.
- Murphy, A. "Profound Experiments". M. Ivanova and A. Murphy (eds.) The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments. Routledge. 2023.
- French, S. and A. Murphy. The Value of Surprise in Science. Erkenntnis 88. 2023.
- Murphy, A. Imagination in Science. Philosophy Compass 17 (6). 2022.
- Murphy, A. Toward a Pluralist Account of the Imagination in Science. Philosophy of Science 87 (5). 2020.
- Murphy, A. “The Aesthetic and Literary Qualities of Scientific Thought Experiments”. M. Ivanova and S. French (eds.) Aesthetics of Science: Beauty, Imagination and Understanding. Routledge. 2020.