Prof. Dr. Alyssa Ney

Personal information

Alyssa Ney is Professor and Chair of Metaphysics at the Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Religious Studies at LMU Munich. She received her MA and PhD in Philosophy from Brown University, her MS in Physics from UC Davis, and her BS in Physics and Philosophy from Tulane University. Before coming to LMU, she was Professor of Philosophy at UC Davis and the University of Rochester. Professor Ney's research focuses primarily on questions of fundamentality, the unity of science, and the interpretation of quantum theories. She is the author of The World in the Wave Function (Oxford University Press, 2021) and Metaphysics: An Introduction (Routledge, 2014), which is now in its second edition. She is also co-editor, with David Z. Albert, of The Wave Function (Oxford University Press, 2013) and the author of numerous articles in philosophy journals that include Journal of Philosophy, Noûs, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophy of Science, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, and Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. She is a former president of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science.

Curriculum vitae

Selected publications

1. "The Argument from Locality for Many Worlds Quantum Mechanics," Journal of Philosophy, forthcoming.
2. "From Quantum Entanglement to Spatiotemporal Distance," Philosophy Beyond Spacetime. N. Huggett, B. LeBihan, and C. Wüthrich, eds. Oxford University Press. 2021.
3. "The Fundamentality of Physics: Completeness or Maximality?" Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, December 2020.
4. "Are the Questions of Metaphysics More Fundamental Than Those of Science?" Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 2020.
5. "Microphysical Causation and the Case for Physicalism," Analytic Philosophy, June 2016.
6. "Does an Adequate Physical Theory Demand a Primitive Ontology?" with Kathryn Phillips, Philosophy of Science, July 2013.
7. "The Status of Our Ordinary Three Dimensions in a Quantum Universe," Noûs, September 2012.
8. "Neo-Positivist Metaphysics," Philosophical Studies, August 2012.
9. "Physical Causation and Difference-making," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, December 2009.
10. "Physicalism as an Attitude," Philosophical Studies, March 2008.

Academic distinctions

• Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, March-August 2024.
• Foundational Questions Institute (FQxI) Essay Contest on "What is Fundamental?" Second Prize, 2018.
• John Templeton Foundation Academic Cross-Training Fellowship, 2018-2020.
• University of California Humanities Research Institute Multi-Campus Faculty Working Group Grant, Project: California Quantum Interpretation Network (co-P.I. with Charles Sebens), 2017-18.
• NSF Grant, Project: Conceptual Analysis of Quantum Theories: Developing a Realistic Interpretation of the Wave Function, 2016-17.
• UC Davis Small Grant in Aid of Research, 2016-17.
• Davis Humanities Institute Faculty Research Cluster Grant for Speaker Series and Conference on the Philosophy and Physics of Space-time, 2016-17.
• UC Davis Faculty Research Travel Grant, 2015-16, 2016-17.
• University of Rochester Bridging Fellowship, Spring 2014.
• University of Rochester Humanities Project Grant for a Series of Three Workshops Connecting Metaphysics and Philosophy of Physics, Fall 2013 - Fall 2015.
• University of Rochester Center for Workshop Education Grant for Peer-led Workshops in Philosophy 101, Fall 2009 - Fall 2010.
• Andrew W. Mellon Grant for Upstate New York Humanities Corridor Graduate Seminar on Reductionism (with Kevan Edwards), Fall 2009.
• University of Rochester Humanities Project Grant to support lecture series in History and Philosophy of Physics, University of Rochester, 2006-08.
• Andrew W. Mellon Grant for Upstate New York Humanities Corridor Three Day Workshop on Mental Causation (with Robert Van Gulick), Fall 2007.
• Elsie Field Dupre Prize in Physics, Tulane University, June 1999.

Other activities

• Associate Editor, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2015-2024.
• Editorial Board, Philosophy of Physics, 2021-present.
• Trustee, Philosophy of Physics Society, 2023-present.
• Program Committee, American Philosophical Association Pacific Division, 2021-2024, 2015-2018.
• Philosophy of Science Association Underrepresented Philosophy of Science Scholars Faculty Mentor, 2020-present.
• Scientific Advisory Board, Epistemic Studies book series (de Gruyter), 2019-present.
• Advisory Board, ERC grant: MetaScience, 2018-present.
• Panelist, European Research Council (dates redacted).
• Panelist, National Science Foundation (dates redacted).
• Metaphysics Area Editor, Ergo, 2015-2020.
• Executive Committee, American Philosophical Association Pacific Division, 2016-2019.
• Scientific Advisory Committee, Templeton Grant: Space and time after Quantum Gravity, 2015-2018.
• President, Society for the Metaphysics of Science, 2015-2016.
• Program Committee, Philosophy of Science Association, 2014-2015.
• Program Committee, Society for the Metaphysics of Science, 2014-2015.