Mariam's online CV

Mariam Thalos

Distinguished Professor of Humanities and past Department Head of Philosophy

801 McClung Tower, Knoxville TN 37996

Phone: 865-974-3255 • Fax: 865-974-3509

Areas of Specialization:

Philosophy of science, with sub-specialties in:

Philosophy of physics, esp. history and philosophy of mechanics and quantum theory
Philosophy of social science
Philosophy of economics, esp. issues of risk

Existentialism and phenomenology, with emphasis on questions of freedom

Metaphysics, esp. causation, ontology and emergence

Decision and game theory, and their applications to regulation and political philosophy

Philosophy of action, self and motivation

Logical paradox, Philosophy of Reasoning

PhD University of Illinois at Chicago, 1993

Current Academic Appointment: Distinguished Professor and past Head of Department, Univ of Tennesse, Knoxville

Selected Secondary Appointments and Affiliations:

2024 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities at University of Guelph

2023- Consultant and author, Primal World Beliefs Project (Jer Clifton, PI), University of Pennsylvania

2018- Member DySoc—Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity within NIMBioS (National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis)

2014 Visiting Professor, University of Helsinki

2010 Professorial Fellow, Institute of Philosophy, University of London

2007 Visiting Professorial Fellowship, University of Sydney Center for Foundations of Science

2004- Six-time Helen Riaboff Whiteley Scholar, University of Washington

1999 Visiting Professorial Fellow, Social & Political Theory Group, Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Selected Fellowships, Prizes and Grants:

2024 Fulbright Award: Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities at Guelph University

2000-2001 NEH Fellowship for University Teachers

2009-2010 National Science Foundation grant, as PI: SES-0957108: Precaution, Self-Regulation and Public Policy. $259,000

2012 Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize 2012 (inaugural) for: Truth deserves to be believed. Philosophy 88: 344 (2013)

2013 Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize 2013 for: The Grammar of Experience. Philosophy, 89:2 (2014) 223 - 250.

2001 Kavka Prize, for Degrees of Freedom in the Social World (Journal of Political Philosophy, 7, 1999, 453-77), American Philosophical Association

2017 Diametros International Essay Prize Competition, for “Expectational v. Instrumental Reasoning,” 6000PLN

2013-2015 University of Sydney Center for Time, Towards a formal decision theory with a future. AU$10,000

2011 Faculty Fellowship, University of Utah

2003 Tanner Humanities Center Fellowship, for Foundations of Collective Decision

2003 Faculty Fellowship, University of Utah

2008-2009 Honors Professorship, University of Utah, to teach Science and politics: Tracking the impact of social agendas on the sciences of nutrition, climate and education

2009-2010 Dee Foundation Grant, to support multi-disciplinary teaching of Philosophy of Human Nature. $10,000

1998 NEH Summer Institute participation grant, The Idea of a Social Science: 40 Years Later. University of Missouri-St. Louis

2015 University of Utah Research Council Scholarly grant, $5875

2013 University of Utah Research Council Scholarly grant, $6000

2012 University of Utah Research Council Scholarly grant, $5700

2019, University of Tennessee Knoxville Professional and Scholarly Development Grant, US$5000

2023, University of Tennessee Knoxville Haines-Morris Grant

Publications

Monographs:

Without Hierarchy: The Scale Freedom of the Universe, 2013, Oxford University Press (Author Meets Critics session at TINT: University of Helsinki, 2014)
A Social Theory of Freedom. Routledge, 2016 (subject of an APA Eastern Division symposium in 2018)
2026: Reasoning in the Wild: The Public Works of Reason, under contract with Routledge
In progress: Fault-lines of Philosophy: An opinionated graduate-level introduction to philosophy

Editorships:

Advisory Editor, with Henry Kyburg, Jr., of Monist 84:2, Probability as a Guide to Life, April 2001.
Probability is the Very Guide of Life: The Philosophical Uses of Chance, edited with Henry Kyburg, Jr., Open Court: 2003.
Advisory Editor of Monist 91/1 (2008): Privacy.
Article Editor for SAGE Open (since 2018)

Articles or Interviews in wide-readership Media:

1. “The Wit of Knitting,” APA Newsletter on Feminism, 8/1. 2008.

2. “Interview” with Caterina Marchionni, The Reasoner. 2014.

3. ‘Philosophical Meditations on “Black lives matter,”’ Black Lives Matter 2. The Critique. 2016.

4. “Mariam Thalos discusses freedom,” Elucidations, podcast with Matt Teichman. 2018.

5. “Interview” with Richard Marshall, 3ammagazine, 2018.

6. “Resist and be free,” Aeon Magazine (based on A Social Theory of Freedom). 2019.

7. “Philosophy of Science,” in AccessScience, McGraw Hill. 2019.

8. “A philosopher works from home,” Think. 2020.

9. Thalos, M. (Speaker). Game Theory: Field Report [Video]. SAGE Business Foundations. [DOI Forthcoming]. 2023.

10. People Power, The Conversation. In progress.

Articles in Refereed Journals:

1. (with Henry Kyburg, Jr., and Fahim Bacchus) “Against Conditionalization,” Synthese, 85 (1990), 475-506.

2. “The Need for Classical Epistemological Foundations: Against a Feminist Alternative,” Monist, 77 (1994), 531-553.

3. Conflict and Coordination in the Aftermath of Oracular Statements,” The Philosophical Quarterly, 47 (1997), 212-226.

4. “Self-Interest, Autonomy and the Presuppositions of Decision Theory,” American Philosophical Quarterly, 34 (1997), 287-297.

5. “A Modest Proposal for Interpreting Structural Explanation,” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 49 (1998), 279-295.

6. “The Trouble with Superselection Accounts of Measurement,” Philosophy of Science, 65 (1998), 518-544.

7. “The Economy of Belief, or, Explaining Cooperation Among the Prudent,” American Philosophical Quarterly, 35 (1998), 349-64.

8. “Knowledge in an Age of Individual Economy: A Prolegomenon to Epistemology,” Journal of Philosophical Research, 24 (1999), 169-191.

9. “Degrees of Freedom: An Essay on Competitions between Micro and Macro in Mechanics,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 59 (1999), 1-39.

10. “In Favor of Being Only Humean,” Philosophical Studies, 93 (1999), 265-98.

11. “Two Dogmas of Naturalized Epistemology,” Dialectica, 53 (1999), 111-138.

12. “Why We Believe,” Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 30 (1999), 317-339.

13. “Units of Decision,” Philosophy of Science, 66 (1999), S324-S338.

14. “Degrees of Freedom in the Social World,” Journal of Political Philosophy, 7 (1999), 453-77.

15. “Explanation is a Genus: On the Varieties of Scientific Explanation,” Synthese, 130 (2002) 317-354.

16. “The Reduction of Causal Processes,” Synthese, 131 (2002), 99-128.

17. “Searle’s Foole: How a Constructionist Account of Society Cannot Substitute for a Causal One,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 62 (1), 2003, 105-122. This special issue on John Searle’s Construction of Social Reality appeared simultaneously in book form.

18. “From Human Nature to Moral Philosophy,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 28 (2003), 85-128.

19. “From Paradox to Judgment: An Essay on the Metaphysics of Expression,” Australasian Journal of Logic 3 (2005), 76-107.

20. “Nonreductive Physics,” Synthese, 149 (2006), 133-178.

21. (with Chrisoula Andreou) “Sense and Sensibility,” American Philosphical Quarterly, 44:1 (2007), 71-80.

22. “Two Conceptions of Collectivity,” Journal of the Philosophy of History, 2 (2008), 83–104.

23. “On Planning: Towards a Natural History of Goal Attainment,” Philosophical Papers, 37 (2008), 289-317.

24. “Molecule-for-Molecule Duplication,” Teorema (special issue on phenomenal consciousness and naturalism), 28:3 (2008), 103-114.

25. (with Chrisoula Andreou) “Of Human Bonding,” Public Reason 1:2 (2009), 46-73; open access at http://publicreason.ro/cuprins/3.

26. “Systems,” Monist (issue on Philosophy of Engineering) 92:3 (2009), 452-78.

27. “There is no core to precaution,” Review Journal of Political Philosophy, 7:2 (2009), 41-49.

28. “Imitative Reasoning,” Social Epistemology, 23:3-4 (2009), 381–405.

29. “Two Conceptions of Fundamentality,” Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 41:2 (2011), 151-177.

30. “Solidarity: A motivational conception”, Philosophical Papers, 41:1 (2012) 57-95.

31. “The Lens of Chemistry,” Science & Education, 22:7 (2013) 1707-22.

32. “Towards a theory of freedom,” Theoria, 134 (2013) 1-25.

33. “Truth deserves to be believed,” Philosophy 88: 344 (2013), 179-96 (winner of the inaugural Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize).

34. (with Oliver Richardson) “Capitalization in the St. Petersburg Game,” Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 13 (2013) 292-313

35. “The Grammar of Experience,” Philosophy 89:2 (2014) 223 - 250 (joint winner of the Royal Institute of Philosophy Essay Prize for 2013).

36. "Diagnostic preliminaries to applying a decision theory,"SATS: Northern European Journal of Philosophy, 15 (2014) 168–196

37. Review of Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Systematicity: The Nature of Science (OUP), Mind 124 (2015) 351-57.

38. "Who will advise us? An essay on the proper relationship of science and political institutions in democratic societies," SATS: Northern European Journal of Philosophy, 16 (2015) 67-95

39. "Expectational v. Instrumental Reasoning: What statistics contributes to practical reasoning," Diametros, 53 (2017), 125-49, winner of the first Diametros International Essay Prize Competition (2017)

40. "Dirty hands: The phenomenology of acting as an authorized agent," Monist 101:2 (2018), 170-186.

41. "The logic of measurement—a defense of foundationalist empiricism." Episteme FirstView: https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2023.32 (2023)

42. "Public Sentiment and Its Powers." Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 12:6 (2023), 1-20. https://wp.me/p1Bfg0-7QD

43. Powers that reside in communication. SATS: Northern European Journal of Philosophy 24(2), 147-166. https://doi.org/10.1515/sats-2023-0010

Chapters in Books:

1. “Paradox and its Undoing: A Speech Act Manifesto,” in John Woods and Bryson Brown, eds., Logical Consequence: Rival Approaches, Paris: Hermes Science Publications, 2001, 297-308.

2. “The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper,” in The Classics of Western Philosophy, J. Gracia, G. Reichberg and B. Schumacher, eds., Blackwell, 2003.

3. “Searle’s Foole: How a Constructionist Account of Society Cannot Substitute for a Causal One,” in John Searle’s Ideas about Social Reality: Extensions, Criticisms and Reconstructions, David Koepsell & Laurence S. Moss, eds., Blackwell, 2003.

4. “The Reduction of Causation,” in Probability is the Very Guide of Life: The Philosophical Uses of Probability, M. Thalos and H. Kyburg, Jr., eds., Open Court, 2003.

5. “Introduction,” with Henry Kyburg, Jr., in Probability is the Very Guide of Life: The Philosophical Uses of Probability, M. Thalos and H. Kyburg, Jr., eds., Open Court, 2003.

6. “Distinction, Judgment and Discipline,” in Categories, Michael Gorman and Jonathan Sanford, eds., Catholic University of America Press, Catholic University of America Press, 2004, 185-203.

7. “What is a feminist to do with rational choice?” Blackwell Companion to Rationalism, Alan Nelson, ed., 2005, 450-468.

8. “Navigation: An Engineer’s Perspective,” in Probability and inference: Essays in Honor of Henry E. Kyburg, Jr., Gregory Wheeler and William Harper, eds., London: College Publications, 2007, 211-133.

9. “Sources of Behavior: Towards a Control Metaphysics of Agency,” in Distributed Cognition and the Will, Don Ross and David Spurrett, eds., Harvard: MIT Press, 2007, 123-67.

10. “Why I am not a Friend” in Facebook and Philosophy, D. E. Wittkower, ed., Open Court, 2010, 75-88.

11. “Self-constructions: An Existentialist Approach to Self and Social Identity,” in Out from the Shadows: Analytical Feminist Contributions to Traditional Philosophy, Sharon Crasnow and Anita Superson, eds., Oxford University Press, 2012, 451-92.

12. “Precaution has its reasons,” in Topics in Contemporary Philosophy 9: The Environment, Philosophy, Science and Ethics. Kabasenche, W, O’Rourke, M and Slater, M, eds., MIT Press, 2012, 171-184.

13. “What Hume should have said to Descartes,” in David Hume: A Tercentenary Tribute, Stanley Tweyman, ed., Caravan Books: Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2013, pp. 21-44.

14. "Attitude: How we learn to inhabit the future," in The Theory and Practice of Ontology: Essays in Honor of Barry Smith, Leo Zaibert, ed., Palgrave-Macmillan, 203-221

15. "Against border patrols," in Science Unlimited? Challenges of Scientism, Maarten Boudry and Massimo Pigliucci, eds., University of Chicago Press, 2017, 283-301.

16. "Human beings/human freedom," in Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy, Graham Oppy et al. eds., Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy, Macmillan Reference USA/Gale, 2019, 429-448.

17. "Existentialism," in Blackwell Companion to Atheism and Philosophy, Graham Oppy, et al., eds., Wiley-Blackwell, 2019, 123-37.

Articles in Encyclopedias:

1. “Naturalism,” Philosophy of Education: An Encyclopedia, New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1996, 425-430.

2. “The Self,” Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories, general editor Lorraine Code, Routledge, 2000.

3. “Metaphysics,” Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories, general editor Lorraine Code, Routledge, 2000.

4. “Ontology,” Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories, general editor Lorraine Code, Routledge, 2000.

5. “Philosophy of Science,” McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 2004/2019, online at https://www.accessscience.com/content/philosophy-of-science/800380

6. “Science in Philosophy,” Literary Encyclopedia, 2007, online at http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1737.

7. “Theories of Explanation,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences, Byron Kaldis, ed., Sage, 2013.

8. "Existentialism and Existential Theology," Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro, eds., Wiley-Blackwell 2021.

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