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Hi! I am Vera, a tenured Associate Professor in Philosophy of Science at the University of Perugia, where I also serve as Sub-delegate of the Rector for Artificial Intelligence. My work is guided by a naturalistic but cautious commitment to scientific realism. My research is therefore devoted to developing a sophisticated form of realism that integrates the metaphysics of physical theories with a critical examination of the scientific method itself.
Much of my work has focused on deriving ontological commitments from quantum mechanics. Beginning with Bohmian mechanics — the subject of my PhD and my monograph The Metaphysics of Bohmian Mechanics (De Gruyter, 2022) — I developed a framework for reading physical ontology from physical theories, arriving at a position aligned with ontic structural realism.
Collaborating with astrophysicists during my postdoc at Bern opened a second line of research: the philosophy of the scientific method in data-scarce fields. I have worked on meta-empirical confirmation and the replicability crisis. This work led me to co-edit the first volume on the philosophy of astrophysics with Nora Boyd, Kevin Heng, and Siska de Baerdemaeker (Synthese Library, 2023). Now I am working on AI's role in shaping scientific knowledge. Drawing on a case study from accelerator physics, I challenged the widespread view that machine learning is a mere instrumental tool, and argued that it can, under some circumstances, deliver genuine scientific understanding — what I call attributive understanding.
My next project combines metaphysics of science and pholosophy of the scientific method: I am developing a fictionalist accounts of dark energy, and interrogating whether the ΛCDM model is truly realist in character.
I published in Synthese, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Inquiry, Foundations of Physics, and the European Journal for Philosophy of Science, and I have presented my work around the globe. I teach a wide range of topics from Logic to the philosophy of AI — and I have supervised nearly seventy dissertations at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Publications:
Publications:
MONOGRAPHS:
Matarese V. (2022), The metaphysics of Bohmian Mechanics, De Gruyter.
EDITED VOLUMES:
Boyd N., De Baerdemaeker S., Heng K., Matarese V. (eds) (2023), Philosophy of Astrophysics, Synthese Library.
ARTICLES & CONTRIBUTED CHAPTERS:
Metaphysics of Science & Philosophy of Physics
Matarese, V. (2025). Exploring the Bohmian Ontology. In Raoni Arroyo & Jonas R. B. Arenhart (eds., trans.), Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics Compendium. Coleção CLE, v. XX, 2025
Matarese, V. (2024). Quantum Fictivism. European Journal for Philosophy of Science.
Matarese, V. (2023). De Broglie-Bohm Theory, Quo Vadis?. Foundations of physics, 53(1), 18.
Matarese, V. (2022), Space the many substances. Forthcoming in Vassallo, A. (editor), The Foundations of Spacetime Physics: Philosophical Perspectives, Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics.
Matarese, V. (2022), Le Leggi dinamiche come guide alla ontologia fondamentale. La Nottola.
Matarese, V. (2022), On the principles that serve as guides to the ontology of quantum mechanics. Forthcoming in Allori, V. (editor), Quantum Mechanics and Fundamentality: Naturalizing Quantum Theory between Scientific Realism and Ontological Indeterminacy , Synthese Library.
Matarese, V. (2020). Super-Humeanism and physics: a merry relationship? Synthese.
Matarese V. (2014). A Structuralist Perspective on the Problem of Objecthood: Herbart’s Realism Without Object. Methode - Analytic Perspectives.
Matarese V. (2014). DALL’«ARTICOLO EPR» AGLI ESPERIMENTI DI ALAIN ASPECT: IL LUNGO CAMMINO DEL PROBLEMA DELLA NONLOCALITÀ IN MECCANICA QUANTISTICA. ACME, 66(1-2), 197-223.
Philosophy of Science
Matarese, V. (forthcoming), Machine Learning in Experimental Physics: From Optimization to Understanding. Synthese.
Matarese, V. (forthcoming), On the epistemic value of atmospheric retrieval models in exoplanetary science. Synthese.
Matarese, V. (2025). Virtù Intellettuali e Intelligenza Artificiale: Il Machine Learning può fornire una Comprensione Scientifica del mondo?. Sophia: Ricerche su i Fondamenti e la Correlazione dei Saperi, 17(1).
Matarese, V. and C. D. McCoy (2024), When 'replicability' is more than 'reliability': the case of the Hubble constant controversy. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.
Matarese V. (2024), IA, Uomo e metodo scientifico. In L’irriducibile umano. Etica e diritto delle intelligenze artificiali, il Mulino, Bologna.
Matarese, V. (2023), A new concept of Replication. Inquiry. An interdisciplinary journal of philosophy.
Matarese, V. (2022), Against the Resampling Account of Replication. Journal for theoretical and philosophical psychology.
Matarese, V. (2021), Kinds of Replicability: different terms and different functions. Axiomathes.
Philosophy of Astrophysics and of Space Exploration
Matarese V., De Baerdemaeker S., Boyd N, (2023), Introduction, in Philosophy of Astrophysics, Synthese Library.
Matarese V., (2022), 'Oumuamua and meta-empirical confirmation. Foundations of Physics.
Matarese V., (2023). L'uomo nello Spazio, tra Terra e Universo. In Anima, Corpo, Relazioni. Storia della filosofia da una prospettiva antropologica. III Volume, Filosofia Contemporanea. A cura di M. Marianelli - L. Mauro - M. Moschini - G. D’Anna. Città Nuova.
Matarese V., (forthcoming). On the scientific value of Mars – a feminist philosophy of science perspective in Andrew Davis, Value Beyond Earth: Explorations in Exo-Axiology, Palgrave.
Education:
Education:
In 2017, I obtained my Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science at The University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Dr. Jo E. Wolff and Dr. Jamin Asay.
My postgraduate and undergraduate degrees were awarded by the University of Milan, where I studied the Philosophy of Physics under the supervision of Prof. Renato Pettoello and Prof. Adriano Morando.
As a part of my doctoral studies I also carried out research at the University of Rutgers and at Aberdeen University. My master's course-work and exams were taken at King's College London, on an Erasmus scholarship.
Invited Talks (selection):
Invited Talks (selection):
2024: Dark Energy Realism or Anti-Realism? Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University (Boston).
2024: Fixed Point Realism, Hubble Trouble, Early Dark Energy. Black Hole Initiave, Harvard University (Boston).
2024: Epistemic risk and opportunities of AI in the scientific method. Workshop ‘A digital oath for AI’. University of Sophia.
2024: Why there is no room for radical metaphysical hypothesis in quantum mechanics. Workshop on ‘Quantum mechanics and Quantum information’, University of Roma Tre.
2024: On the epistemic value of exoplanet atmospheric retrieval models. Utrecht University.
2022: Quantum Fictionalism, Seminar at the University of Urbino (Urbino).
2022: When replicability is more than just reliability: the Hubble constant controversy. Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University (online).
2021: Quantum Fictionalism, Workshop "The Nature of Quantum Objects", University of Geneva (Geneva).
2021: Scientific Fictional Properties; UCLouvain (Louvain La Neuve).
2021: A contextualist account for replicability; California Institute of Technology (online).
2021: A Humean Wavefunction for Quantum Mechanics, FraMePhys, University of Birmingham (online).
2021: Space the many substances, Warsaw Spacetime Colloquium, Warsaw University of Technology (online).
2019: On the dynamical laws as guides to what's fundamental, Workshop "Fundamentality in metaphysics and in science", Centre for Science and Philosophy, the University of Bristol (Bristol).
2018: How to understand nomological entities: the case of spin-networks in Loop Quantum Gravity, Workshop "New Topics in Quantum Foundations", The University of Lausanne (Lausanne).
2017: A case study for structuralism as a metaphysical view against the fundamentality of individual facts: The identity-based Bohmian mechanics, Workshop "Structuralism", Rutgers University (New Brunswick )
Other talks (most recent):
Other talks (most recent):
2025: A talk on Dark Energy, Society for the Metaphysics of Science, Lugano.
2022: A talk on retrieval models, British Society of Philosophy of Science, Exeter.
2021: A talk on the Hubble constant and replicability. Foundations of Physics, Paris.
2021: A talk on the principles that serve as guides to the ontology of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Society for the Metaphysics of Science (online)
2020: A talk on replicability, British Society of Philosophy of Science, Canterbury (conference cancelled)
Visiting Appointments:
Visiting Appointments:
I was a visiting researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory in October 2024.
I received an EPSA fellowship to visit the FraMEPhys – A Framework for Metaphysical Explanation in Physics Group at the University of Birmingham in October 2022.
I was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, in the Fall Term 2019.
I was a Junior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science, the University of Geneva, in March 2018.
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