Conversations at the Center

Welcome to season 3 of Conversations at the Center!

In this episode, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Visiting Fellow Alfredo Vernazzani to discuss his work on perception and understanding.

Alfredo is a researcher at TU Dortmund University. He completed his PhD at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 2018, where he subsequently served as Managing Director of the MSc in Cognitive Science with Prof. Albert Newen. He has held visiting positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Harvard, Rutgers, and at the Center for Philosophical Psychology at the University of Antwerp.

His research investigates the structure of experience across human and non-human forms of life, as well as the diverse ways in which the world, others, and the self become intelligible. He combines empirical findings with conceptual analysis within a broadly Kantian framework, treating experience as structured by conditions of intelligibility grounded in both biological and historico-cultural factors. More specifically, his work develops this framework across three interrelated areas: (i) philosophy of perception; (ii) the epistemology of understanding; and (iii) everyday aesthetics, cultural interventions, and practices of world-building.

Read the work discussed in the podcast:

Animating Scientific Understanding:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11098-026-02508-y

Language Comprehension and the Rhythm of Perception:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mila.70003

(forthcoming) Scaffolding Agency in Cultural Policy:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-08440-0

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Visiting Fellow Mark Risjord to discuss Science and Values.

Dr. Risjord used his time at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Philosophy of Science to work on a book project, tentatively titled Impartial Inquiry: A Defense of Scientific Value-Freedom. Using 20th century sociology of racial residential segregation as a running case study, the book argues for impartiality as a norm of inquiry.  It argues that while political values may properly motivate scientific questions, but they ought never influence the acceptability of the answers.   The book aims to show that arguments against the value-free ideal generally highlight useful kinds of criticism of scientific practice, but such criticism is consistent with—and sometimes strengthened by—the norm of impartiality. Previous publications that are relevant to this project include “Thick Concepts and Impartiality” (with Kareem Khalifa and Jared Millson) and “Scientific Change as Political Action” .  

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Associate Fellow Kevin Zollman.

Kevin Zollman is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and the director of CMU’s Institute for Complex Social Dynamics. His research and teaching focuses on modeling social behavior in humans and other animals. Kevin grew up in Kansas before attending the University of California, Irvine for graduate school and moving to Pittsburgh in 2009. In addition to many academic articles, Kevin is the author of The Game Theorist’s Guide To Parenting: How the Science of Strategic Thinking Can Help You Deal with the Toughest Negotiators You Know--Your Kids.

To read the work discussed in the podcast, visit www.kevinzollman.com

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Visiting Fellow Chris ChoGlueck.

Chris ChoGlueck is a philosophy professor and advocate of reproductive equity. He has a PhD from Indiana University Bloomington. Chris is now an Associate Professor of Ethics at New Mexico Tech, where he teaches philosophy and gender studies to STEM students and runs ethics workshops for scientists. Chris has served as an expert panelist for the Society of Family Planning and the American Society of Emergency Contraception to pressure the FDA to correct the label of Plan B (the “morning after” pill). His research and advocacy have been featured in Scientific American, CNN, NPR, and PBS NewsHour. In the Spring Term of 2026, he has been selected for University of Pittsburgh’s Visiting Fellowship in the Center for Philosophy of Science.Christopher ChoGlueck, "Still no pill for men? Double standards & demarcating values in biomedical research," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Volume 91, 2022, Pages 66-76, ISSN 0039-3681, [open access] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039368121001874 

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Visiting Fellow Laurenz Casser to discuss his work on the study of pain.

Laurenz is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Sheffield. Starting January 2027, he will be a lecturer (assistant professor) in philosophy at University College London. His research lies at the intersection of the philosophy of science, the philosophy of medicine, and the philosophy of mind. He is particularly interested in foundational questions in the scientific study of pain.

Read the articles discussed in the episode:

Casser, L. C. (2021). The function of pain. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 99(2), 364-378. (https://philarchive.org/rec/CASTFO-12)

Casser, L. (2025). Pain without inference. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 110(3), 789-810. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/phpr.13134)

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Visiting Fellow David Thorstad. David is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and Research Affiliate at the Machine Intelligence and Normative Theory Lab, ANU. ​​Thorstad received a PhD in philosophy from Harvard University and completed his postdoctoral training at Oxford University. Thorstad is the author of Inquiry under bounds (https://academic.oup.com/book/57345) and co-editor of Essays on longtermism (https://academic.oup.com/book/60794).

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with senior fellow Kareem Khalifa.

Kareem Khalifa is a professor of philosophy at UCLA (2022-present). Prior to that, he was at Middlebury College in Vermont (2006-2022). Starting in 2027, he will be a professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Pittsburgh. His research interests include the general philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, and epistemology, with a special focus on the topics of understanding, explanation, modeling, inquiry, and values in science. He is currently extending his previous work in these areas to social-scientific conceptions of race, among other projects.

In this podcast, Machery and Khalifa discussed the following works:Galbraith, Kenneth, and Kareem Khalifa. 2026. "Understanding: It’s All Interrogative." Philosophical Studies.Khalifa, Kareem. 2017. Understanding, Explanation, and Scientific Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.--2023. "Should Friends and Frenemies of Understanding Be Friends? Discussing De Regt." In Scientific Understanding and Representation: Modeling in the Physical Sciences, edited by Insa Lawler, Kareem Khalifa and Elay Shech, 33-50. London: Routledge.Rice, Collin, and Kareem Khalifa. 2025a. "Thank You for Misunderstanding!" Philosophical Studies.--2025b. "Valuable Misunderstandings." Aeon.

In this episode of Conversations at the Center, Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with Akos Szegofi to discuss misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Akos is a cognitive scientist interested in the study of dishonest behavior and deceptive speech acts. He published on the topics of media history and social epistemology, as well as conspiracy theories.

Read the work discussed in the podcast here:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6216050

https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8330636/v1

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02691728.2022.2109532

Join us for our first episode of Conversations at the Center since 2024! Center Director Edouard Machery sits down with David Wallace, philosopher and physicist at the University of Pittsburgh.

Join us this week for our 8th episode at Conversations at the Center!

This week, our host and Director, Edouard Machery talks with 3 of our PSP8 students, Arina Zhu, Jacinta Creel, and Maddox Larson as we wrapped up our 2024 Pittsburgh Summer Program.

Our Pittsburgh Summer Program is for undergraduate Students who are highly motivated and show strong academic promise and interest in the philosophy of science.   The program is open to all qualified undergraduate applications. Past coursework in philosophy of science is not a prerequisite for application to the Summer Program.The program is designed to promote opportunities for all students, including, but not limited to students underrepresented in philosophy of science, such as women, LGTQIA, students with disabilities, first generation undergraduates, Pell eligible students, veterans, and underrepresented minorities.    

To learn more about the program and how to apply, please visit www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/programs/Pittsburgh-Summer-Program/