GERHARD SCHURZ
Curriculum vitae of Gerhard Schurz (Date 07/2022)
Gerhard Schurz
Chair and since 03/2022 Seniorprofessor of Theoretical Philosophy at the
HHU (Heinrich Heine University) in Düsseldorf, Germany.
President of the GWP (Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsphilosophie)
(German Association for Philosophy of Science)
Contact information
Department of Philosophy
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf
Building 24.52, Universitätsstrasse 1
40225 Düsseldorf
Germany
Mail: schurz@hhu.de
Web: www.philosophie.hhu.de/schurz
Phone: +49-(0)211-81-15763
Education and Career
1980 Master of science in chemistry/physics.
1983 Doctor (PhD) in philosophy. (Title: Scientific Explanation)
1983-89 Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Salzburg (Austria).
1989 Habilitation in Philosophy (Title: Relevant Deduction in Science and Ethics)
1989-2000 Lecturer with tenure (university docent) and 1997-2000 Associate Professor at the
Department of Philosophy, University of Salzburg.
1992-2009 Member and subdepartment chair at the Institute for Philosophy of Science at the
International Research Center in Salzburg (Austria).
1994-2000 Director of the exchange program between the philosophy departments of the universities
in Salzburg and Irvine, California (UCI).
1993-97 Coordinator of the interfaculty research group "Coexistence of Rivaling Paradigms" at
the University of Salzburg.
1998-2000 Speaker of the FWF Collaborative Research Center F012 ("Plurality of Theories
and Paradigms in Sciences and Humanities") at the University of Salzburg.
04/2000-03/02 Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Erfurt, Germany.
2001 - 2002 Head of the Philosophy Department at the University of Erfurt.
04/2002 Professor and Chair of Theoretical Philosophy (C4-Professorship) at the Philosophy
- 02/2022 Department of the HHU (Heinrich Heine University) Düsseldorf, Germany.
2005-2008 Second speaker of the research unit "Group Functional Concepts and Frames" (FOR 600)
financed by the DFG (German Research Association).
2006 - 2009 Head of the Philosophy Department at the University of Düsseldorf.
Since 2009 Steering committee member of the DFG-financed priority program SPP 1516 "New
Frameworks for Rationality".
Since 2012 Director of the DCLPS (Duesseldorf Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science).
2013-15 Member of Steering Committee of EPSA (European Philosophy of Science Association).
Since 03/2016 President of the GWP (Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsphilosophie, German Association for
Philosophy of Science)
Since 03/2022 Seniorprofessor for Theoretical Philosophy at the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf
Guest Professorships
1989/90+1996 Visiting Professor at the University of California at Irvine, Department of Philosophy.
1991 Guest Lecturer at University of Fri¬bourg, Switzerland, Department of Philosophy.
1997 Guest Professor at University of Bochum, Germany, Department of Philosophy.
1999 Visiting Professor at Yale University, Department of Philosophy.
2010 Guest Professor at University of Vienna, Austria.
2010-11 Guest Professor at University of Graz, Austria.
Awards
2016: Celebratory Colloquium in Honor of Gerhard Schurz (organized by M. Werning, P.
Brössel and A. Gebharter, HHU, Schloss Mickeln).
2019: Elected as corresponding member of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences (AIPS).
2019: Elected as member of Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences, Section Philosophy of Science.
2020: Synthese-Festschrift "Logical Perspectives on Science and Cognition – The Philosophy of Gerhard Schurz" (https://link.springer.com/journal/11229/197/4).
Grants
1998 – 03/2000 Speaker of the interfaculty Collaborative Research Center F012 "Plurality
of Theories and Paradigms in Sciences and Humanities" at the University of Salzburg,
financed by the Austrian FWF.
Grant for the first three years: 1.000.000,- Euro (8 postdoc positions).
3/2000 - 10/01 PI (principal investigator) and advisor of this Collaborative Research Center.
2004 Grant by the Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung for the International Conference "Compositionality,
Concepts and Cognition" (CoCoCo) at the University of Düsseldorf. 16.000,- €.
07/2005 - PI of the DFG-project "B2: Neuroframes – neuronal foundations of functional concepts"
07/2011 of the research unit "Functional Concepts and Frames" (FOR 600).
Grant: approx. 400.000,- € (one postdoc position for 6 years).
08/2008 - PI of the DFG-project "B6: a frame-theoretic investigation of the dynamics of
2008/11 scientific theories" of the research unit "Functional Concepts and Frames" (FOR 600).
Grant: approx. 120.000,- € (half post-doc position for 3 years).
09/2008 - PI of the DFG-project "P1: Probability Logic and Non-Monotonic Reasoning
09/2011 from an Evolutionary Perspective" of EuroCores project "The Logic of Causal and
Probabilistic Reasoning in Uncertain Environments".
Grant: approx. 250.000.- € (one postdoc position for 3 years).
01/2010 - PI of the DFG-project "P1: Causality and explanation" of the research unit 12/2015
"Explanation, causality, law and dispositions" (FOR 1063).
Grant approx. 500.000,-€ (one postdoc position for 6 years).
07/2011 - PI of the DFG-project "B4: A Frame-theoretical investigation of unification and
06/2015 reduction in scientific theories" within the collaborative research center SFB 991 "The
structure of representations in language, cognition and science" at the HHU Düsseldorf.
Grant approx. 250.000,-€ (one postdoc position for 4 years).
11/2011 - PI of the DFG-project "The role of meta-induction in human reasoning" within
08/2017 the DFG Priority Program SPP 1516 "New Frameworks of Rationality".
Grant approx. 520.000,-€, (one postdoc position for 6 years).
01/10/2011 - DFG-financed research semester on the topic "The Optimality of Meta-Induction. A New
31/03/2011 Approach to Hume's Problem Based on Learning and Game Theory".
Grant approx. 60.000,- Euro.
12/2013 - PI of the DFG-project "P5: The causal and explanatory relevance of absences" of
11/2016 the research unit "Explanation, causality, law and dispositions" (FOR 1063).
Grant approx. 120.000,- € (half postdoc position for three years).
07/2015 - PI of the DFG-projects "A06: Logic and ontology of the cognitive representation of
12/2019 theories" and "D01: Frame representation of prototype concepts and prototype-based
reasoning" within the DFG-financed collaborative research center SFB 991 "The struc-ture of representations in language, cognition and science".
Grant approx. 550.000,-€ (one postdoc and two PhD-positions for 4 years).
04/2017 - PI of the DFG-projects "A2: Creative Abductive inference and its role for inductive
03/2020: metaphysics" and "B5: Statistical causation, intervention, and freedom" with the DFG research unit FOR2495 "Inductive metaphysics". Grant approx. 360.000,- € (1.5 postdoc positions for three years).
Since 04/2022: Speaker of the DFG research unit FOR2495 "Inductive Metaphysics" (grant approx. 370.000 - €) and PI of the projects A2 (tile as above) and "B10: Metaphysics of
Evolution". Grant approx. 400.000,- € (1.5 post doc positions for three years).
Since 09/2021 PI of the DFG project "Parameterised Frames and Conceptual Spaces" (163.000 Euro, half postdoc for three years).
Scientific research areas
Philosophy of Science (general; natural science; explanation and causality; induction, abduction; theory confirmation and verisimilitude; normic laws, structural realism)
Epistemology (justification of induction, justification of abduction, foundation-theoretic epistemology, optimality justifications, pragmatism, logical empiricism)
Logic (philosophical; mathematical; justification of logic; in particular: modal logic, logic and relevance, probability logic)
Artificial Intelligence (machine learning; uncertain and probabilistic reasoning; explanation and Prolog programming) and Cognitive Science (prediction strategies, non-monotonic reasoning, prototypicality)
Generalized Evolution Theory
Metaethics (Is-Ought Problem) and Applied Ethics (Ethics of Science and Technology)
Teaching
Teaching in a broad range of areas, which include - beyond my research areas - also history of philosophy, philosophy of world-views, philosophy of literature, ethics of environment, pragmatism and post-modernism, philosophy of culture.
PhD students:
Include, among others: Hannes Leitgeb (2006 Humboldt Prof. at Univ. of Munich), Helmut Prendiger (2006 Prof. at National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo), Franz Huber (2013 Ass. Prof. at Univ. of Toron-to), Markus Werning (2010 Prof. at University of Bochum), Alexander Gebharter (2010 research fellow at Univ. of Groningen), Alexander Christian, Christian Feldbacher, Karim Baraghith (all three research fellow at Univ. Duesseldorf).
Membership in scientific and editorial boards
Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society (Member of Executive Board 1990-2000), German Association for Analytic Philosophy (Member of the extended Executive Board 1994-2000), Association for Foundation of Science, Language and Cognition (Austrian Representative 1995-2000), EPSA (European Philosophy of Science Association) Steering Committee 2013-15.
Editorial board membership of Scientific Journals: Erkenntnis (1999-), Synthese (1999-2008, 2013-), Grazer Philosophische Studien (1999-), Studia Logica (1997-2002), Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften (1990-), Facta Philosophica (1998-), Angewandte Sozialforschung (1998-), Vienna Circle Yearbook (2006-), Jour-nal for General Philosophy of Science (2010-), Episteme (2010-), Springer book series SAPERE (2012-)
Editor of the book series "Philosophische Grundlagen der Wissenschaften und ihrer Anwendungen", Peter Lang Publishers, Co-editor of book series Studies/Proceedings/Dissertations in Language and Cognition at De Gruyter.
Publications:
8 Books, 26 Editions, more than 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 150 papers in anthologies (or non-peer-reviewed journals).
See: www.philosophie.hhu.de/schurz
Organization of scientific conferences
Organization of more than 25 international workshops and conferences.
Lectures
More than 300 lectures in various countries.