Jan Faye is a Danish

philosopher of science Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

. He is currently

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. Faye has contributed to a number of areas in

including

explanation An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts that clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and clarifies the existing rules or laws in relation ...

, interpretation, philosophy of the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

evolutionary Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certa ...

naturalism, philosophy of

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

, and topics concerning

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

, causation, and backward causation (

Retrocausality Retrocausality, or backwards causation, is a concept of cause and effect in which an effect precedes its cause in time and so a later event affects an earlier one. In quantum physics, the distinction between cause and effect is not made at the mos ...

Early life

He is educated in

and

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the University of Copenhagen, was a

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

under the

Carlsberg Foundation Carlsberg Foundation () is a not-for-profit organization that was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in the Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the Museum of National History at ...

, a

Visiting Fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

, USA, and held a

postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, England. He has taught philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark since 1995.

Research

Metaphysics

In the area of

Faye defends the possibility of

backward causation Backward or Backwards is a relative direction In geometry, direction, also known as spatial direction or vector direction, is the common characteristic of all ray (geometry), rays which coincide when translation (geometry), translated to share ...

in his book ''The reality of the future'' (1989). Faye argues that the direction of causation can in principle be reversed with respect to time and that if something like backward causation were physically possible, then it would involve causal processes carrying

negative energy Negative energy is a concept used in physics to explain the nature of certain fields, including the gravitational field and various quantum field effects. Gravitational energy Gravitational energy, or gravitational potential energy, is the po ...

forward in time. Also within

, in his ''Experience and Beyond'' (2016), Faye strongly rejects

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

about

abstract objects In philosophy and the arts, a fundamental distinction exists between abstract and concrete entities. While there is no universally accepted definition, common examples illustrate the difference: numbers, sets, and ideas are typically classified ...

by claiming that humans are not adapted by

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

to grasp real abstract entities. In contrast, he holds that we need to invent abstract concepts in order to be able to talk, say, about identity over time.

Philosophy of science

In his book ''Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy'' (1991) and in several edited volumes dedicated to Bohr’s interpretation of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

, Faye has contributed to the understanding of Bohr's philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics. Faye originally called Bohr an objective anti-realist because he sees Bohr’s interpretation as a case of

anti-realism In analytic philosophy, anti-realism is the position that the truth of a statement rests on its demonstrability through internal logic mechanisms, such as the context principle or intuitionistic logic, in direct opposition to the realist notion t ...

with respect to the theory of quantum mechanics, but not with respect to atomic entities. But where Bohr rejected representationalism with respect to the quantum formalism and regarded quantum theory as a tool for prediction, Faye has later advocated the view according to which the basic laws of nature properly understood are explicit language rules. However, parts of the

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

and naturalism that form the back-bone of Faye’s own philosophy may be traced back to his understanding of Bohr. In ''Rethinking Science'' (2002), ''After Postmodernism'' (2012), and ''The Nature of Scientific Thinking (2014)'', Faye variously promotes the methodological

unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

among the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. Faye defends this claim by developing a general pragmatic-rhetorical theory of

that attempts to cover all kinds of explanations in the sciences and the humanities.

Philosophy of mind

Within the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

, Faye has explored how we can understand

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

from the evolutionary-naturalistic program he also pursues in his work on

. His thesis is that the properties of consciousness must be understood as extrinsic properties that arise from the organism's

neural system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes t ...

constantly interacting with its surroundings. This is in contrast to traditional materialistic explanations of consciousness that have sought to understand consciousness by referring to

intrinsic properties In science and engineering, an intrinsic property is a property of a specified subject that exists itself or within the subject. An extrinsic property is not essential or inherent to the subject that is being characterized. For example, mass i ...

of the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

Published books (In English)

* ''The reality of the future. An essay on time, causation and backward causation.'' Odense University Press, Odense 1989, 320 pp. * ''Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy. An anti-realist view of quantum mechanics''. Series: ''Science and Philosophy, vol. 6''. Kluwer academic publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London 1991, i-xxii + 263 pp. Book reviews: * ''Rethinking Science. A Philosophical Introduction to the Unity of Science''. Ashgate. Aldershot/Burlington/Singapore/Sidney 2002. i-viii + 219 pp. (An enlarged version of ''Athenes Kammer''). * ''After postmodernism''. ''A naturalistic reconstruction of the humanities''. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2012, 224 pp. * ''The Nature of Scientific Thinking. On Interpretation, Explanation, and Understanding''. London: Palgrave Macmillan 2014, xiv + 333 pp. * ''Experience and Beyond''. ''The Outline of a Darwinian Metaphysics''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016. xiv + 342 pages. * ''How Matter Becomes Conscious: A Naturalistic Theory of the Mind''. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2019. 329 pages.

Edited books (In English)

* with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy''. Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye og Henry Folse. Series: ''Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 153.'' Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/London 1994. i-xxvii + 377 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Logic and Causal Reasoning''. Preface and Introduction by J. Faye, U. Scheffler & M. Urchs (s. 1-25). Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1994. i-ix + 287 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Perspectives on Time''. Preface and Introduction by J. Faye, U. Scheffler & M. Urchs (s. 1-58). Series: ''Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 189''. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/-London 1997, 460 pp.mISBN 0-7923-4330-1 * with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Causality and Complementary. Niels Bohr's Philosophical Writings, Volume 4.'' Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye og Henry Folse (vii, pp. 1–23). Ox Bow Press 1999. 191 pp. * with Uwe Scheffler and Max Urchs (eds.): ''Things, Facts and Events.'' Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye, Uwe Scheffler & Max Urchs (pp. 1–64). Series: ''Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, vol. 76'', Rodopi, Amsterdam/Atlanta 2000. 506 pp. * with Evandro Agazzi (eds.): ''The Problems of the Unity of Science''. Introduction by Evandro Agazzi og Jan Faye (pp. v-xiii) World Scientific Publishing Co. New Jersey/London/Singapore/Hong Kong 2001. 194 pp. * with

Paul Needham Paul Needham may refer to: * Paul Needham (librarian) (born 1943), American academic librarian * Paul Needham (footballer) (born 1961), English footballer {{hndis, Needham, Paul ...

, Uwe Scheffler & Max Urchs (eds.): ''Nature's Principles''. Preface and Introduction by Jan Faye, Paul Needham, Uwe Scheffler og Max Urchs. (s. 1-53). Series: ''Logic, Epistemology and the Unity of Science, vol. 4''. Springer. Dordrecht 2005. 292 pp. * with Henry Folse (eds.): ''Niels Bohr and Philosophy of Physics. Twenty First Century Perspectives.'' London: Bloomsbury 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faye, Jan Living people 21st-century Danish philosophers Metaphysicians University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Year of birth missing (living people) Philosophers of science Philosophers of mind