Eddy Keming Chen
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Curriculum Vitae
​I am an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). My primary research interests are philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, and metaphysics. I also have interests in philosophy of mind, decision theory, formal epistemology, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of religion, and Chinese philosophy.

I am also an associate editor of the journal Foundations of Physics, a fellow of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, and an affiliated faculty member of the UCSD Chinese studies program. 
​
​I have received the Popper Prize for my 2021 BJPS paper on time's arrow, quantum mechanics, and the "Wentaculus." Here is a short summary of the paper. Here is a brief interview about me in the American Philosophical Association (APA) Blog. 
My recent work on the vagueness of physical laws was featured as a cover story in New Scientist. Currently I am a collaborator of the interdisciplinary project "Life on the Edge," funded by a grant from the Templeton Foundation. 

​I received a Ph.D in philosophy, a M.Sc in mathematics, and a graduate certificate in cognitive science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in 2019. ​
​​​​
I also have a side interest in using films to popularize philosophical and scientific ideas. Currently, I'm co-writing a screenplay about a time-travel romance (partly based on this fascinating article in the SEP). 

Book

Laws of Physics
​
Cambridge University Press, in preparation

Articles

The Quantum Wave Function Isn't Real [IAI TV website] [Popular article about the Wentaculus view of quantum mechanics]
The Institute of Art and Ideas

Governing without a Fundamental Direction of Time: Minimal Primitivism about Laws of Nature (with Sheldon Goldstein) [Abstract] [Video] [Book]
Yemima Ben-Menahem (ed.), Rethinking the Concept of Law of Nature, Springer, 2022


Uniform Probability Distribution Over All Density Matrices (with Roderich Tumulka) [Abstract] [Journal]
Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations, 2022

Fundamental Nomic Vagueness [Abstract] [Journal] [Video] 
The Philosophical Review, 2022

Welcome to the Fuzzy-Verse [Penultimate] [Magazine]
[F
eatured as the New Scientist cover story "The Flaw at the Heart of Reality: Why precise mathematical laws can never fully explain the universe"; popular version of "Fundamental Nomic Vagueness"]
New Scientist, Issue 3298, Sep 5th, 2020 


Time's Arrow and Self-Locating Probability [Abstract]​ [Journal]
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2021

The Past Hypothesis and the Nature of Physical Laws [Abstract]
Barry Loewer, Eric Winsberg, and Brad Weslake (eds.), Time’s Arrows and the Probability Structure of the World, Harvard University Press, forthcoming

Bell's Theorem, Quantum Probabilities, and Superdeterminism [Abstract] [Book]
Eleanor Knox and Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics, Routledge, 2021

The Cosmic Void [Abstract] [Book]
Sara Bernstein and Tyron Goldschmidt (eds.), Non-Being: New Essays on the Metaphysics of Nonexistence, Oxford University Press, 2021

From Time Asymmetry to Quantum Entanglement: The Humean Unification [Abstract] [Journal]
Noûs, 2020 [2022]
​

​Time's Arrow in a Quantum Universe: On the Status of Statistical Mechanical Probabilities [Abstract] [Book]
Valia Allori (ed.), 
Statistical Mechanics and Scientific Explanation: Determinism, Indeterminism and Laws of Nature, World Scientific, 2020
​

​Realism about the Wave Function [Abstract] [Journal]
Philosophy Compass, 2019

Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State [Abstract] [Journal] [Audio Summary] [Interview in "Author Meets Physics" on YouTube] [IAITV]
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2018 [2021]
 -Awarded the 2021 BJPS Popper Prize

 
Surreal Decisions (with Daniel Rubio) [Abstract] [Journal]
​​Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2018 [2020]

​​Our Fundamental Physical Space: An Essay on the Metaphysics of the Wave Function [Abstract] [Journal]
The Journal of Philosophy, 2017

​​Great Expectations: Introducing Surreal Decision Theory (with Daniel Rubio) [Proceedings]
​​Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Logic, Rationality, and Interaction (LORI-V), ​Springer-Verlag, 2015
​​
Book Reviews:

Richard Healey, The Quantum Revolution in Philosophy [Abstract] [Journal]
The Philosophical Review, 2020

Preprints

Strong Determinism [Abstract][Video]


The Intrinsic Structure of Quantum Mechanics [arXiv]

Other Works in Progress: 

Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Science, and Metaphysics:
Varieties of Intrinsicality and the Hardest Road to Nominalism [Video][Slides]
The Best Summary of the Quantum World: The Universal Wave Function as a Humean Law 

Decision Theory:
Surreal Decisions II: Infinite State Space (with Daniel Rubio) 

Philosophy of Religion:
Evil and the Quantum Multiverse (with Daniel Rubio)


Chinese Philosophy: 
A Hybrid Voluntarist Interpretation of Xunzi 


Philosophy of Mind: 
Comparativism about the Mind: From Metaphysics of Quantities to the Nature of Mentality  

Master's Thesis: 

Quantum States of a Time-Asymmetric Universe: Wave Function, Density Matrix, and Empirical Equivalence (Supervisor: Sheldon Goldstein) [Rutgers University Repository] ​ [arXiv]
Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 2019

Doctoral Dissertation: 

Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics (Supervisors: Barry Loewer and David Albert) [Rutgers University Repository]
Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 2019

Links
​From Ants to Quantum Non-Locality (with Isaac Wilhelm)

Google Scholar 
PhilPapers    
arXiv page
​Orcid.org/0000-0001-5144-0952


Erdős number
4 (E.K. Chen>S. Goldstein>P.A. Ferrari>P.E. Ney>P. Erdős). 

Citation Information
Please cite my last name as "Chen."
Example of an in-text citation: "Chen (2019) discusses several realist interpretations of the wave function."
Example of a bibliographic entry: Chen, E. K. (2019). Realism about the wave function. Philosophy Compass, 14(7): e12611. 
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0119 
@EddyKemingChen
​eddykemingchen@ucsd.edu
  • Home
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Events
    • Science Without Numbers, 40 Years Later
    • Rutgers-Columbia Workshop on Metaphysics of QFT
    • Rutgers Workshop on Structural Realism
    • MAPS
  • Contact