Laura Ruetsche

Biography

Education

Ruetsche graduated received a B.A. in Physics and Philosophy with a minor in Classical Greek from Carleton College. She went on to earn her B.Phil. in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, writing her thesis on Plato's Timeaus under the supervision of J. L. Ackrill. She then obtained a PhD at the University of Pittsburgh, writing her dissertation, entitled "On the Verge of Collapse: Modal Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics', under the supervision of John Earman.

Career

She taught philosophy at Middlebury College in 1994-1995 as Instructor and in 1995-1996 as Assistant Professor), Ruetsche held visiting appointments at Cornell University (Spring session, 1999) and at Rutgers University (2000-2001). Following a tenured position at the University of Pittsburgh (1996-2008), she became Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan in 2008. she is currently also Department Chair.

Philosophical views

Interpreting Quantum Theories: The Art of the Possible

Ruetsche endeavours and achieves three distinct tasks. First, she succeeds in furnishing an accessible introduction to the conceptual foundations of the algebraic approaches i.e. generalisations of Hilbert spaces of ordinary quantum mechanics, that apply to systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom (collectively referred to as QM-∞ by Ruetsche). Second, she offers a set of the most important exegetical challenges raised by QM-∞. Third, Ruetsche manages to relate the interpretive problem besetting QM-∞ to the more general philosophical disputes concerning scientific realism. Her main contention, serving as a leitmotif for the whole book, is that no single interpretive strategy can fully accommodate the explanatory power of QM-∞, (call this contention Interpretive Pluralism [IP] ). Ruetsche isolates the total absence of any finite-dimensional projections from the algebras of linear operators of QM-∞ as presenting a distinctive interpretive problem for QM-∞ (QM-∞ differs from normal quantum theories whose algebras are equipped with linear operators that include such projections). Ruetsche also examines ontological commitments of the QM-∞ given the set algebraic formulation in order to determine whether they include elementary particles in a substantive sense of that phrase. In light of her investigations, Ruetsche ultimately offers a deflated particle ontology by anchoring the concept of a particle in phenomenological framework. She then proceeds to defend IP by exploiting the fact that macroscopically distinct equilibrium phases can co-exist given certain values of parameters of a quantum theory such as temperature.

Feminist epistemology

In her capacity as an epistemologist and a philosopher of science, Ruetsche is particularly concerned with reconciling traditional epistemologies with radical feminist epistemologies that locate gendered dimensions in the former's articulation of justification and norms. To that effect, she developed a virtue-epistemological model for a kind of epistemically valid warrant that agents can obtain "only through having lived types of contingent history'. In that Ruetsche follows Sandra Harding by homing in on the gendered status of epistemic agents. She also draws on theories of Aristotle, Wilfrid Sellars and John McDowell in order to broaden the extant conception of rationality in service of traditional epistemologies.

Awards and fellowships

• Lakatos Award, 2013
• Fellow, Stanford Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, 2006-2007
• Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship (administered by the American Council of Learned Societies), 2002-2003

Selected works

Books

• (2011a). Interpreting Quantum Theories: The Art of the Possible (Oxford University Press).

References