Research Interests
My primary research area is philosophy of science, with a special emphasis on the application of probabilistic/statistical reasoning to scientific inference, theory-testing and evaluations of theories. Although philosophy of science is a careful reflection on scientific methodology including the actual practice of science, very few philosophers of science, strictly speaking, are working scientists. To know how science works in or outside labs I have been  collaborating closely with working scientists including statisticians (Robert Boik, and Mark Greenwood, Montana State University, C. Andy Tsao, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan), and an ecologist ( Mark Taper, Montana State University). At the same time, I am also in constant touch with philosophers (Gordon Brittan, ARBC philosopher, John Bennett, University of Rochester). Based on interacting with both scientists and philosophers, I have developed a Bayesian philosophical position which provides responses to long standing philosophical problems like “the curve-fitting problem”, “the underdetermination problem”, “the Duhem-Quine holism problem”, “the Popperian severity of theory-testing problem” and many more. Borrowing a cue from a statistician, Richard Royall, I have distinguished between the belief and evidence questions. I have argued that this distinction holds the key to addressing several of the problems listed above. In addition, like any other philosophy of science mine also acts as the intellectual conscience of practicing scientists!

Against this backdrop, it was quite natural for me to become involved with our ABRC team.  In a debate between the RNA world (i.e., genes came first) and the metabolism-first theory (i.e, reactions that allow energy to be converted into different forms came first) to provide a better account of the origin of life, our team has supported the latter. In one sense, “metabolism” means “catalysis.” To experimentally defend the metabolism-first theory, our team has proposed a hypothesis, i.e., the catalysts in enzyme active sites are highly evolved derivates of iron-sulfur minerals. Since being able to test a theory provides at least a sufficient condition for what counts as science, I will be actively working with our team to examine whether we could subject our hypothesis to severe tests (as I characterize them). In addition to this project, I am also involved in developing a course on astro-biology which could be a part of our astro-biology minor curriculum at Montana State. This fall, I am teaching a course on “What is life and allied questions?” for liberal studies minor which will eventually be a possible course for the astro-biology minor. Another key task for me is to see how several philosophical issues including the nature of life question can be handled aptly with the help our group consisting of Brittan, Schneider and our students, Olin, Nathan, Shawn, Linda and Joe in this academic year.

Selected Publications

P. S. Bandyopadhyay and M. Forster, (eds.) Handbook of Philosophy of Statistics. Elsevier, North Holland, 2009.

P.S. Bandyopadhyay(2007).: Why Bayesianism? A Primer on a Probabilistic Philosophy of Science. In Bayesian Statistics and its Applications. (eds.) S. K. Upadhyay, U. Sing, and D. Dey. Pp.42-62, Anamaya Publishers, New Delhi, India.

P.S. Bandyopadhyay, and G. Brittan (2006), Jr., Acceptance, Severity, and Evidence. Synthese. 148. Pp.259-293.

P. S. Bandyopadhyay, and J. G. Bennett (2004). Theory and Evidence: Commentary on Maur (2004). In M. L.Taper and S. R. Lele, (eds.) The Nature of Scientific Evidence, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp.32-39.

P. S. Bandyopadhyay, and R. J. Boik (1999). The Curve Fitting Problem: A Bayesian Rejoinder. In Philosophy of Science. 66(supplement): pp. 391-402.

P.S. Bandyopadhyay, R, J. Boik, and P. Basu (1996). The Curve Fitting Problem: A Bayesian Approach. In Philosophy of Science. 63(supplement): pp. 264-272.

P. S. Bandyopadhyay. (1994). In Search of a Pointless Decision Principle. In PSA. Vol 1. Pp.260.269.

Collaborators:

Malcolm Forster, Department of Philosophy,
University of Wisconsin-Madison.

John Bennett, Department of Philosophy,
University of Rochester,

Gordon Brittan, Department of History & Philosophy,
Montana State University

Robert Boik, Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Montana State University

Mark Greenwood, Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Montana State University

Mark Taper, Department of Ecology,
Montana State University

C. Andy Tsao, Department of Applied Mathematics,
National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan

Jesse Berwald, Graduate Student,
Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Montana State University

Graduate & Undergraduate Students

Shawn McGlynn
Olin Robus
Nathan Heydan
Linda Barr
Joe Wagner

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