Nancy Cartwright FBA FAcSS is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In the first half of her career at Stanford University she specialised in the philosophy of the natural sciences, especially physics; in the second half, at the London School of Economics and now Durham and UCSD, she has specialised in philosophy and methodology of the social sciences with special attention to economics. Her current research focuses on objectivity and evidence, especially for evidence-based policy.

She was married to the late Sir Stuart Hampshire. They have two daughters, Emily Ellsworth Hampshire Cartwright and Sophie Hampshire Cartwright and two granddaughters, Lucy EC Charlton and Tabitha Cartwright Spray.

Upcoming…

April 5-6, 2025
Evidence-Based Medicine Reconsidered, University of Pittsburgh, US
Keynote Speech: “So, what IS mechanistic evidence?”

March 19-20, 2025
Seybert Lectures, University of Pennsylvania, US

Series Title: “Science for Use: In Praise of the Inexact, the Inelegant, and the Unassuming”
Lecture 1: “A Laudatio for Scientific Laws That Are Inelegant, Inexact, and Unassuming
Lecture 2: “In Defence of Loose Talk in Science – So Long as It Is Not Detached”

March 15-16, 2025
Pragmatism and Measurement: New Directions, University of Pittsburgh, US

Keynote Speech: “In Defense of Ambiguity

Recent Activities…

February 20, 2025
Nancy’s Birthday Celebration and Philosophy Workshop, University of California, San Diego, US

February 11, 2025 (2pm Pacific Time)
The Brazilian Society for Analytic Philosophy
Online Lecture: “Evidence for Singular Causal Claims”

November 17, 2024
29th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, New Orleans, US
Symposium: “Objectivity in Science”, with Inkeri Koskinen, Eleonora Montuschi, Jack Wright, and Alison Wylie

October 24, 2024
Inaugural Mary Hesse Lecture, University of Cambridge, UK

Lecture: “In Praise of the Inexact, the Inelegant and the Unassuming”

September 30, 2024
BR-UK Webinar on Causality, Evidence and Policy in Behavioural Research [Video]

See here for more information on Nancy’s upcoming activities and recent lectures.

Now available…

Also…

See here for a complete list of Nancy’s books and published articles.