51社区黑料

Education

• PhD Philosophy (Western University)
• MSc Applied Mathematics (Western University)
• MA Philosophy (Universit茅 Laval)
• BA Mathematics (University of Illinois)
• BA Philosophy (Universit茅 Laval)

Bio

Nic has been at 51社区黑料since 2013, shortly after completing his PhD in philosophy at Western University. His main research contributions are in the philosophy of science and applied mathematics, but his research and teaching include the history of logic, mathematics, and science, formal logic, decision and game theory, critical thinking, philosophy of language, and epistemology broadly construed. He has also recently been working on learning Ancient Greek and teaching ancient Greek philosophy. In 2019, Nic has been awarded the Cormack Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Faculty.

In addition to his teaching and research activities, Nic has also been involved with various outreach, regulation, and curricular initiatives to promote the teaching of philosophy and critical thinking in BC high schools. He is the director of the 51社区黑料Ethics Bowl project, and the Chair of Ethics Bowl Canada (ethicsbowl.ca), a national non-profit organization currently operating in over 20 cities across 8 provinces to promote philosophy.

In addition to his university & community service, Nic is currently serving on the council of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (as past President) and is the Vice-President of the Society for Exact philosophy. He is a member of the BCIT Research Ethics Board and sits on the Board of the Ryder foundation for critical thinking. He has previously served as Council member of the Canadian Philosophical Association.

For the 2025 year, Nic is serving as the Chair of the national SSHRC Insight Grant adjudication committee and as Program Chair for the Canadian Philosophical Association's annual meeting. He has also recently been on the Program committee of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific division) and of many other international conferences.

Areas of Interest

Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mathematics, Logic, Scientific Computation, History of Mathematics, Philosophy of conspiracy theory (which explains the profile picture), Ancient Greek

Current Research Projects

Nic has ongoing research projects in each of his areas of interest. He has recently completed the funded project "The third pillar of scientific rationality," SSHRC Insight Grant, $75,713, 2018-2022 (Collaborators: Rob Corless and Chris Smeenk).

Recent Articles

• Fillion, N. (2021), "Semantic layering and the success of mathematical sciences," European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11 (3), 1-25.
• Fillion, N. (2021), "Developing core competencies with the Ethics Bowl," Detours: Social Science Education Research Journal, 1 (1), 1-9.
• Fillion, N. and Lynn, M. (2021). "The Content and Logic of Imperatives," Axiomathes, 31: 419-436.
• Fillion, N. and Corless, R.M. (2019). "Concepts of Solution and the Finite Element Method: A Philosophical Take on Variational Crimes," Philosophy & Technology, 34: 129-148.
• Fillion, N. (2018) "Clinical Equipoise and Ethics of Adaptive Clinical Trials," Topoi, 38(2): 457-467.

For a full list of Nic's publication, see his page on .

Most Significant Articles

• Fillion, N. and Moir, R (2018). "Explanation and Abstraction from the Backward Error Analysis Perspective," European Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 8(3), pp. 735-759.
• Fillion N (2016). "Demystifying the Applicability of Mathematics," in: A. Aguirre, B. Foster and Z. Merali (Eds), Trick or Truth: the Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics? (Essay-Winning Awards of the Foundational Questions Institute 2015), Springer, pp. 135-144.
• Fillion, N. and Bangu, S. (2015). "Numerical Methods, Complexity, and Epistemic Hierarchies," Philosophy of Science, 82: 941-955.
• Bellhouse, D.R. and Fillion, N. (2015). "Le Her and Other Problems in Probability Discussed by Bernoulli, Montmort and Waldegrave,'' Statistical Science, 30(1): 26-39.
• N. Fillion & R.M. Corless (2014). On the Epistemological Analysis of Modeling and Computational Error in the Mathematical Sciences, Synthese, 191: 1451-1467.

Books

• Fillion, N., Corless R.M., and Kotsireas, I. (Eds) (2019). Algorithms and Complexity in Mathematics, Epistemology, and Science, in Fields Institute Communications, Springer.
• R.M. Corless & N. Fillion (2013). A Graduate Introduction to Numerical Methods, From the Point of View of Backward Error Analysis, Springer: New York, 868pp.

Awards

• Lesley B. Cormack Award for Excellence in Teaching, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, SFU, 2019.
• Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) 2015 Essay Prize 鈥淭rick or Truth: the Mysterious Connection Between Physics and Mathematics鈥�, for my essay "Demystifying the Applicability of Mathematics."
• Notable Book 2013 list of the ACM Computing Reviews for the book A Graduate Introduction to Numerical Methods in the category "Mathematics of Computing."

Philosophers in the News

• 51社区黑料FASS: Tricking students into critical thinking