Eran Tal
I am an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and Canada Research Chair in Data Ethics. I specialize in philosophy of science, philosophy of measurement, and the ethics of big data and artificial intelligence.
Until 2016 I was a Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, and before that an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at Bielefeld University in Germany.
Email: eran.tal@mcgill.ca (see my full contact details)
Here you can find my CV, find out about my current research projects or read my recent papers.
News
In November 2019 I was appointed Canada Research Chair in Data Ethics. In this role, I am developing principles for the ethical collection and use of scientific and medical data, based on the concept of responsible measurement. See my research page for additional details.
An updated version of my entry "Measurement in Science" is now published in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
I will deliver a keynote lecture at the Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation 6 (PSX6) international conference at Saint Louis University in September 2021.
I am collaborating with a group of health outcomes researchers led by Nancy Mayo in developing a new measure of health-related quality of life for older people. Our project has recently been awarded $1.1M from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
My joint project with Skye Barbic (UBC), "Psychiatric Illness in Canadian Youth: Mobilizing Measurement to Improve Clinical Care" has been granted funding by the Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives initiative. See our project website for more details.
My paper "Individuating Quantities" is out in Philosophical Studies.
I delivered two keynote lectures in 2018: at Measurement at the Crossroads (Paris, 27-29 June) and at the annual conference of the Health Care Access for Linguistic Minorities Network (Montréal, 6-7 September).
Two recently published papers: “Naturalness and Convention in the International System of Units” in Measurement, and “Calibration: Modelling the Measurement Process” in Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.
"The Making of Measurement", a special issue of Studies in History and Philosophy of Science featuring selected papers from the eponymous conference Daniel Mitchell, Hasok Chang and I organized, is now published. Read our Editors' Introduction.
I have been co-awarded the 2016 Sir Karl Popper Prize by The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science for my article "Making Time: A Study in the Epistemology of Measurement" (free access).
I'm a founding member of the Montreal Philosophy of Science Network, dedicated to research collaboration across the city's four universities. Among our recent speakers are Peter Galison, Elliott Sober, Margaret Morrison, Leah McClimans, Bernhard Nickel, Philip Kitcher, Mike Thicke, Helen Longino, and Melissa Jacquart.
Upcoming talks
"Fairness, Machine Learning, and Responsible Measurement", The Ethics of Big Data, Workshop of the Southern Journal of Philosophy, University of Memphis, April 2021
(Title TBA) Vienna Colloquium in Analytic Philosophy, University of Vienna, April 2021.
(Title TBA), Workshop on Ethical, Epistemological, and Historical Perspectives on Public Health and Wellness, University of Indiana at Bloomington, May 2021.
“Who Needs Magnitudes?”, Measurement at the Crossroads, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano, summer 2021
(with Skye Barbic) “Philosophy of Measurement in the Clinic: Using Metrological Concepts to Improve Youth Mental Healthcare”, Measurement at the Crossroads, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano, summer 2021
(title TBA), keynote lecture at Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation 6 (PSX6), Saint Louis University, September 2021
(title TBA), Center for Philosophy of Science Annual Lecture Series, University of Pittsburgh, February 25, 2022