Assistant Professor
College of Letters and Science | Department of Philosophy
Hometown: Albuquerque, NM
Professor Watkins’ research encompasses several topics in philosophy of science, including philosophy of climate science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of the historical sciences (such as paleontology), and feminist philosophy of science. She is particularly interested in how scientists construct and use data, measurement processes, and models in order to make inferences about the natural world, and how scientific practice influences and is influenced by social and political projects and priorities.
Talks:
Climate Change in the Context of Earth's History
The deep past serves as a useful source of evidence to help understand contemporary climate change, but many climate scientists and activists argue that contemporary climate change is “unprecedented.” This talk examines the possibility of situating climate change in Earth’s deeper history and the reasons for considering climate change today to be the same as or different from what has happened in the past.
Are "male" and "female" biologically real categories?
It is becoming increasingly common to think that gender categories like “man” and “woman” are social constructions but sex categories like “male” and “female” are biologically real. This talk will discuss the arguments for and against thinking that sex is biological whereas gender is social.