Travis McKenna

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Bio

I joined the department at NC State in 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. Before that, I was the the Ahmanson Postdoctoral Instructor in Philosophy of Science at the California Institute of Technology. Before that, completed my PhD in Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh.

I work primarily in the philosophy of science, though I am also interested in the philosophy of language. I’m generally interested in questions to do with scientific models and explanation, how applied mathematics works, and the role that laws play in scientific inquiry.

I’m currently thinking mostly about questions to do with scientific laws. Specifically, I’m interested in whether some of the claims about scientific methodology common to most metaphysical accounts of laws hold up when we examine the gory details of scientific practice.

Area(s) of Expertise

Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Physics, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mathematics

Publications

• Laws of Nature and their Supporting Casts , The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (2023)
• Structure and applied mathematics , Synthese (2022)
• Lange on Minimal Model Explanations: A Defense of Batterman and Rice , Philosophy of Science (2021)

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