Bixin Guo

Professor Guo is interested in understanding how different layers of the world connect with each other. Is a table something over and above a swarm of particles? Do the same laws apply to all systems across different levels? Professor Guo’s current research primarily concerns with inter-theoretic relations and inter-level relations (that is, relations between certain aspects of the world at different levels or scales). It aims to show how taking inter-level relations into account affects our understanding of the physical world; or, more specifically, how our conceptual schemes of science (such as ontology, laws, causation, and so on) work differently at different levels. Professor Guo received her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Before moving to Pitt, she studied at the University of Southern California and Columbia University.