Carlos Romero Castillo

Research

My main research project examines the role of spaces of possibility in scientific explanation. Physics, economics, and other sciences represent systems by means of state spaces, admissible trajectories, symmetries, optimisation landscapes, and counterfactual dependencies. The ontological problem is to explain how these modal structures can be objective without positing an ontology of worlds or merely possible entities.

I am also interested in questions concerning the notion of structure in the sciences, as well as ontological problems surrounding emergence and complexity.

Metaphysics

Modality, essence, grounding, emergence, and structure.

Philosophy of science

Constraints, explanation, spaces of possibility, structural realism, dynamical systems, and emergence.

Philosophy of logic

Notation, logical structure, and logical realism.

1. Forthcoming
   On Explaining Necessity by the Essence of Essence   (pdf)

   Inquiry.

2. 2026
   Notation, Redundancy and Fundamental Logical Structure   (pdf)

   Erkenntnis, 91(4): 1635–1650.

3. 2024
   La fundamentación no es una medida adecuada de la complejidad física   (pdf)

   Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso, 25: 91–111.

4. 2024
   ¿Más es diferente, o es más de lo mismo? Introducción al debate contemporáneo sobre emergencia y reduccionismo   (pdf)

   With Aldo Filomeno and José Jerez. Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso, 25: 3–18.

5. 2023
   Against Relationalism About Modality   (pdf)

   Philosophical Studies, 180(8): 2245–2274.

6. 2021
   The Metaphysical Foundations of Physics   (pdf)

   Crítica, 53(159): 3–13.

7. 2020
   The Ship of Theseus Puzzle   (pdf)

   With Edouard Machery, Stephen Stich, and others. Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy, 3: 158–174.

8. 2019
   Modality is Not Explainable by Essence   (pdf)

   The Philosophical Quarterly, 69(274): 121–141.

9. 2019
   Nothing at Stake in Knowledge   (pdf)

   With Edouard Machery, Stephen Stich, and others. Noûs, 53(1): 224–247.

Teaching

I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses at UAM-Cuajimalpa, UNAM, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and El Colegio de México. My principal teaching areas are logic, metaphysics, philosophy of science, contemporary philosophy, and argumentation.

I have also designed and taught professional-development courses for upper-secondary teachers and developed materials for in-person and online education.

Books, translations, and public philosophy

1. 2026
   No es lenguaje sino estructura: Realismo estructural lógico y estructura algebraica

   IV Congreso Internacional de Filosofía: Praxis y Vida Cotidiana, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, México.

2. 2025
   La estructura óntica como restricción: El caso de la microeconomía

   Metafísica de la Ciencia, Sociedad Argentina de Análisis Filosófico (SADAF), Argentina.

3. 2023
   Constraint Realism and the Emergence of the Classical Modalities

   Workshop on Analytic Metaphysics, Instituto de Filosofía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile.

4. 2022
   Spaces of Possibility and Modal Metaphysics

   Ontological Questions in Science, Université de Namur, Belgium.

5. 2019
   Chaos and Modality in Quantum Mechanics

   Logic and Metaphysics of Science, University of Texas at Austin.

6. 2018
   Metaphysical Modal Logic—Naturalized?

   Metaphysical Mayhem 2018, Rutgers University.

Contact

For academic correspondence, invitations, or collaboration proposals: [email protected].