Feraz Azhar

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Feraz Azhar


fazhar@nd.edu
213 Malloy Hall

Education

Ph.D. (Philosophy) University of Cambridge
Ph.D. (Physics) University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Interest

Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Physics

Curriculum Vitae

I work primarily at the intersection of philosophy and science, with a particular focus on issues that arise in physics. Most recently I have worked on questions of probability in primordial cosmology and on philosophical aspects of black hole physics. Prior to my appointment at Notre Dame I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University. I hold a PhD in philosophy from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Representative Publications

* Denotes the author list is alphabetical
+ Denotes equal contribution

 

Probabilistic inference in very large universes
F. Azhar, A. H. Guth & M. H. Namjoo*
Physical Review D (Forthcoming)
 
Spacetime singularities and indeterminism
F. Azhar & M. H. Namjoo
Synthese 206: 93, (2025)
 
Rethinking the Anthropic Principle
F. Azhar & N. Linnemann+
Philosophy of Science 92, 361–379, (2025)
 
Better guesses
N. Linnemann & F. Azhar+
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 110, 661–686, (2025)
[Published online: (2024)]
 
Flows into de Sitter space from anisotropic initial conditions: An effective field theory approach
F. Azhar & D. I. Kaiser
Physical Review D 107, 043506, (2023)

A Bayesian view on the Dr. Evil scenario
F. Azhar, A. H. Guth & M. H. Namjoo*
Erkenntnis 89, 355, (2024). Published online: (2022)
 
Finely tuned models sacrifice explanatory depth
F. Azhar & A. Loeb
Foundations of Physics 51, 91, (2021)

Effective field theories as a novel probe of fine-tuning of cosmic inflation
F. Azhar
Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 71, 87–100, (2020)

Gauging fine-tuning
F. Azhar & A. Loeb
Physical Review D 98, 103018, (2018)

Flows into inflation: An effective field theory approach
F. Azhar & D. I. Kaiser
Physical Review D 98, 063515, (2018)

Scientific realism and primordial cosmology
F. Azhar & J. Butterfield
In: The Routledge Handbook on Scientific Realism,  ed. J. Saatsi. London: Routledge, pp. 304–320, (2018)