Oliver Buchholz

I am a philosopher working on the philosophy of science and epistemology. Currently, I am a postdoc at ETH Zurich, working with Effy Vayena and running my independent research project “MLS²: Machine Learning, Science, and Society” that is funded by an ETH Zurich Postdoctoral Fellowship. I am also an associate member of the Interchange Forum for Reflecting on Intelligent Systems (IRIS) at University of Stuttgart.

Previously, I was a research associate at University of Tübingen’s Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science”. Within the research project “AITE – Artificial Intelligence, Trustworthiness and Explainability”, I was working on the philosophy of explainable artificial intelligence under the supervision of Wolfgang Spohn and Eric Raidl.
I hold a Ph. D. and an M. A. in Philosophy as well as an M. Sc. in Economics and Finance, all from University of Tübingen.

You can also find me on PhilPeople and on Google Scholar. Contact me at oliver [dot] buchholz [at] hest [dot] ethz [dot] ch.

Philosophy of science, epistemology, machine learning, and the ways in which they interact.

Oct 2025 – I give a keynote at the Research Frontiers Workshop on Scientific Machine Learning at the University of Stuttgart.
Jul 2025 – My overview paper “Maschinelles Lernen in der Wissenschaft” has been published as a chapter in the Handbuch Philosophie der Digitalität (Metzler).
Jun 2025 – My joint paper with Karoline Reinhardt, “Epistemology and Politics of AI”, in which we investigate the interplay of epistemic and public justification in light of AI, has been published as a chapter in A Companion to Applied Philosophy of AI (Wiley).
Apr 2025 – I am happy to join a panel discussion about the responsible use of AI at the ZHAW Sustainability Day 2025.