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.

08/04/2025 – I am happy to join a panel discussion about the responsible use of AI at the ZHAW Sustainability Day 2025.
19/03/2024 – My joint paper with Alessandro Blasimme, “Justifying Reasons in Medicine: Is There Room for ML?”, has been accepted for presentation at the 11th International Philosophy of Medicine Roundtable.
04/03/2024 – I have been approved as an associate member of IRIS, University of Stuttgart's Interchange Forum for Reflecting on Intelligent Systems.
12/02/2024 – I am happy to be part of the “ML, Explain Yourself!”-conference in Utrecht to give a talk on why a purely objectivist perspective is inadequate for explicating the concept of explanation – in machine learning, but also in more general contexts.