Anastasiia Lazutkina

Project Summary

The field of fundamental physics seeks to provide a unified understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe. However, the complexity and subtlety of the physical phenomena under study have challenged traditional assumptions concerning scientific methods being centered mostly or exclusively around empirical evidence. In this work, I will analyze the transformation of methods in cosmology since the second half of the 20 th century. I will provide a rational reconstruction of this change and then apply formal epistemology in order to examine whether the use of new methods in cosmology, like simulations, is justified and whether the standard cosmological model is reliable.

Contact

Publications

• “Physics and Reality -konferenssissa”, Antturi, J. & Lazutkina, A., 2024, In: Niin & näin : filosofinen aikakauslehti. 2024, 3 (122), p. 100-101 2 p.

Talks

• Lazutkina, A. (2025): “Evidence in cosmology: how galaxies became complicated”, 10th Biennial Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Groningen; British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, Glasgow; Alternative paths in the dark matter problem, Leiden Lorentz Centre; The 22nd European Conference on Foundation of Physics, Gdansk (poster presentation; Summer School: The Aim and Structure of Cosmological Theory, Lugano; The epistemology of dark matter and modified gravity, Athens; Philosophy of Science Seminar, University of Bristol
• Lazutkina, A. (2025):”What Counts as Evidence? Progress, Pluralism, and the Challenge of Cosmology”, Workshop: Scientific Pluralism, Epistemic Diversity & Progress in Science, Wuppertal
• Lazutkina, A. (2025): “How evidence is made and unmade”, Workshop: Topics in the History and Philosophy of the Physical Sciences, Mainz
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): “Epistemology of scientific research: what philosophy can do for physics”, Centre for Philosophy and the Sciences (CPS), CPS Gen. 2, University of Oslo (2024).
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): Panelist with Christopher Fuchs and Anders Kvellestad “Interdisciplinarity between physics and philosophy”, CPS Gen. 2, University of Oslo
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): “LCDM and MOND: prediction and explanation in cosmology”, 5th International Conference Cosmology on small scales: Local Hubble Expansion and Other Cosmological Puzzle. Institute of Mathematics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): “Transformation of Testing Methods in Cosmology: From the 1990s to Now”, workshop on Methodological Transformations in Fundamental Physics, University of Wuppertal
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): “LCDM and MOND – Divergent Epistemologies in Cosmological Explanations”, 2nd History & Philosophy of Cosmology Conference. University of Milan
• Lazutkina, A. (2024): “Meta-empirical theory assessment in contemporary cosmology: The MOND and dark matter debates”, Conference on Physics and Reality, University of Helsinki

Short Biography

• Since 2023: Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy of Science/Physics, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany
• 2021–2023: M.A. (cum laude) in Philosophy, University of Tartu, Estonia
• 2020–2021: Engineering and Technology, LUT University, Finland
• 2017–2019: Theoretical Physics, Leipzig University, Germany
• 2013–2017: B.A. (with honors) in Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia