Nancy Cartwright FBA FAcSS is Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In the first half of her career at Stanford University she specialised in the philosophy of the natural sciences, especially physics; in the second half, at the London School of Economics and now Durham and UCSD, she has specialised in philosophy and methodology of the social sciences with special attention to economics. Her current research focuses on objectivity and evidence, especially for evidence-based policy.
She was married to the late Sir Stuart Hampshire. They have two daughters, Emily Ellsworth Hampshire Cartwright and Sophie Hampshire Cartwright and two granddaughters, Lucy EC Charlton and Tabitha Cartwright Spray.
Upcoming Activities
March 17-20, 2026
Carl G. Hempel Lecture, Princeton University, USA
Keynote Lectures: Titles TBC
November 12, 2025
PPE Centenary Lecture, University College, University of Oxford, UK
Keynote Lecture: Title TBC
Oct 24-25, 2025
2025 Annual Toronto Graduate Philosophy Conference, Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Canada
Keynote Lecture: Title TBC
27-30 August, 2025
European Philosophy of Science Association Conference, Groningen, The Netherlands
Speaker: “Better Examples, Better Public Policy”
July 16-18, 2025
PPE Society London’s First Annual Meeting, King’s College London, UK
Keynote Speaker: ”Is Economics Queen of the Social Sciences?”
Recent Activities
July 8, 2025
Digital Trials, Real Dilemma: Philosophical Foundations of Evidence and Ethics in Computational Medicine, UK CEiRSI Training Webinar
Webinar Hosts: Nancy Cartwright, Wendy Parker, Liesbet Geris, Puja Myles, Mark Palmer, Jeff Bischoff, Alejandro Frangi
May 29, 2025
Nancy Cartwright: In Praise of the Inexact, the Inelegant and the Unassuming, Durham University, UK
May 22, 2025
How to Make Better Policy Predictions, with Child Protection Policy as a Case Study, Durham University, UK
Speakers: Nancy Cartwright, Eileen Munro, and John Pemberton
May 7, 2025, 4:30 PM – 5:45 PM (Norway Time)
CPS Book Club: The Tangle of Science: Reliability Beyond Method, Rigour, and Objectivity, University of Olso, Zoom
Guest Speaker, with Eleonora Montuschi, Jeremy Hardie, Matthew Soleiman, and Ann C. Thresher
April 25, 2025 (with a Pre-Session on April 8)
Experiments, Causal Inference, and Limits of Evidence, Center for Empirical Philosophy and Behavioral Insights (CEPBI) Online Tandem Talk 2025
Keynote Speaker, with Berna Devezer and Andrew Gelman
April 5-6, 2025
Evidence-Based Medicine Reconsidered, University of Pittsburgh, US
Keynote Speech: “So, what IS mechanistic evidence?”
March 19-20, 2025
Seybert Lectures, University of Pennsylvania, US
Series Title: “Science for Use: In Praise of the Inexact, the Inelegant, and the Unassuming”
Lecture 1: “A Laudatio for Scientific Laws That Are Inelegant, Inexact, and Unassuming“
Lecture 2: “In Defence of Loose Talk in Science – So Long as It Is Not Detached”
March 15-16, 2025
Pragmatism and Measurement: New Directions, University of Pittsburgh, US
Keynote Speech: “In Defense of Ambiguity“
February 20, 2025
Nancy’s Birthday Celebration and Philosophy Workshop, University of California, San Diego, US
February 11, 2025 (2pm Pacific Time)
The Brazilian Society for Analytic Philosophy
Online Lecture: “Evidence for Singular Causal Claims”
See here for more information on Nancy’s upcoming activities and recent lectures.
Now Available
Also…
- Cartwright, N., Foglesong, S., Furman, K., Hyde, BVE., Nyberg, G., Ortiz Villa, K. and Slanickova, H. (2025). “Towards a Theory of Objectivity for Activist Research.”
- Cartwright, N. and Cowen, N. (2024). “Disagreement about Evidence and Evidence Based Policy.”
- Cartwright, N. (2024) “Reliability Trumps Truth.”
- Cartwright, N. and Ray, F. (2024). “Modelling Objectively.”
- Cartwright, N. (2024). “Evidence, Relevance and Warrant: In Defence of Voluntarism.”
- Cartwright, N. and Ray, F. (2023). “Objectivity and Intellectual Humility in Scientific Research: They’re Harder Than You Think.”
- Joyce, K. E. and Cartwright, N. (2023) “How Should Evidence Inform Education Policy?”
- Cartwright, N. (2022). “How to Learn about Causes in the Single Case.”
- Cartwright, N. (2021). “Rigour Versus the Need for Evidential Diversity.”
- Joyce, K. E. and Cartwright, N. (2020). “Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice: Predicting What Will Work Locally.”
- Cartwright, N. (2020). “Why Trust Science? Reliability, Particularity and the Tangle of Science.”
- Cartwright, N. (2020). “Middle-Range Theory: Without It What Could Anyone Do? (Lullius Lectures 2018).”
- Cartwright, N. (2019). “What Is Meant by ‘Rigour’ in Evidence-Based Educational Policy and What’s So Good About It?”
- Cartwright, N. (2019). “Commentary: Why Mixed Methods Are Necessary for Evaluating Any Policy.”
- Deaton, A. and Cartwright, N. (2018). “Understanding and Misunderstanding Randomized Controlled Trials.”
- Bradburn. N., Cartwright, N. and Fuller. J. (2017). “A Theory of Measurement.”
- Cartwright, N. (2017). “Causal Powers: Why Humeans Can’t Even Be Instrumentalists.”
- Bhakthavatsalam, S. and Cartwright, N. (2017). “What’s So Special about Empirical Adequacy?.”
See here for a complete list of Nancy’s books and published articles.