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05/21/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/21/2026 13:42

Philosopher Nancy Cartwright Receives the Frontiers of Knowledge Award

Published Date

May 21, 2026

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Nancy Cartwright, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California San Diego, has been named the 2026 Frontiers of Knowledge Awardee in Humanities for her leading contributions to the philosophy of science and her influential work on evidence-based policy.

A leading thinker on how science operates in the real world, Cartwright has reshaped scholarly understanding of scientific evidence, causality and objectivity. Her work argues that complex problems often require multiple models, methods and forms of expertise - an approach with wide influence across physics, the social sciences and public policy.

Presented by the BBVA Foundation, the international Frontiers of Knowledge Award recognizes singular impact across eight categories: basic sciences, biomedicine, environmental sciences and climate change, social sciences, economics, humanities, music and opera. Each honoree receives a €400,000 award.

The awards program celebrates knowledge as a global public good and highlights its role in addressing the defining challenges of our time, broadening individual worldviews and advancing human understanding. To date, 34 Frontiers of Knowledge laureates have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize.

"At the School of Arts and Humanities, we recognize that the most complex questions require an interdisciplinary lens, and we are committed to advancing knowledge for the common good," said Dean Cristina Della Coletta. "Nancy's work powerfully demonstrates the foundational role of philosophy and the importance of bridging expertise to better understand evidence, science and society. I congratulate her on this well-deserved international recognition."

Cartwright is a leading figure in the philosophy of science in practice, an approach that examines how science actually works across laboratories, institutions and policy settings. Her scholarship has challenged overly simple accounts of scientific knowledge, arguing that real-world understanding often depends on multiple models, methods and forms of expertise.

"It is no surprise to me that our esteemed colleague, Nancy Carwright, has won this award," said Chair of the Department of Philosophy Sam Rickless. "Throughout her career, Nancy's work has manifested all the marks of highest excellence in a philosopher of science: originality, clarity, precision, sophistication and attention to detail. But her remarkable accomplishments are not built merely on facility with pure abstraction: it is the nature of science as applied by its practitioners that is the focus of her research. Her work bridges the gap between science as theory and science in practice, and thereby contributes to making the world a better place."

In her influential book "How the Laws of Physics Lie," Cartwright argued that scientific laws often work through simplified or idealized models rather than direct descriptions of the world in all its complexity. Across her writings, she has clarified central concepts such as causality, objectivity and evidence, while showing how science achieves success through a range of tools rather than a single universal method.

"Her work bridges the gap between science as theory and science in practice, and thereby contributes to making the world a better place." Sam Rickless, professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy

Her work has also had significant influence beyond the philosophy of physics, especially in the social sciences and in debates over evidence-based policy. Cartwright has long emphasized that strong public decisions require careful attention to context: what works in one setting may not work in another, and the best evidence often comes from combining different kinds of knowledge.

Her latest co-authored book, "Causal Processes and their Warrant," introduces a new method for evaluating whether changemaking efforts were fruitful, or whether they will be in the future. The work presents seven real-world examples - which span welfare, education and medicine - with a practical framework for evaluating policy interventions and adjusting them based on evidence.

Cartwright has authored or edited 17 books and more than 200 articles and book chapters. In addition to her role at UC San Diego, she is also Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and Centenary Visiting Professor of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. Cartwright serves as co-director of the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society at Durham and is a research associate at the Institute for the Future of Knowledge at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

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