SCI PHI Podcast

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SCI PHI is a weekly philosophy of science podcast featuring interviews with prominent and up-and-coming philosophers of science who engage with scientists in interesting ways.

Sci Phi


    • Apr 15, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • every other week NEW EPISODES
    • 1h 17m AVG DURATION
    • 79 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from SCI PHI Podcast

    Episode 79: Till Grüne-Yanoff

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2022


    On Episode 79, Nick chats with Till Grüne-Yanoff, professor of philosophy at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, about his early career as a television reporter in Post-Soviet Moscow, preferences in decision theory, “boosting” versus “nudging,” teaching philosophy of science as method choice with exemplars, and making philosophy of science relevant to science.

    Episode 78: Catherine Kendig

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2022


    On Episode 78, Nick chats with Katherine Kendig, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University, about her path to studying classification in scientific practice, non-dichotomous ways of thinking, socially-engaged philosophy of agriculture, and dealing with “demarcationist” tendencies in philosophy of science.

    Episode 77 - Deepanwita Dasgupta

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2022


    On Episode 77, Nick chats with Deepanwita Dasgupta, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso about why there is no philosophy of science in India, non-Western contexts of scientific practice, and her vision for 21st-century science both as a cognitively diverse and wisdom-producing practice.

    Episode 76 - Miriam Solomon

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2022


    On Episode 76, Nick chats with Miriam Solomon, Professor of Philosophy at Temple University, about succeeding in philosophy despite an abusive PhD advisor at Harvard, cognitive biases in scientists thinking and what they mean for the rationality of science, scientific consensus conferences or GOBSATs (Good Old Boys Sitting Around Tables), and her recent Guggenheim fellowship on science and values in the DSM.

    Episode 75: Sarah Richardson

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2022


    On Episode 75, Nick chats with Sarah Richardson, Professor of the History of Science and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University about her interdisciplinary work at Stanford on race and genomics, her approach to studying the social dimensions of science, her current work with Harvard's GenderSci Lab generating feminist concepts, methods and theories for scientific research on sex and gender, and the importance for philosophers of science to better represent the world.

    Episode 74: Emily Parke

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2022


    On Episode 74, Nick chats with Emily Parke, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Auckland, about her first job creating life from the bottom-up at the academic-run synthetic biology company Protolife, challenging the idea that there's some epistemic privilege experiments have over models, the trade-offs and causual issues of using microbiome-based explanations to explain every element of human health, and how philosophical debates on the origin of life might actually matter to science.

    Episode 73: Dan Hicks

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022


    On Episode 73, Nick chats with Dan Hicks, philosopher at University of California Merced about Dan's science and values research on the aims of science, working in science policy at the AAAS and NSF, and learning to incorporate methods from statistics and data science with a conceptual philosophy of science framework to understand how science operates.

    Episode 72 - Karen Kovaka

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2021


    On Episode 72, Nick chats with Karen Kovaka, assistant professor in philosophy at Virginia Tech about the upcoming Philosophy of Science Association conference, philosophical implications of meta-analysis, the presumption against intervention in restoration ecology, and how to advise philosophy of science students to achieve success outside of academia.

    Episode 71 - Jennifer Jhun

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2021


    On Episode 71, Nick chats with Jennifer Jhun, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Duke University, as well as a fellow at the Center for the History of Political Economy, about her historically-informed philosophy of science research on the role idealizations play in science, both in economics and in physics.

    Episode 70 - Alice Dreger

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2021


    On Episode 70, Nick chats with historian of medicine and science, sex researcher, mainstream writer, and (im)patient advocate, Dr. Alice Dreger about her early investigations into the broken medical care system and the intersex rights movement, the story behind her book, Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and One Scholar’s Search for Justice and the relationship between science and social justice, approaching present-day cancel culture from a nuanced perspective, and her current efforts as founder of the local news organization East Lansing Info to rescue local news in her city and in America more generally.

    Episode 69 - Maya Goldenberg

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2021


    On Episode 69, Nick chats with Dr. Maya Goldenberg, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph author of the new book, Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science, about how we frame and might reframe public debate about vaccines and vaccination. Maya’s argument—that at the foundation of today’s vaccine controversies is a public mistrust of science, not a public misunderstanding of science—offers an important point of view in the larger contemporary debate about vaccine hesitancy.

    Episode 68 - Sean Valles

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2020


    On Episode 68, Nick chats with Dr. Sean Valles, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University and author of the book, Philosophy of Population Health: Philosophy for a New Public Health Era, about problematic discourse surrounding COVID-19, the need for promoting a “culture of health,” the dangers of COVID-19 hobbyism, addressing COVID-19 mental health concerns, advice for professors planning to add COVID-19 material to their classes, and looking toward a a future ethics of health resilience post-COVID-19.

    Episode 67 - Thomas Pradeu

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2019


    On Episode 67, Nick chats with Dr. Thomas Pradeu, CNRS Senior investigator (DR2), and Head of the group “Conceptual and theoretical analysis of immune activation and biological boundaries at the University of Bordeaux, about Philosophy in biology—an innovative way to combine the contributions of philosophy of biology, experimental biology, and medical biology—and how this approach enriches the conceptualization, explanation, and modeling of biological processes.

    Episode 66 - Caterina Marchionni

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 18, 2019


    On Episode 66, Nick chats with Dr. Caterina Marchionni, University Lecturer in Practical Philosophy and member of TINT, Centre for Philosophy of the Social Sciences, at the University of Helsinki, about her work in the philosophy and methodology of economics.

    Episode 65 - Remco Heesen

    Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2019


    On Episode 65, Nick chats with Dr. Remco Heesen, faculty member in philosophy at the University of Western Australia, about his research concerning what happens after scientific evidence is collected, such as the scientist’s choice of when to share her findings, and how peer review may affect what gets reported.

    Episode 64 - Matt Brown

    Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2019


    On Episode 64, Nick chats with Dr. Matt Brown, Associate Professor of Philosophy and History of Ideas, and Director of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at University of Texas at Dallas, about the ways in which science is a value-laden enterprise, the impact of the value-ladenness of science on our conception of the role of science in policy, and the parallels between scientific and technological, ethical and political inquiries.

    Episode 63 - Hannah Rubin

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2019


    On Episode 63, Nick chats with Dr. Hannah Rubin, Assistant Professor at Notre Dame University about her growing research on the evolution of cooperative and altruistic behavior, genetics in evolutionary game theory, experimental economics in philosophy, and her experience serving as Managing Editor for the journal, Philosophy of Science.

    Episode 62 - Denny Borsboom

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 8, 2019


    On Episode 62, Nick chats with Dr. Denny Borsboom, Professor of Psychology and program leader of the Psychological Methods Group at the University of Amsterdam, about how he applies philosophy of science to to his research in psychological methods, conceptual issues in contemporary psychometrics, and his influential work on network approaches to psychopathology.

    Episode 61 - David Papineau

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2019 90:32


    On Episode 61, Nick chats with Dr. David Papineau, Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London and the City University of New York Graduate Center, about stories from his early days studying the logic of statistical inference under Ian Hacking, his work on philosophical naturalism, teleosemantics, and consciousness, and how he came to write his most recent book, “Knowing the Score: How Sport teaches us about Philosophy (and Philosophy about Sport).”

    Episode 60 - James "Jack" Justus

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2019 88:53


    On Episode 60, Nick chats with Dr. James “Jack” Justus, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Floria State University, about how his early interest in the outdoors led to his work in the philosophy of conservation ecology, his heroic attempt to integrate decision theory and environmental ethics, and his upcoming book on the philosophy of ecology.

    Episode 59 - Branden Fitelson

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2019 54:58


    On Episode 59, Nick chats with Dr. Branden Fitelson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University, about his early days working in mathematics and physics as a research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and a NASA contractor, his highly-social approach to doing and learning philosophy, his work on probability in scientific inference, the story of the Formal Epistemology Workgroup, using computational techniques to solve problems in philosophy, and the importance of slowing down our thinking.

    Episode 58 - Deborah Mayo

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2019 79:32


    On Episode 58, Nick chats with Deborah Mayo, Professor Emerita in the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Tech, about how she learned to apply statistics to key problems in the philosophy of science, how to think about replication and other pressing statistical issues in the social and biological sciences, and her new book, Statistical Inference as Severe Testing: How to Get Beyond the Statistics Wars.

    Episode 57 - Julia Bursten

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2019 92:38


    On Episode 57, Nick chats with Julia Bursten, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky, about how her interactions with philosophers, physicists, and chemists led her toward a research career in the philosophy of nanoscience, doing socially-engaged philosophy of science with a regional focus, and her involvement as co-chair in the Philosophy of Science Association Women’s Caucus.

    Episode 56 - Kevin Zollman

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2019 70:17


    On Episode 56, Nick chats with Kevin Zollman, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University, how his early interests in the mathematics of poker informed his approach to doing philosophy of science, understanding social behavior through game theory and mathematical modeling, and his co-authored book, "The Game Theorist’s Guide to Parenting.”

    Episode 55 - Helen Longino

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2019 68:26


    On Episode 55, Nick chats with Helen Longino, the Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, about her early upbringing and bohemian mindset, learning how to bridge methods in analytic philosophy with history and contextual factors, her activity in anti-war and women's liberation movements in the late 1960s and 1970s, early feminist scholarship, the resistance she and others faced in establishing Women’s Studies programs, and her most influential works on the social dimensions of scientific knowledge.

    Episode 54 - Cailin O'Connor

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 7, 2019 63:19


    On Episode 54, Nick chats with Cailin O’Connor, Associate Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine, about transitioning from studying Film and Environmental Studies at Harvard and a career in the arts to studying philosophy of science, the relevance of game theory to biology, the sciences, and to resolving old philosophical problems, and her new book, “The Misinformation Age” and how social factors, not individual psychology, are what’s essential to understanding the persistence of false belief.

    Episode 53 - Stathis Psillos

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2018 56:56


    On Episode 53, Nick chats with Stathis Psillos, Professor of Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics in the Department of Philosophy & History of Science in the University of Athens, about writing his first thesis on Aristotle and quantum mechanics, developing and defending “selective realism,” creating a dictionary of philosophy of science, “Philosophy of Science A-Z,” what it’s like to do philosophy of science in Greece, and why General Philosophy of Science is due for a comeback.

    Episode 52 - Federica Russo

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2018 65:10


    On Episode 52, Nick chats with Federica Russo, Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, about the relationship between probability and causality, the role of philosophy of science in science, how the Russo-Williamson Thesis sparked a lively debate on causation in medicine, and the role technology plays on knowledge itself.FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    Episode 51 - Hasok Chang

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2018


    On Episode 51, Nick chats with Hasok Chang, the Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, about deciding to leave Seoul, South Korea at the age of sixteen to study physics in the U.S., running up against physicists at Caltech who discouraged philosophical thinking, finding encouragement and a home in HPS within the Stanford School of Philosophy of Science, “complimentary science” and the three aspects of how historical and philosophical work can improve scientific knowledge, and his new ambitious project challenging the analytic philosopher’s habit of thinking of knowledge in terms of propositions.FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    Episode 50 - Justin Garson

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2018 62:59


    On Episode 50, Nick chats with Justin Garson, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hunter College-CUNY, about chairing a session with Daniel Dennett on memetics at the 2018 Philosophy of Science Association meeting, his work on biological functions in psychiatry and how symptoms of mental disorders like anxiety and schizophrenia might be useful to us, taking part in a summer meeting that brought six philosophers and six geneticists to work on transposable elements and the human genome, and his new book, “What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter."FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    Episode 49 - Vincent Hendricks

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2018 54:47


    On Episode 49, Nick chats with Vincent Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy and Director of the Center for Information and Bubble Studies at the University of Copenhagen, about the importance of reasoning through illustrations, applying ideas from finance and economics to questions in philosophy of science, the ways in which our children influence our philosophical thinking, and his latest book, Reality Lost: Markets of Attention, Misinformation and Manipulation.FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

    Episode 48 - Ann-Sophie Barwich

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2018 72:04


    On Episode 48, Nick chats with Ann-Sophie Barwich, Visiting Professor in the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University Bloomington, about growing up studying literature in East Germany, finding her voice as a researcher, and the importance of thinking about the sense of smell as a model for neuroscience and the senses.FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTTimestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome / 2:07 Ann on being recruited to the Cog-Sci program at Indiana / 4:41 Growing up in East Germany and being obsessed with literature / 11:26 How Ann found her way into philosophy, and other undergraduate adventures / 17:38 Ann’s introduction to the philosophy of science, and a Monty Python quote / 20:00 How Ann switched dissertation topics mid-course and came to study smell / 32:37 Important moments in Vienna and finding her voice as a researcher / 39:27 How philosophy of science failed her / 48:48 Ann’s Twitter presence as the “smellosopher” and her approach to public engagement as a philosopher of science / 54:15 Ann’s future plans learning EEG and working as a scientific philosopher / 01:05:00 The greatest challenge facing philosophy of science today

    Episode 47 - Angela Potochnik

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2018 75:58


    On Episode 47, Nick chats with Angela Potochnik, Associate Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the Center for Public Engagement with Science at the University of Cincinnati, about her time studying in Vienna and how she came to love the history of logical empiricism, her co-written work, “Recipes for Science” on scientific methods and reasoning from a philosophical perspective, and her new book, “Idealization and the Aims of Science” on the centrality of idealization in science.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome / 2:07 Angela on her current teaching of a graduate seminar on complexity / 5:43 Her work as Director at the new Center for Public Engagement with Science / 9:32 Angela’s early life growing up as a runner in Arkansas / 14:12 How Angela transitioned from her med-school track to graduate school in philosophy / 24:17 How Angela fell in love with the Vienna Circle / 28:40 Aufbau/Bauhaus / 34:04 Why philosophy students should study the history of logical empiricism / 39:00 Getting the first job / 45:06 Angela’s new book, “Idealization and the Aims of Science / 1:04:54 Angela new co-written book, “Recipes for Science” / 1:10:51 The greatest challenge facing philosophy of science today

    Episode 46 - Francesco Guala

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2018 85:42


    On Episode 46, Nick chats with Francesco Guala, Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Milan, about how he came to study the philosophy of experimental economics, how philosophers of science can open the door to successful collaborations with scientists (hint: don’t preach), his latest book, “Understanding Institutions: The Science and Philosophy of Living Together,” and the question, “why should there be philosophy today?”Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome / 1:36 Francesco on his summer travels and preparing for the fall term / 4:06 Francesco’s early life growing up in Alessandria, Italy / 11:30 How a non-standard philosophy of science course on the political implications of science captured Francesco’s attention / 14:40 Francesco’s transition to studying philosophy of economics at Kings College, and the London School of Economics / 24:24 Early questions in the philosophy of economics / 28:20 Francesco’s dissertation and his early approach to doing philosophy of science / 37:57 The job search / 42:00 Designing a new philosophy program at the University of Exeter / 46:08 Writing “The Methodology of Experimental Economics” / 50:08 How Francesco opens the door to successful collaborations with scientists (Hint: don’t preach) / 53:57 Francesco finds his way back to Italy / 56:27 Interesting disagreements / 1:02:00 Francesco’s recent work, “Understanding Institutions: The Science and Philosophy of Living Together” / 1:14:28 Francesco’s upcoming projects in social ontology/ 1:17:04 The greatest challenge facing philosophy of science today

    Episode 45 - Anna Alexandrova

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2018 81:07


    On Episode 45, Nick chats with Anna Alexandrova, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, about coming of age in Russia during the collapse of the USSR, succeeding in philosophy when she had “no other options,” and her book, “A Philosophy for the Science of Well-being.”Timestamps:0:15 Hello and welcome / 1:50 Anna fills us in on her summer aka the Cambridge “research term” / 4:22 Anna’s early life and the challenges she faced growing up in Russia during the collapse of the USSR / 13:15 Anna’s first encounter with philosophy as a 16-year-old exchange student in France / 17:51 Anna’s introduction to the philosophy of social science / 20:46 The intellectual life of London, and sexual objectification in Russia / 25:00 How Anna succeeded in philosophy when she had “no other options” / 35:05 The rise of the sciences of well-being / 38:26 What is the science of well-being? / 44:07 The top three philosophy of science issues in the science of well-being / 52:34 Is there a single concept or theory of well-being? / 58:35 What future contributions can (and should) philosophers of the science of well-being make? / 01:04:58 Constructive criticism of Anna’s book “A Philosophy for the Science of Well-being” / 01:07:30 Is well-being a number? / 01:11:30 Anna’s upcoming projects / 01:15:24 The greatest challenge facing philosophy of science today

    Episode 44 - Kareem Khalifa

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2018 66:28


    On Episode 44, Nick chats with Kareem Khalifa, Professor at Middlebury College in Vermont (USA), about what it's like to teach and do philosophy of science at a liberal arts college, transitioning from applied mathematics to hermeneutics to philosophy of science, his impressive musical career as a bass guitarist, his new book, 'Understanding, Explanation, and Scientific Knowledge," his current work developing a new account of explanation, and the problem of science journalism.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome / 2:30 Kareem on his summer conferences and current writing collaborations / 10:37 Key differences between teaching philosophy of science at a university and a liberal arts college / 16:45 Kareem's early life, and his foray into the philosophy of science from applied mathematics to hermeneutics / 30:42 Kareem's music-making on the bass (and his first band's names) / 35:00 Kareem's approach to philosophy of science / 38:35 Kareem's latest book 'Understanding, Explanation, and Scientific Knowledge' / 51:30 Kareem's current projects on building a new account of explanation / 59:33 The problem of science journalism

    Episode 43 - Janet Stemwedel

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 107:43


    On Episode 43, Nick chats with Janet Stemwedel, Professor and Chair in Philosophy at San Jose State University, about how within two weeks of defending her dissertation in physical chemistry at Stanford she realized that the questions that really kept her up at night were philosophical questions about science rather than scientific questions, why scientific knowledge-building needs ethics, the transmission of "best practices" in the community of science, how engaging in several online academic communities through blog writing and Twitter has helped her philosophical work, and her decision to speak out about sexual assault within the #MeToo Movement.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:30

    Episode 42 - Sabina Leonelli

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2018 66:49


    On Episode 42, Nick chats with Sabina Leonelli, Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Exeter, about how her desire not to choose between her various research interests led her to study philosophy of science, her early career projects "Understanding Scientific Understanding" and "How well do 'facts' travel?", the epistemic, social, and ethical dimensions of data-intensive science, how data practices differ between biological and biomedical sciences, her role in science policy and governance with the European Commission on open science and open data, why identifying the "so what?" of your research requires interacting with others, and what she does to make sure philosophy of science remains a source of inspiration to the rest of academia and beyond.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 1:50 Sabina

    Episode 41: Michael Strevens

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2018 112:33


    On Episode 41, Nick chats with Michael Strevens, professor in the Philosophy Department at New York University, about growing up in Auckland, New Zealand during the 1970s, how his mutual interests in computer science and how thought works lead to undergraduate work in formal logic and graduate study at Rutgers, how he transitioned after being denied tenure at Stanford, philosophy of probabilities in statistical mechanics, the social structure of science, and his new book, "Thinking Off Your Feet: How Empirical Psychology Vindicates Armchair Philosophy." Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:22 Michael

    Episode 40: Michael Weisberg

    Play Episode Listen Later May 11, 2018 56:39


    On Episode 40, Nick chats with Michael Weisberg, Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, about how a Creationism incident in his own backyard led to the development of the Laboratory for Understanding Science, "finding your thing" in graduate school, his book "Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World," debates surrounding 19th century physician Samuel Morton on biology and race, his various science documentary projects, and his current work promoting ecological and scientific understanding in the Galápagos community.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:33 Michael

    Episode 39 - Rachel Ankeny

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2018 69:22


    On Episode 39, Nick chats with Rachel Ankeny, Professor at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, about her experience with the Great Books Program at St. John's College in Santa Fe, the formation of the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP), the roles of models and cased-based reasoning in science, the importance of studying non-model organisms, her integrated work on "Hostel Stories," a research project aimed at finding out more about migrant hostels, reception centers, and camps in South Australia, and the greatest challenge facing philosophy of science today.Timestamps: :15 Introduction 2:06: Rachel

    Episode 38 - Alison Wylie

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 22, 2018 87:20


    On Episode 38, Nick chats with Alison Wylie, Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and future President of the Philosophy of Science Association, about her formative experiences working as an advocationalist archaeologist throughout Saskatchewan, Canada, her turn toward exploring the philosophical issues being hotly debated in archaeology, when and how contextual factors contribute to epistemic goals in science and why this does not entail corrosive relativism, her current work on the project, "Indigenous/Science: Partnerships in the Exploration of History and Environments," and the future of the Philosophy of Science Association.Timestamps: :15 Introduction 1:44: Alison

    Episode 37 - Quayshawn Spencer

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2018 82:58


    On Episode 37, Nick chats with Quayshawn Spencer, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, about growing up with the unspoken norms of social segregation in Nashville, Tennessee, the philosophical question that compelled a change in his career ambitions from biochemist to philosopher of biology, how he set out to write a book on the non-biological reality of race but then came across data that shifted his research trajectory, why he's not a biological racial antirealist nor a biological racial realist, and why philosophy of science faces an even greater challenge to diversify than STEM fields.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 1:37 Quayshawn

    Episode 36 - Armin Schulz

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2018 88:08


    On Episode 36, Nick chats with Armin Schulz, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kansas and Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, about leaving Germany at fifteen to study abroad in the United States Pacific Northwest, studying (and returning to teach) at the London School of Economics, how helping behavior is adaptive, his new book "Efficient Cognition: The Evolution of Representational Decision-Making," and how we can learn from how animals make economic decisions. Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:35 Armin

    Episode 35 - Steven French

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2018 79:25


    On Episode 35, Nick chats with Steven French, Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, about his early interests in "geeky" hobbies, new music, and a motorcycle sport called "Speedway," his intense graduate school days under Heinz Post that ended at 4am in a pitch-black room debating Popper, taking his first permanent academic job at the University of Campinas in Brazil, teaching English to Vietnamese refugees, working with a number of incredible PhD students, identity and individuality in physics, structural realism, the similarities and differences between scientific theories and artworks, his upcoming book on Husserl and the phenomenological approach to quantum mechanics, and why we should see philosophy of science as a part of mainstream philosophy.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 1:53 Steven

    Episode 34 - Jackie Sullivan

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2018 90:07


    On Episode 34, Nick chats with Jackie Sullivan, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and an associate member of the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario, about how a challenging early home life pushed her to study existentialism and philosophy, finding a supportive environment in the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) graduate community at Pitt, putting her PhD on pause to do a Master's in Neuroscience, how scientists exert control in experimental contexts (and how they extrapolate back to the phenomena), why neuroscience is not reductive in practice, the nature of the self in Alzheimer's disease, problems in integrative research, and how we coordinate practices to achieve certain goals in science.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:24 Jackie

    Episode 33 - Zoe Drayson

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2018 106:16


    On Episode 33, Nick chats with Zoe Drayson, Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of California, Davis, about leaving high school at seventeen to work full-time as a horoscope writer at a teenage magazine, returning to study under Tim Williamson at the University of Edinburgh, spending several years in academic publishing at Routledge on the philosophy list, going from fearing her social skills would be "absolutely wasted on philosophy" to finding philosophers who were a blast hang out with, briefly becoming a public intellectual while a graduate student at the University of Bristol, the importance of visiting other philosophy departments for achieving success in the field, the challenge of being a moderate naturalist, and why philosophers of science are the worst culprits in thinking their discipline is the only bit of philosophy worth doing.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 2:09 Zoe

    Episode 32 - Tim Maudlin

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2018 89:31


    On Episode 32, Nick chats with Tim Maudlin, Professor of Philosophy at New York University, about being advised by his Yale undergraduate professor, "not even if you were Immanuel Kant would I suggest you go to graduate school in philosophy," how he "accidentally" wrote several books including Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity, Truth and Paradox, The Metaphysic Within Physics, and Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time, the importance of working outside of the literature, how metaphysics is informed by physics, his latest project on new foundations for physical geometry, and the challenge of bringing foundational issues in physics to the forefront of practicing physicists.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 02:00 Tim

    Episode 31 - Robyn Bluhm

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 4, 2017 75:11


    On Episode 31, Nick chats with Robyn Bluhm, Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University, about her transition from doing a Bachelors in Translation, to studying behavioral neuroscience, to gradate work in the philosophy of science, spending three years doing functional neuroimaging in psychiatry, becoming a leading expert in the philosophy of evidence-based medicine, taking an integrated approach that combines philosophy of science with bioethics, and why this is a great time to be doing philosophy of science.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 01:18 Robyn

    Episode 30 - Elisabeth Lloyd

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2017 79:40


    On Episode 30, Nick chats with Elisabeth Lloyd, the Arnold and Maxine Tanis Chair of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University, about developing resilience from growing up in adverse circumstances, returning to college after spending a year in a hippie commune to write her own major on Science and Political Theory, getting through a difficult and discouraging environment as a female graduate student who experienced recurring sexual harassment at Princeton, worrying about how knowledge gets made in the sciences as opposed to worrying about securing the possibility of knowledge, evaluating the science as a whole utilizing a "Logic of Research Questions," her recent work with key players in climate science, and the importance for young philosophers and scientists to not pay too much attention to those who put you down.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 02:40 Lisa

    Episode 29 - Eric Winsberg

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2017 79:38


    On Episode 29, Nick chats with Eric Winsberg, Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida, about the "unbelievably permissive" schooling he had growing up in Montreal in the 70's, transitioning from Physics to History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Chicago, exploring the quirky, non-traditional menu of philosophy of science at Indiana University, the relation between theory and phenomena in computer simulations, the importance of playing the contrarian, and philosophy of science in practice.Timestamps: 0:15 Hello and welcome 01:45 Eric

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