The HPS Podcast – Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

Today we are joined by Miguel Ohnesorge and Aja Watkins to talk about a new subfield of HPS - The Philosophy of the Geosciences. 

Miguel and Aja recently co-authored an article titled 'What is the Philosophy of the Geosciences?'  In today's episode, we discuss many of the themes introduced in the paper, including common problems found across such diverse geoscientific disciplines as palaeontology, seismology and climate science.

Aja and Miguel highlight how the geosciences have had to develop similar strategies for studying such large and often inaccessible phenomena. As global sciences, they also face many common ethical challenges, including rectifying a history of often extractive and exploitative practices, as well as navigating the continued ramifications of their research on human welfare and the environment.

A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-10-aja-watkins-miguel-ohnesorge-on-philosophy-of-the-geosciences

Relevant links:

• Aja's Website: Aja Watkins (ajawatkins.org)
• Miguel's Website: Miguel Ohnesorge (mohnesorgehps.com)
• Open Access Paper: What is Philosophy of the Geosciences? | Ohnesorge & Watkins | 2024 Philosophy Compass
• Research Group: Philosophy of the Geosciences Research Group | Alisa Bokulich
• Colloquium: Philosophy of the Geosciences Colloquium | Boston University
• Recording: Aja Watkins | Using Paleoclimate Analogues to Inform Climate Projections 
• Recording: Miguel Ohnesorge | Bringing Gravitation Down to Earth: Severe Testing in Laplace’s Mécanique Céleste
• Recording: Rachel Laudan | Cinderella Science: Intellectual Obstacles Facing History & Philosophy of Geology 
• Recording: Carol Cleland | Rethinking Mineral Taxonomy from a More Historical Perspective 
• Paper: Ahmad Elabbar | Varying Evidential Standards as a Matter of Justice | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

How are we to understand Indigenous biological difference in the twenty-first century?
Is it a racist ruse, a stubborn residue of racial pseudoscience?
Or is it a potentially empowering force that can be unlocked by newly accurate science?
Or by being under Indigenous control?

Today’s guest is Deakin Distinguished Professor Emma Kowal. Emma first trained as a doctor and public health researcher, before turning to cultural and medical anthropology. Now Emma also works across Science and Technology Studies and the History of Science and is the immediate past president of The International Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).

The episode focuses on Emma's recently published monograph Haunting Biology: Science & Indigeneity in Australia. In the book, Emma wrestles with the need to acknowledge the ghosts of science past at the same time as we forge new pathways in Indigenous genomics.

A transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-9-emma-kowal-on-haunting-biology

Related links:

• The Book - Haunting Biology | Emma Kowal
• The Centre - ANU National Centre for Indigenous Genomics
• The Program - SING Australia | Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics
• Profile - Emma Kowal Profile | Deakin University
• Deakin SSN - Deakin Science and Society Network
•  Earlier Book - Trapped in the Gap: Doing Good in Indigenous Australia | Emma Kowal
• Interview - 'Why Did Scientists Collect the Blood of Indigenous Peoples?' | Time to Eat the Dogs
• Interview - 'Emma Kowal talks Indigenous health care, difference & genomics' | The Familiar Strange

You can also find further links to people and topics mentioned in the podcast via the transcript. 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

We have a very special episode today with guest host Dr Joshua Eisenthal interviewing fellow philosopher of science, and good friend, Dr Haixin Dang on the fascinating subject of Disagreement in Science.

It might seem like scientists should always aspire to achieve consensus, and therefore any disagreement in science is a mark of failure. However, as Haixin points out, disagreement is in fact a vital part of healthy scientific practice.

Disagreement helps scientists be reflective about their work, challenging each other to consider alternative positions, question assumptions and further their investigations in a variety of ways.

However, exactly how disagreement works in science, and what kind of disagreements are more or less helpful, has not been well-studied. Haixin suggests a better understanding of scientific disagreement may be important for science communication and tackling science scepticism. If we can better explain how scientists actually make progress, perhaps members of the public will be more understanding when the experts disagree.

A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-8-haixin-dang-on-disagreement-in-science

Further links:

• Website: Haixin Dang 
• Journal Article: Minority Reports: Registering Dissent in Science | Philosophy of Science | Haixin Dang
• Journal Article: Do Collaborators in Science Need to Agree? | Haixin Dang
• Physics Examples Mentioned
  • No more doubts: Two independent studies confirm LIGO’s Nobel discovery | Ars Technica
  • Fermilab Says Particle Is Heavy Enough to Break the Standard Model | Quanta Magazine
  • James Webb Space Telescope deepens major debate over universe's expansion rate | Space
  • Faster Than Lightspeed: These Neutrinos Were Faster Than The Speed Of Light—Until They Weren’t | Yale Scientific Magazine

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's episode features one of our favourite philosophers of physics, Dr Sophie Ritson. Sophie's research focuses on the way contemporary physicists – of both the experimental and theoretical kind – work together to develop reliable knowledge and find creative ways to expand our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Sophie is unafraid to dig in where others fear to tread. She began her career examining the string theory controversy and, more recently, has studied first-hand the high stakes  experimental particle physics happening at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland.

In this week’s episode, Sophie discusses her fascinating research on these topics, as well as on the larger question of ‘how do large scale research collaboration’s generate knowledge?’

A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-7-sophie-ritson-transcript 

Further links:

• Website: Sophie Ritson | Philosopher of Physics
• Profile Article: Philosophy at the Large Hadron Collider: An Interview with Sophie Ritson | Forum
• PhD Thesis: The Many Dimensions of the String Theory Wars | Sophie Ritson | PhilSci-Archive
• Journal Article: ‘Crackpots’ and ‘active researchers’: The controversy over links between arXiv and the scientific blogosphere | Sophie Ritson, 2016 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's guest is Dr Kirsten Walsh, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter.

Kirsten’s research primarily focuses on Isaac Newton and his methodology, but she is careful to consider philosophical issues alongside a sensitivity and consideration for historical contexts.

In today’s episode Kirsten gives us a sense of how our historical understanding of Newton has changed over time, and the role various archival practices have played in what knowledge is developed.

Kirsten’s lively discussion gives us a wonderful insight into the detailed, everyday practices of Newton, but also of the archivists who decide what records are to be kept, and the historians who interrogate those documents in varying ways.

A transcript of the interview can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-6-kirsten-walsh-transcript

Related links

• Website: Philosopher | Kirsten Walsh
• Paper: 'The Unknown Newton' | Kirsten Walsh
• Paper: 'Frameworks for Historians and Philosophers' | Currie & Walsh
• Book: The Newton Papers | Sarah Dry
• Archive: Newton Papers | Cambridge Digital Library 
• Website: The Newton Project
• Archive: The Royal Society | Science in the Making
• Article: 'Newton goes digital' | Royal Society

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This week the team at The HPS Podcast are taking a mid-semester break!

To celebrate we are reposting one of our favourite episodes from Season 1 featuring Professor Greg Radick, a leading historian of biology at the University of Leeds.

In the podcast Greg discusses the use of counterfactuals in history of science - the term we use for asking ‘What if?’ questions about history - and their potential to subvert our conventional thinking. 

In Greg’s research, a central counterfactual question is: “What might biology be like now if a different side had triumphed in early debates on genetics?”

For example, might we be a little less deterministic about genetic inheritance and a little more embracing of contextual effects on human development?

By asking such seemingly simple ‘what if’ questions, fruitful new lines of investigation and alternative perspectives can open up.

A transcript of the interview can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-5-transcript

Related links

• Profile: Professor Gregory Radick | University of Leeds
• Website: Gregory Radick | Personal Site
• Book: Disputed Inheritance: The Battle over Mendel and the Future of Biology 
• Article: Teach students the biology of their time | Nature 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

In today’s episode we have assistant professor and philosopher of science, Dan Hicks, taking us through better understanding public scientific controversies.

‘Public scientific controversies’ is a term Dan uses to capture a broad variety of controversies that involve both science and the public. This would include controversies around vaccines, genetically modified foods, medical research and climate change.

In studying why controversies like these arise and persist, Dan has found our common explanations are not always fit for purpose. Controversies aren’t all of one type, so a blanket diagnosis like, "it is all due to the public not properly understanding the science" or alternatively "the problem is widespread distrust of science," is  not helpful.

Instead, Dan argues that what is required is more careful consideration of the specific processes and mechanisms at play in each case. Better diagnoses can then help us better determine appropriate and effective interventions.

Relevant links for Dan:

• Profile - Dan Hicks - About
• Research - Dan Hicks - Research
• Discussion - Dan Hicks - philosophy of science, data science, environmental policy
• Relevant Article - Dan Hicks - Misinformation and trustworthiness: Frenemies in the analysis of public scientific controversies

Other links related to the episode:

• The Dialectical Biologist | Levins & Lewontin
• 'Sheepfarming after Chernobyl' | Brian Wynne
• Impure Science: AIDS, Activism and the Politics of Knowledge | Steven Epstein
• Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change | Naomi Oreskes & Erik Conway
• 'The Green New Deal is already changing the terms of the climate action debate' (theconversation.com)

The transcript for this episode can be found at: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep4-dan-hicks-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's episode features Professor Anna Alexandrova from the University of Cambridge discussing a field she has pioneered - the Philosophy of Well-Being Science.

As Anna points out, well-being and happiness are now established phenomena for scientific research, particularly in the disciplines of psychology and economics. But does current scientific research produce knowledge that is properly about well-being? What kind of well-being? Should the goal be a single concept and single theory of well-being?

Anna persuasively argues that a ‘one-concept-or-one-theory-fits-all’ attitude is wrong-headed.

Instead, Anna suggests researchers should invest in tailoring the concept of ‘well-being’ for specific people in specific contexts. Furthermore, we must take into consideration the components of well-being, or better put – of human flourishing - that are meaningful to the people within those groups.

Relevant links for Anna:

• Profile - Anna Alexandrova | HPS | University of Cambridge
• Book - A Philosophy for the Science of Well-Being | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
• Current work - The Many Dimensions of Wellbeing - Bennett Institute for Public Policy
• Media - Interviews and popular writings 

The transcript for this episode can be found at: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep3-anna-alexandrova-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's guest is Dr Kate Lynch, who will discuss the topic of 'causal explanation in science'. Kate is a philosopher of biology and a lecturer in HPS at the University of Melbourne.

In this episode Kate introduces us to the difference between 'causation' and 'causal explanation', as well as difficulties involved in assessing what makes a good causal explanation. 

Some of Kate's research looks at medical explanations of death, including the complications that can be involved in deciding what cause of death will be officially documented. We were fascinated to learn of the varied practical, political, and even social considerations that can shape what cause a physician ends up recording on a death certificate. We also appreciated the way Kate used concrete examples like this to draw us into further discussion of the role social values play in science, all the way  down to the core scientific task of articulating causal explanations for natural phenomena.

You can find more interviews with and by Kate on the ABC's Philosophers Zone below:

• The philosophy of biology - ABC listen
• Causation and death - ABC listen
• What can genes tell us? - ABC listen

Other relevant links:

• Kate Lynch, Emily Parke & Maureen O'Malley 'How Causal are Microbiomes?'
• Kate Lynch '‘Gay gene’ testing apps aren’t just misleading – they’re dangerous'
• Kate Lynch 'Genes are not destiny: environment and education still matter when it comes to intelligence'
• James Woodward on Causal Explanation
• Peter Menzies 'Difference Maker'
• Tania Lombrozo 'Simplicity and Probability in Causal Explanation'
• Knobe & Fraser 'Causal Judgement & Moral Judgement: Two Experiments'

The transcript for this episode can be found at: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep2-kate-lynch-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's episode is dedicated to the often complex, sometimes fraught relationship between practicing scientists and the history of science. 

To discuss this topic, we are joined by two of the most distinguished scholars in the history of science, Lorraine Daston and Peter Harrison, who recently co authored an article for Aeon, urging for a fresh dialogue between scientists and historians. In the interview we cover the history of these tensions, tracing them back to the science wars of the 1990s, as well as talking about why and how these relations might be repaired.  

The great joy of this episode is not only its fascinating content, but the pleasure of listening to two HPS luminaries discussing topics so close to their heart. 

Links:

• Aeon Article | 'Science and history cannot afford to be indifferent to each other'
• Lorraine Daston | MPIWG
• Peter Harrison | University of Queensland

Transcript:

• www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep1-lorraine-daston-peter-harrison-transcript  

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to Season 3 of the HPS podcast!

It's so great to be back.

Kicking off our third season, we have a new addition to the team, Carmelina Contarino.
Carmelina is an Honours student in HPS at the University of Melbourne and will be joining Samara in producing the podcast, as well as hosting several of the episodes.

In today's episode, Samara and Carmelina dive into what has become a bit of a theme of the podcast,  'Seeing Science Differently'. Science isn't always as neat or as sterile as we have been lead to expect. Instead, HPS shows science to be far more interesting. It's a little bit messy, sometimes unpredictable and full of unexpected twists.

We particular love this quote from François Jacob's autobiography 'Of Flies, Mice, and Men' featured in this episode:

"When you look more closely at 'what scientists do', you might be surprised to find that research actually comprises both the so-called day science and night science. Day science calls into play arguments that mesh like gears, results that have the force of certainty... Conscious of its progress, proud of its past, sure of its future, day science advances in light and glory.

By contrast, night science wanders blind. It hesitates, stumbles, recoils, sweats, wakes with a start. Doubting everything, it is forever trying to find itself, question itself, pull itself back together. Night science is a sort of workshop of the possible. Where what will become the building material of science is worked out. Where hypotheses remain in the form of vague presentiments and woolly impressions...

Where thought makes its way along meandering paths and twisting lanes, most often leading nowhere."

Further links

• Stephen Shapin's Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as if It Was Produced by People with Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority.
• Hasok Chang's Podcast Episode

Transcript

• www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-samara-and-carmelina-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today on the podcast, Mauricio Suárez talks with Samara about his new book - Inference and Representation: A study in Modelling Science.

Mauricio is Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a life member at Clare Hall Cambridge and research associate at the London School of Economics. 

Mauricio has a long standing interest in the ways scientists represent the phenomena they study, in particular, through modelling, and his book seeks to answer the question: How should we best understand the relationship between a scientific model and the aspect of the world the model is intended to represent?

Are there substantive criteria – a set of necessary and sufficient conditions  – that a model must meet to serve as an adequate representation?

Or, as Mauricio argues, is it better to take a more pragmatic and deflationary approach.

In this approach, the search for a ‘defining condition for representation’ is abandoned. Instead,  the effectiveness of a model is understood to not be determined by substantive criteria, but rather by the models ability to enable appropriate, fruitful scientific inferences relevant for the phenomena under consideration.

Transcript of the episode available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/mauricio-suárez-transcript

Resources related to the episode:

• Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science, Suárez (uchicago.edu)
• Mauricio Suárez (personal website)
• 'An Inferential Conception of Scientific Representation' | Philosophy of Science | Cambridge Core (2022)
• Scientific Representation (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to the final episode of Season 2 (with a bonus ep coming next week!). We take a moment in this episode to reflect on the first year of the HPS podcast.

Just a few weeks ago Sam and Indi attended the biannual AAHPSSS (The Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science) conference at the University of Sydney. In this episode they reflect on their time at the conference, featuring interviews with various conference attendees and presenters.

HPS Scholars featured in this episode are:

• Rebecca Mann
• Dr Rachael Brown
• Jacob Hall
• Zoe Cosker
• Dr Jacinthe Flore
• Gemma Lucy Smart
• Dr Alan Jurgens
• Dr Marilyn Stendera
• Jules Rankin
• Dr Sophie Ritson

The 2023 conference program provides more information on the presentations of those mentioned, as well as everyone who we didn’t get a chance to interview! The program can be found here: https://aahpsss.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/AAHPSSS2023_Program.pdf

The transcript for this episode is also available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/aaphsss-transcript-s2-ep12

We would like to thank everyone who has helped the HPS have a successful first year, either by listening to the podcast, engaging on social media, or by being on it! We look forward to what the next year and season will bring. 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"We get this instinct that true science must start from a firm foundation. Time and again, that's what I see NOT happening in the practice of science. We start from where we stand. The foundation is never indubitable, the foundation is provisional."

Our very special guest today is Hasok Chang. Hasok is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and his research focuses on 'taking the most obvious items of scientific knowledge and asking how we came to know such things. Usually, such a line of questioning reveals that even the most mundane piece of knowledge was hard won through the most challenging and fascinating investigations and debates.'

As well as being well know for his books, Inventing Temperature, Is Water H2O?, Realism for Realistic People, and his upcoming work How does a Battery Work? Hasok has taken a leading role in HPS, as both a founding member of the Committee for Integrated HPS and the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice. 

In today’s episode we discuss Hasok’s notion of ‘Epistemic Iteration’ – the idea that we do not start our inquiries from a solid foundation, but rather begin from an imperfect position and then use the outcomes of our inquiry to refine and correct that original starting point.

Transcript of the episode available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/hasok-chang-transcript-s2-ep-11

Resources related to the episode:

• Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice
• The Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science
• Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress | Oxford Academic
• Is Water H2O?: Evidence, Realism and Pluralism | SpringerLink
• Realism for Realistic People | Cambridge
• 'Epistemic iteration and natural kinds: Realism and pluralism in taxonomy' Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry IV: Classification of Psychiatric Illness | Oxford Academic
• 'The Rising of Chemical Natural Kinds through Epistemic Iteration' Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"Philosophers of science are really good about thinking about causation and trying to figure out what the mechanisms are that make something work"

Today we welcome Katherine Furman, who talks to Indi about the philosophy of public health. Katherine is a lecturer of Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Liverpool. She is currently on research leave to work with the SOCRATES project in Hanover, Germany.

Katherine explores with us the intricacies of implementing public health measures in the face of epidemics. When there is resistance to these programs, the cause is rarely as simple as an information deficit. Katherine draws on her South African background in her focus on the South African AIDS epidemic and how various case studies of rejection of public health programs may be applicable to the wider philosophy of science.

Transcript of the episode available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/katherine-furman-transcript-s2-e10

Resources related to the episode:

Katherine's Website: https://katherinefurman.com/

SOCRATES Centre: https://www.socrates.uni-hannover.de/en/ 

Maya Goldenberg's Book: Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science

Benjamin Black's Book: Belly Woman: Birth, Blood & Ebola - the Untold Story

Article on Ebola: Ebola: failures, flashpoints and focus | | Africa at LSE

Jonny Steinberg's Book: Three Letter Plague

Heidi Larson's Book: Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start - and Why They Don't Go Away

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's guest is Professor Carl Bergstrom from the University of Washington. Carl has been touring Australia over the last few weeks and we were delighted when he agreed to join us while he was in Melbourne.

Carl works across evolutionary biology, informatics and science studies and has become particularly well-known for his work concerning the spread of misinformation and what we can do about it. Together with his colleague Jevin West, Carl developed a university course named ‘Calling Bullshit: Data Reasoning in a Digital World’, which they have since developed into a best selling book.

In this episode Carl discusses a range of topics including the role institutional norms and incentive structures play in shaping science, the challenges of studying misinformation and why he believes we must urgently turn our collective attention to the study of collective human behaviour if we hope to address our current information crisis.

Transcript of the episode available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/carl-bergstrom-transcript-s2-ep9

Resources related to the episode:

Carl's Website: https://ctbergstrom.com/

'Calling Bullshit' Website: https://callingbullshit.org/

Guardian Article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/01/carl-bergstrom-people-are-using-data-to-bullshit

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to another week of the HPS podcast. This week's guest is Gerhard Wiesenfeldt of the University of Melbourne. He joins us as he discusses the benefits and pitfalls of studying those in the history of science who are less well known.

The popular narratives in the history of science tend to centre around a few key figures on whom extensive research and work has been done, those such as Galileo, Newton, Darwin. However, for every household name there were a legion of other scientists also working in their respective fields.

By studying these scientists we gain insight not only into an understudied piece of history, but also into the everyday working of the science machine, and the workers who kept it going.

The transcript for this episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/gerhard-weisenfeldt-transcript-s2-e8

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This week's guest is Ian Hesketh, an intellectual historian and historian of science at the University of Queensland. His work in HPS revolves around 19th century scientific practices and their intricacies. He works to situate this science not only in its temporal history, but to delve into the ways in which the practice itself helped to form the science of the day.

He joins the podcast to discuss how scientific and historical writing practices can effect the way in which science itself is shaped, as well as the rich tradition of science history present in the discipline of science itself. To demonstrate how the writing of science history can shape how science is produced, he turns to the Darwinian Revolution. Darwin was not simply a scientist, but was well versed in the history of his field as well as its changing nature, a fact integral to his development of the theory of evolution.

Transcript of the episode is now available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/ian-hesketh-transcript-s2-e7

Resources related to the episode:

Book: The Science of History in Victorian Britain: Making the Past Speak https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1dnppv7  

Book: Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2k4fwpr

Ian's Chapter: Imagining the Darwinian Revolution https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:005e875

Article:  From Copernicus to Darwin to you: history and the meaning(s) of evolution https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:4d9ee19

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's guest is Sarah Qidwai, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the history of science who focuses on British Imperialism, Science and Colonialism, the relation of Science and Islam, as well as the history of evolutionary biology. Sarah’s dissertation focussed on how the Muslim polymath, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, engaged with science and science popularisation. 

In this week’s episode Sarah introduces us to the topic of Science and Colonialism – a crucial area of research for understanding many of the features of modern science, as well as reconfiguring our understanding of its history – expanding our vision and challenging many traditional Eurocentric notions of what it takes to really come to grips with understanding this thing we call science.

Transcript of the episode is now available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/sarah-qidwai-transcript-s2-e6

Resources related to the episode:

• Sarah's Website:  https://sarahqidwai.com/
• Sarah's Article: 'Re-examining Complexity: Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Interpretation of 'Science' in Islam' in Rethinking History, Science, and Religion (2019)
• Sarah's Article: 'Darwin or Design? Examining Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Views on Human Evolution' in The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan (2019)
• Marwa Elshakry's Book: Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860-1950
• Sujit Sivasundaram's Article: On Global Histories of Science, Isis: Vol 101, No 1
• Further reading: The Routledge Handbook of Science and Empire

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today's guest on the podcast is Dr Adrian Currie, senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Exeter. Much of Adrian's research revolves around the question 'How do Scientists successfully generate knowledge in tricky circumstances?'

Much of Adrian's work has focused on the historical sciences, such as palaeontology and archeology. In this episode Adrian talks about how scientists in these fields have developed a range of creative and opportunistic ways of developing knowledge - even when evidence is thin on the ground.

A transcript of this episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/adrian-currie-transcript-s2-e5

Additional resources:

Adrian's website - https://sites.google.com/site/adrianmitchellcurrie/

Blog - Extinct: The Philosophy of Palaeontology Blog - http://www.extinctblog.org/

Book - Rock, Bone & Ruin: An Optimist's Guide to the Historical Sciences (2018) - https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262037266/rock-bone-and-ruin/

Book - Scientific Knowledge & the Deep Past: History Matters (2019) 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"Everything on the land is reflected in the sky. So if you want to learn about indigenous astronomy, You have to learn about everything."

This week we welcome Duane Hamacher to the HPS podcast as he discusses Indigenous science and its importance in the Australian context.

Duane is a professor of astronomy who focuses on Indigenous astronomy, its history, and its present role in our knowledge systems. He works with elders from Indigenous groups across the world to bring to light the history of astronomy in their culture, and how we can appreciate and learn from it today.

He discusses with us the importance of considering Indigenous knowledge systems, be they oral, dance, or art, and their validity amongst Western science, and the importance of not dismissing that which looks different from what we might have previously been taught. At the University of Melbourne, Duane teaches a course called Indigenous Astronomy, run through the physics department, which highlights for students that there is more than one way of knowing, the synergy which exists between different modes of knowing, and how this fits in with the rest of their schooling at the university. Indigenous and Western ways of knowing are not disparate ideas, but run in parallel.

A transcript of this episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/duane-hamacher-transcript-s2-e4

Some links related to this episode can be found below:

• Book - Disciplining the Savages: Savaging the Disciplines by Martin Nakata 
• Book - The First Astronomers - How Indigenous Elders Read the Stars by Duane Hamacher
• Article - Stars that vary in brightness shine in the oral traditions of Aboriginal Australians (theconversation.com) by Duane Hamacher 
• Book Chapter - Safeguarding Indigenous Sky Rights from Colonial Exploitation by Karlie Alinta Noon, Krystal De Napoli, Peter Swanton, Carla Guedes, Duane Hamacher
• Article - Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge by Arun Agrawal

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Season 2 of the HPS podcast welcomes back friend of the podcast, Kristian Camilleri. This time he joins us to discuss the turn to practice in the philosophy of science.

The "turn to practice" is a common name for the shift in philosophy of science theory when philosophers and social scientists moved from studying science through broad theories and began to analyse how science is actually conducted by practising scientists. By shifting their focus here, philosophers of science were better able to understand the inner workings of scientific practice.

This often lead to interesting analysis of the ways in which discoveries were made. No one creates new ideas out of a vacuum, and by monitoring the steps of progress made by scientists, philosophers learnt more about how we come to create new scientific theories.

This episode with Kristian provides a neat sequel to his Season 1 episode on the Disunity of Science.

Some links related to this episode can be found below:
Book – Science after the Practice Turn in the Philosophy, History, and Social (routledge.com)

Article – ‘The Shaping of Inquiry: Histories of the Exact Sciences after the Practical Turn’ - https://www.scirp.org/pdf/AHS_2015050715404250.pdf

Society for the Philosophy of Scientific Practice - https://philosophy-science-practice.org/about/mission-statement

A transcript of this episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/kristian-camilleri-transcript-s2-e3

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"Scientists are not born, they are made" David Kaiser

Today's guest on the podcast is David Kaiser, Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Physics at MIT. 

In history of science, David is best known for his books on the history of modern physics including Drawing Theories Apart, Quantum Legacies, and a personal favourite, How the Hippies Saved Physics, which in part looks at how changing cultural conditions in 1970s USA, including severe cutbacks in the funding of physics and the emergence of counterculture, gave rise to an unusual group of physicists who helped rejuvenate more speculative physics.

In a fitting follow up to Rachel Ankeny’s episode last week on research repertoires, today David discusses the role of education, scientific training, and pedagogy in the production of scientific knowledge. 

Some links related to this episode can be found below:

• Profile: David I. Kaiser » MIT Physics 
• 2005 Book: Drawing Theories Apart: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics
• 2011 Book: How the Hippies Saved Physics
• 2020 Book: Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World
• Edited Book: Pedagogy and the Practice of Science
• Paper: The Postwar Suburbanization of American Physics
• Open Course: Einstein, Oppenheimer, Feynman: Physics in the 20th Century
• MIT Case Studies on Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing: SERC

A transcript of this episode can be found here: www.hpsunimelb.org/post/transcript-s2-e2

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to season 2 of the HPS Podcast! To ease you into a new season, Samara and Indigo sit down to reflect on the first season. 

They take a look at how the season performed, with listernership outstripping their expectations, both in terms of numbers and global reach. 

They discuss what we have to look forward to in season 2, with new events, guests and topics. 

But most importantly, it is a chance to catch back up with your two favourite podcast hosts before they are swept away into the whirlpool of podcasting for another 12 weeks

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"That's what ‘repertoires’ is trying to force philosophers to look at - that whole ecosystem that encompasses the doing of science." Prof. Rachel Ankeny
 
We start season 2 with the wonderful Rachel Ankeny discussing scientific change and the concept of research repertoires.

Rachel is professor of History and Philosophy at the University of Adelaide, with wide ranging expertise across HPS, bioethics and science policy, as well as food studies. Rachel is also editor in chief of the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and is past president of the International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology. 

In this episode Rachel introduces us to the concept of 'Research Repertoires', a notion she develop with Sabina Leonelli as a way to better understand the complex composition of research communities. In particular, Rachel and Sabina introduce the notion of  repertoires to highlight how important the practice of science is to understanding how scientific knowledge making works and changes over time.

The repertoire of a scientific community incorporates many different components, including the typical skills, methods, materials and technologies that community members use, the institutional structures they practice in, the geographical locations they are dispersed across, the common language they share, the organizations they subscribe to, and the ways in which they typically publish.

Some links related to this episode can be found below:

• Profile: Professor Rachel Ankeny | Researcher Profiles (adelaide.edu.au)
• Research Repertoires: Repertoires: A post-Kuhnian perspective on scientific change and collaborative research (Ankeny & Leonelli, 2016)
• Repertoires and Model Organisms (Sect 5): Model Organisms (cambridge.org)
• Repertoires in Jazz:  The Jazz Repertoire (Faulkner & Becker 2006)
• Kuhn's Concept of Paradigm: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

A transcript of this episode can be found here: www.hpsunimelb.org/post/transcript-s2-e1

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

In this final bonus episode for Season 1 we are doing things a little bit differently. 

Instead of a one-way interview,  philosopher of physics - Joshua Eisenthal - and host Samara Greenwood have a two-way conversation reflecting on Season 1 and discuss how certain episodes intersected with their own research interests.

In particular, Josh and Sam discuss Donna Haraway's concept of Storytelling, Greg Radick's discussion of Counterfactual History and Fallon Mody's thoughts on the uses of biography.

Joshua is a research assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology and associate editor of the Einstein papers.

You can find more about Josh on his website - www.josheisenthal.co.uk

The transcript for this episode can be found at - https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-13-transcript 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to a special bonus episode of The HPS Podcast with Professor of Psychology, Simine Vazire, discussing the ways in which HPS scholars and scientists can work together to create better science.

We are releasing the episode to coincide with the campaign put together by Simine and others to support the legal defence of Data Colada – a group of professors who identify concerns with the integrity of published research. Members of Data Colada are being sued by Francesca Gino, a Harvard Business School Professor, after they published blog posts raising concerns about the data integrity of four papers on which Gino was a co-author. As the group says, “defending science requires defending legitimate scientific criticism against legal bullying”.

In this podcast episode Indigo Keel, talks with Simine about more than just this one issue. They discuss Simine's connection to History and Philosophy of Science, the need for scientists to reflect on the practices of their discipline, issues that have arisen out of the replication crisis and cases of alleged scientific misconduct – including the Francesca Gino case. Simine highlights how philosophers of science can contribute to making science better.

Relevant links:

·       The GoFundMe Campaign to Support Data Colada’s Legal Defense

·       Vox Article: Is it Defamation to Point out Scientific Research Fraud?

·       Data Colada Post (Part 1): “Clusterfake”

·       Data Colada Post (Part 2): “My Class Year is Harvard”

·       Data Colada Post (Part 3): “The Cheaters are Out of Order”

·       Data Colada Post (Part 4): “Forgetting the Words”

A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/bonus-episode-transcript

Simine studies the research methods and practices used in psychology, as well as structural systems in science, such as peer review. Simine is editor in chief of Collabra: Psychology, one of the PIs on the repliCATS project (with Fiona Fidler), and co-founder (with Brian Nosek) of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science.

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

"It wouldn’t make sense to leave the entire burden of upholding objectivity in science on the shoulders of fallible individuals, right?" Prof. Fiona Fidler
 
To finish off our inaugural season with a bang – today’s episode features the visionary researcher who initiated the idea for the podcast – Professor Fiona Fidler. 

Fiona is head of our History and Philosophy of Science Program at the University of Melbourne and co-lead of the MetaMelb research initiative. 

In this episode Fiona first discusses her early move from psychology to HPS when she was struck by the ‘dodgy’ statistical methods she found prevalent in many sciences. She has since dedicated her career to studying scientific practice to help improve confidence in scientific claims.

Fiona introduces us to the concept of ‘Collective Objectivity’. Following from an earlier podcast on 'Values in Science' by Rachel Brown, Fiona discusses how contemporary understandings of objectivity have become more sophisticated.

Rather than viewing objectivity in science as solely the role of individuals, today we understand there are strong social dimensions to ensuring scientific outcomes are not unduly biased.  As Fiona discusses, this not only requires diversity in 'who does science' to ensure multiple perspectives are incorporated, but we also need multiple collective review mechanisms to ensure we are developing truly robust, reliable, objective outcomes. 

Current research shows our current community-level systems are no longer adequate for today’s complex scientific world. Fiona forcefully argues that what is required is heavy investment in establishing stronger collective mechanisms for reinforcing the goals of scientific objectivity.

Some links related to this episode can be found below:

• Profile: Prof Fiona Fidler (unimelb.edu.au)
• Blog Post: MetaMelb – A New Research Initiative (hpsunimelb.org) |
• Website: MetaMelb research group
• Helen Longino  (1990) Science as Social Knowledge
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Objectivity as a Feature of Scientific Communities
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Objectivity as a Social Process
• What is P Hacking: Methods & Best Practices - Statistics By Jim

A transcript of this episode can be found here: https://www.hps

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today on the podcast is Dr James McElvenny, historian and philosopher of linguistics, discussing the topic of language and science.

As James points out in this episode, intersections between language, the language sciences and science are many and varied. 

For example, James introduces us to the ways in which the study of language and the study of science have interacted in history, in particular through famous figures in the philosophy of science such as Wittgenstein and Carnap. 

James also makes the important point that while there are many practical reasons to study language or science or HPS -  there is also much to be said about studying them for their inherent interest and their value in making us better-developed people, or as they say in Germany: ‘Gebildet’.

As well as working and teaching in this space, James runs his own very successful podcast  - The History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences. The podcast and blog can be found via the website at https://hiphilangsci.net/

Some links relevant to this episode can be found below:

• James McElvenny's personal website: https://www.jamesmcelvenny.net/
• James McElvenny's A History of Modern Linguistics
• Podcast: History of Philosophy without Any Gaps
• Book: Michael Gordin, Scientific Babel: How Science was done Before and After Global English
• Book: Stephen G. Alter Darwinism and the Linguistic Image
• HiPhiLangSci Ep5: On August Schleicher and comparative-historical linguistics
• HiPhiLangSci Ep15: On Jakobson and the Prague Circle

A full transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-11-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This week we welcome Dr Martin Bush to the podcast to discuss the role of imagery and visualisation in the circulation of science and knowledge. 

Martin is a member of the HPS department at the University of Melbourne who focuses primarily on the role of imagery in the popularisation and teaching of astronomy. In this episode, he takes us through the different arenas in which science is produced, discussed and circulated, and how these spheres can influence, or gate keep knowledge from each other. Martin then looks at the role that imagery and visualisation plays in the popularisation and understanding of scientific knowledge, and at the use of imagery as documentary evidence. 

Follow the links below to learn more about Martin and the topic he discussed with us:

Burke, Peter. Eyewitnessing: The uses of images as historical evidence. Cornell University Press, 2001.

Bush, Martin. (2018). 1891: The Collins–Hosking debate, Christchurch. Public Understanding of Science, 27(7), 897–904. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662518771400

Bush, Martin. "Again with feeling: modes of visual representation of popular astronomy in the mid-nineteenth century." Notes and Records 76, no. 3 (2022): 485-506. 

Kärnfelt, Johan. "The Popularization of Astronomy in Early Twentieth-Century Sweden: Aims and Motives." In Popularizing Science and Technology in the European Periphery, 1800–2000, pp. 175-194. Routledge, 2016.

Lewis, Dyani. "Why the WHO took two years to say COVID is airborne." Nature 604, no. 7904 (2022): 26-31.

Secord, Anne. (1994). Science in the Pub: Artisan Botanists in Early Nineteenth-Century Lancashire. History of Science, 32(3), 269–315. https://doi.org/10.1177/007327539403200302.
Secord, James A. “Knowledge in Transit.” Isis 95, no. 4 (2004): 654–72. https://doi.org/10.1086/430657.

A full transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-10-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This episode features Caleb Hazelwood, philosopher of science and PhD candidate, talking on the topic of Scientific Metaphysics. 

As Caleb explains, ‘scientific metaphysics’ refers to coming to grips with what ‘really is’ in the world – and being crystal clear about the concepts we use to describe natural phenomena and how they interact.  For example, Caleb talks about the importance of differentiating between entities we consider stable across the universe – such as the elements  – compared with more space-bound entities – such as biological species.

While exploring such fundamental questions may appear difficult and abstract, Caleb does a wonderful job in showing how debates such as these provide for fruitful interactions between scientific practice and philosophical reasoning. 

See the following links for more on the topic:
·       Caleb Hazelwood - https://calebhazelwood.com/
·       Catherine Kendig - https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/catherine-kendig
·       Yasmin Haddad - https://www.yasminhaddad.com/
·       Thomas Pradeu on ‘Individuality and the Microbiome’ - https://invivomagazine.com/en/focus/interview/article/350/you-can-identify-individuals-based-on-their-unique-features-of-their-microbiomes
·       Thomas Pradeu on Philosophy of Immunology - https://newbooksnetwork.com/philosophy-of-immunology
·       Caleb’s review of Charles Pence’s The Causal Structure of Natural Selection - http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/21945/
·       James Woodward – Causation with a Human Face
·       James Woodward – ‘Causation and Manipulability’ SEP - https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causation-mani/
·       ‘Metaphysics of Science’ (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
·       Aeon article by John Dupré on ‘Science-based Metaphysics’

A full transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-9-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This week Indigo Keel interviews our regular host, Samara Greenwood, on societal contexts and science.

Samara is currently undertaking a PhD in which she investigates the various ways in which changes in society can come to shape change in science. In this episode Samara discusses some of the controversies of drawing links between political contexts and scientific change, including links between second wave feminism and Primate Field Studies in the 20th century. She also discusses how studying context-to-science relations can provide us with a richer and more inclusive understanding of science, one which does justice to the positive contributions social and political change can have on knowledge production.

If you are interested in learning more about context, or reading examples of contextual histories of science, Samara suggests the following books:

• Samara Greenwood  ‘The Problem of Context Revisited: Moving Beyond the Resources Model’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
• Naomi Oreskes Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped what we Do and Don't know about the Ocean
• David Kaiser How the Hippies Saved Physics
• James Poskett Horizons: A Global History of Science

A transcript of the episode can be found here:  https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-8-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Today on the podcast Samara talks with Dr Rachael Brown on values in science. In particular, the downfall of the value-free ideal.

Dr. Rachael Brown, is a philosopher of biology and director for the Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences at the Australian National University or ANU in Canberra.
Rachael runs her own wonderful podcast on philosophy and science called The P-Value.

In discussing values in science, Rachael describes how the traditional stance is that science works best when scientists do not bring personal or social values to their work, particularly when it comes to interpreting data or assessing hypotheses. However this value-free ideal is challenged on two key fronts. First, at a practical level, can science really be ever conducted without values? And second, would we want it to, even if we could? In other words, if used appropriately can values provide a beneficial component to the scientific process?

As part of the discussion on values and perspectives in science, Rachael also provides a valuable analogy, the concept of a figure on a stage being lit up by a variety of spotlights in order to fully see the figure. In a similarly way, Rachael describes how useful it is to have a variety of views on a particular natural phenomena as different viewpoints cast both differing 'lights' on a subject, but also different 'shadows'. It is only when multiple perspectives are obtained that the shadows become illuminated.

Some relevant links are provided below:

Rachael's podcast 'The P-Value' - https://thep-value.buzzsprout.com/
Rachael's personal website -
https://www.rachaelbrown.net/about-me.html
Heather Douglas book - Science, Policy and the Value-Free Ideal   

A full transcript of the episode can also be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-7-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

On this episode Samara interviews Dr Fallon Mody, Historian of Medicine and Metascience researcher at the University of Melbourne, on the topic of Biography.

For non-historians, scientific biography is likely thought of as a straightforward telling of a celebrated individual’s life history, like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie. 

However, historians find biography - as a research tool - is better put to a broader range of uses. 

For example, Fallon has used group biographies in her own research investigating the role of migrant and refugee doctors in shaping urban and regional medicine in Australia during the early 20th century.

In today’s episode Fallon draws our attention to the range of ways biography can be used as a valuable research tool – especially in recovering important stories of women, indigenous, and non-elites in the history of science and medicine.

A transcript of the interview can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-6-transcript

Below are some resources mentioned by Fallon in the interview:

• Fallon's Research on Medical Migration as well as Metascience
• Janet McCalman Sex and Suffering: Women's Health and a Women's Hospital 
• Rod Buchanan Playing with Fire: The Controversial Career of Hans J Eysenck
• Anne Crowther and Marguerite Dupree Medical Lives in the Age of Surgical Revolution
• Katharine Foxhall Migraine: A History
• Janet Browne - Biographies of Darwin

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

This weeks guest is Greg Radick, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds.

In the podcast Greg discusses the use of counterfactuals in history of science - the term we use for asking ‘What if?’ questions about history - and their potential to subvert our conventional thinking. 

In Greg’s research, a central counterfactual question is: “What might biology be like now if a different side had triumphed in early debates on genetics?”

From this seemingly simple ‘what if?’ question a fruitful range of new research options open up.

A transcript of the interview can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-5-transcript

Some useful resources on Greg and his work:

Book: Disputed Inheritance: The Battle over Mendel and the Future of Biology (Published August 2023) 

Article on Teaching Genetics differently: Teach students the biology of their time | Nature https://www.nature.com/articles/533293a

Website: https://gregoryradick.com/

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Professor Cordelia Fine joins Samara this week to talk about 'norms of reaction' in relation to sex differences. Feminist critics of sex difference research are often accused of claiming there are no sex differences, or that sex hormones have no influence on human behaviour. Cordelia talks us through why this is a false characterisation. Instead, feminist researchers are digging into the ways in which the developmental outcomes of genes and hormones on behaviour can vary radically depending on environmental conditions.   

Links to some of the works Cordelia mentions in the podcast are provided below:

Rebecca Jordan-Young, Brain Storm: The Flaws in the Science of Sex Differences

Jillian Barker, Beyond Biofatalism: Human Nature for an Evolving World 2015

Video: Daphna Joel, ‘Neuroscience of Sex and Gender’

Cordelia Fine, Delusions of Gender 2010

Cordelia Fine, Testosterone Rex 2016

A transcript of the interview can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-4-transcript

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Does nature have a purpose?

The simple scientific answer is no, but the fuller story is, of course, more complicated than that. Concepts like goal directedness, directionality, and even purpose are used - usefully! - in biology all the time. How can we reconcile these two realities?

Today's guest on the HPS podcast is Professor Alan C. Love. Alan is professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota and principal investigator of 'The Purpose Project'. Alan joins Samara Greenwood to talk about how we can develop richer understandings of purpose in the sciences, and potentially, more broadly.

Alan also raises some interesting points on the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinarity. He discusses what scientists need to be aware of when working collaboratively, and how philosophers of science can add great value.

A transcript of the episode can be found here - https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-3-transcript

More about Alan Love and his work:

Project Website: ‘Biological Purpose’ - https://www.biologicalpurpose.org/

General Article: ‘Alan Love on the Science of Purpose’ - https://bit.ly/AlanLoveArticle

Academic Article: ‘Organising Interdisciplinary Research on Purpose’ -https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac041 

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

How do you view science? Is it a unified discipline that relies on a single method, or are the sciences more diverse than the standard image implies? 

In this episode of the podcast, Samara meets with the University of Melbourne’s own Dr Kristian Camilleri to talk about the Disunity of Science. 

Kristian highlights the problems with a monolithic vision of science and argues for seeing the sciences as diverse and differently evolving practices. This 'disunity' becomes clear when we appreciate that scientific disciplines often employ very different methodologies and have developed in divergent ways.  The disunity of science also has practical implications, as scientists may face barriers when collaborating if they hold to an overly simplified model of science.  Recognising science as highly variegated allows for a more helpful and accurate understanding.

Follow the links below to learn more about Kristian Camilleri and his work

• Interview with Kristian: ‘Unpacking the History of Quantum Mechanics’ 2021
• Kristian's Book: Heisenberg & the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 2009

On the Disunity of Science

• Edited collection: The Disunity of Science: Boundaries, Contexts, and Power 1996
• Article: ‘The Disunity of Nature and Science’ 2002

A transcript of the podcast can be found here.

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

In this episode of The HPS Podcast, Samara interviews a member of 'HPS Royalty' - Donna Haraway, who highlights the important role of narrative and storytelling in the sciences.

For Donna, storytelling in science involves being aware of how important scientific narratives are to scientific practice, and to the ways science contributes to humanities broader 'story' of the world. Donna proposes that engaging in 'polymath curiosity' by reading more in the world of HPS and beyond can help scientists ensure they stay innovative and playful with their thinking. Donna also suggests 'thinking about thinking' is helpful. For example, not just considering relationships as being linear or hierarchical, but rather thinking in webs of interactions, like in the game of 'Cat's Cradle'. Ultimately, Donna would love everyone to appreciate more the camaraderie, sense of humour and exploratory capacities of good scientists.

Follow the links below to learn more about Donna Haraway and her work, as discussed in the episode: 

• Article: ‘A Manifesto for Cyborgs’ 1985
• Article: ‘Situated Knowledges’ 1988
• Book: Primate Visions 1989 
• Article: ‘A Game of Cat’s Cradle’ 1994
• Video: Donna Haraway Lecture ‘Making Oddkin: Story Telling for Earthly Survival’ 2017
• Video: Donna Haraway & Bruno Latour Discussing ‘Storytelling for Earthly Survival’ 2020

A transcript of the episode can also be found here.

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

Welcome to The HPS Podcast! Before we dive into the history and philosophy of science interviews we’ve all been waiting for, our host Samara Greenwood takes us through the backstory to the podcast. Samara discusses what HPS is all about, the aims of the podcast, as well as a bit about the history of the discipline. We then meet the rest of the podcast crew, Fiona Fidler and Indigo Keel, before learning more about the upcoming season. 

To find out more about HPS at the University of Melbourne and beyond, here are some further resources to explore:

• The HPS@UniMelb website, which also contains information about the HPS seminar series, the HPS blog and further resources. 
• More about HPS at the formal UniMelb HPS website
• A Short Video on HPS by Dr Kristian Camilleri 
• An article on the History of HPS at the University of Melbourne

A transcript of the episode can be found here.

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org