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

This week on The HPS Podcast, Thomas Spiteri is in conversation with internationally recognised philosopher of science and professor at Michigan State University, Heather Douglas. Heather’s work has transformed how philosophers and scientists think about values, responsibility, and the relationship between science and society.

In recognition of her contributions, she has been honoured as a Fellow of the American Associatio...

Today on The HPS Podcast, Thomas Spiteri talks with Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, distinguished historian and philosopher of science and Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. Trained first in philosophy and then in molecular biology, Rheinberger is well-recognised for his work on the history and epistemology of experimentation. His influential work, including concepts like “experimental system...

Today on The HPS Podcast, Thomas Spiteri speaks with Dr. Surekha Davies, historian of science, art and ideas, and author of the new book Humans: A Monstrous History (University of California Press). Surekha’s research explores how ideas about humanity have been shaped by encounters with what did not seem to fit. She draws on visual, material and textual sources to show how people have imagined and defined the human across time.

In t...

After a short break, The HPS Podcast is back! Season 5 opens with a special handover episode. After several years as lead host, Samara Greenwood passes the mic to fellow PhD candidate Thomas Spiteri. Together, they look back on the podcast’s journey, what it has meant to them, and where it’s headed next.

Hear from Samara and Thomas as they:

• Introduce Thomas as the new host and share plans for Season 5
• Reflect on hosting highlights...

In the lead up to the launch of Season 5, we at The HPS Podcast are re-releasing some favourite episodes from our collection.

In this episode Professors Lorraine Daston and Peter Harrison talk to Samara Greenwood on the often complex, sometimes fraught relationship between practicing scientists and the history of science. 

This episode was originally released on March 07, 2024.

The transcript can be found at - S3 Ep1 - Lorraine Daston...

In the lead up to the launch of Season 5, we at The HPS Podcast are re-releasing some favourite episodes from our collection.

In this episode, Professor Hasok Chang talks with Samara Greenwood about his concept of 'Epistemic Iteration', the idea that scientific inquiries do not start from a solid foundation, but rather begin from an imperfect position, using the outcomes of our further inquiry to refine and correct the ori...

In the lead up to the launch of Season 5, we at The HPS Podcast are re-releasing some favourite episodes from our collection.

First, we have Dr Kristian Camilleri talking with Samara Greenwood about the relatively recent realisation that this thing we call 'Science' is a less unified phenomena then is typically supposed. The 'disunity' becomes clear when we appreciate that scientific disciplines have developed in...

In the lead up to the launch of Season 5, we at The HPS Podcast are re-releasing some favourite episodes from our collection.

In this episode we have Dr Rachael Brown talking to Samara Greenwood on challenge the common idea that Science is (and should be) 'Value-Free'. At a practical level, in choosing which phenomena to study, and how best to study them, can science really ever be value-free? Second, would we want it to, ...

Today we have not one, not two, but five fabulous guests who all presented at this year’s conference for the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice, or SPSP24 for short. 

Many philosophers of science we have featured on the podcast, including Hasok Chang, Rachel Ankeny and Sabina Leonelli, were founding members of SPSP. Also, our earlier episode on ‘The Turn to Practice’ in philosophy of science has been one of our most popul...

"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
 
Today, we return to one of our favourite episodes, with the person who first came up with the idea for our podcast – Professor Fiona Fidler. 

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

"These conversations are the focus of fierce debate, not because scientists lack authority, but because these are the intellectual battles worth fighting. These are the stakes on which modern society depends"

Our guest today is Erika Milam, Charles C. and Emily R. Gillispie Professor in the History of Science at Princeton University.

Through her research, Erika has found it useful to coin the term ‘Colloquial Scie...

“This is Holden Thorp. I'm the Editor in Chief of Science and thanks to Sam and Carmelina for all they're doing to get the word out about the history and philosophy of science”

Today's guest is Holden Thorp, professor of chemistry at George Washington University and Editor-in-Chief of the Science family of journals.

In April of this year, Holden published an editorial in Science with the tantalising title ‘Teach Philos...

Today, Carmelina is joined by Dr. Nicole C. Nelson, Associate Professor in the Department of Medical History and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Nicole is an ethnographer of science and a familiar face to many within both Science and Technology Studies, and Metascience. Today, Nicole explains how ethnographic studies can help us to make sense of the world, and how she uses ethnography to construct the story of sci...

"In response to that article, I was getting hate mail. I was getting attacked. I thought, these people have a script. This is a story that people need to understand. This isn't just something of academic interest. This is something that has real political and cultural consequences."

Today's very special guest is acclaimed historian of science, Professor Naomi Oreskes, author of Merchants of Doubt, Scien...

"Doing the thing is not the whole thing, it's also the sharing it with the audiences who either need it or are simply interested in it...science isn't finished until it's communicated"

Our guest today is Associate Professor Jen Martin. Jen leads the University of Melbourne’s acclaimed Science Communication Teaching program and is passionate about helping scientists develop the skills they need to b...

Today our guest presenter Thomas Spiteri is joined by Professor Edouard Machery, Distinguished Professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s HPS department and director of the Center for Philosophy of Science.

Edouard, a leading figure in experimental philosophy (X-Phi), shares insights into the X-Phi movement, which integrates empirical methods into philosophical inquiry. He discusses the limitations of traditional philosophical meth...

Today Carmelina is joined by Dr Darrin Durant a Senior Lecturer in HPS at the University of Melbourne specialising in Science and Technology studies. Darrin's research covers two seemingly distinct areas: nuclear energy and expertise. Yet nuclear energy and other contested public policy issues are informed by experts on both sides of the debate.  As Darrin explains in today’s episode, there are different types of expertise and...

This episode forms Part 2 of our extended interview with the celebrated historian of science, and master communicator, Professor Simon Schaffer.

Today, we continue to focus our discussion on the book Simon co-wrote with Steven Shapin in the early 1980s, Leviathan and the Air-Pump. Simon reveals fascinating insights into the production of the book, including his many deep dives into rare books collections, as well as the back and for...

This episode is the first of two in which the celebrated Professor of History of Science, Simon Schaffer, discusses the famous HPS publication, Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle and the Experimental Life, which Simon co-wrote with another esteemed HPS scholar, Steven Shapin, in the early 1980s. 

The book went on to become one of the most well-known across both HPS and STS, with next year marking 40 years since its first rele...