Stay ConnectedLeading scholars in History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (HPS) introduce contemporary topics for a general audience. Developed by graduate students from the HPS program at the University of Melbourne.
Lead Host: Thomas Spiteri (2025-2026).
More information on the podcast can be found at hpsunimelb.org
Copyright: © 2024 The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science
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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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:
A transcript of this episode can be found here: www.hpsunimelb.org/post/transcript-s2-e2
Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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 theInternational 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:
A transcript of this episode can be found here: www.hpsunimelb.org/post/transcript-s2-e1
Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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:
A transcript of this episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-12-transcript
Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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:
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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website 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:
A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/episode-8-transcript
Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.
This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.
Music by ComaStudio.
Website HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org
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