SCI PHI Podcast

Nov 26 2024 100 ep. 77 mins 287

SCI PHI Podcast artwork

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

Copy RSS

Subscribe on Podcast Addict

Episode 101: David Thorstad

On Episode 101, Nick chats with David Thorstad, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, about his research at the intersection between bounded rationality and inquiry that addresses what rationality requires of bounded agents with limited cognitive abilities, normative and descriptive challenges to longtermism, the ethical view that we should give significa

Episode 100: Nick Zautra

In this special 100th episode, guest host Katie Plaisance interviews Nick Zautra, the host and producer of the SCI PHI Podcast, as he reflects on the journey of the podcast and insights gained from interviewing 99 philosophers of science. Nick shares his personal story—from his childhood interests to the spark that ignited his creativity and passion for combining both philos

Episode 99: Katie Plaisance

On Episode 99, Nick chats with Katie Plaisance, Professor in the Department of Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo, about her research understanding and developing best practices for collaborating and engaging with scientists, engineers, policy-makers, and a wide range of publics to foster epistemically and ethically responsible scientific research.

Episode 98: Ali Mirza

On Episode 98, Nick chats with Ali Mirza, Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Center of Humanistic Inquiry and Department of History at Amherst College, about his interdisciplinary work in the field of Ichnology, the study of how our actions (as animals) affect the future structure of the Earth, in which he challenges our standard accounts of how science functions.

Episode 97: Mazviita Chirimuuta

On Episode 97, Nick chats with Mazviita Chirimuuta, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, about her new book, The Brain Abstracted: Simplification in the History and Philosophy of Neuroscience, in which she argues that due to the brain's complexity, neuroscientific theories have only captured partial truths and that “neurophilosophy” is unlikely to

Episode 96: Charles Pence

On Episode 96, Nick chats with Charles Pence, Chargé de cours at the Université catholique de Louvain in Brussels, about his work on the causal structure of natural selection, digital humanities and “taking the pulse” of what biologists are up to, and his book, The Rise of Chance in Evolutionary Theory, which takes a historical look at the development of evolutionary the

Episode 95: Sam Fellowes

On Episode 95, Nick chats with Sam Fellowes, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University, about drawing on his own experience being diagnosed with autism at the age of 24 to motivate his research into methodological issues in psychiatric diagnoses, the challenge of establishing accuracy with self-diagnosis in psychiatry, psychiatric diagnoses as models, neurodiversity, the importa

Episode 94: Eric Scerri

On Episode 94, Nick chats with UCLA chemist and authority on the history and philosophy of the periodic table Eric Scerri, about the reduction of chemistry to quantum mechanics, the philosophical nature of the periodic table, and recent developments in quantum chemistry. Timestamps: (0:00) - Introduction (2:03) - Welcoming Eric and recent life at UCLA (4:33) - Eric’s life

Episode 93: Alan Love

On Episode 93, Nick chats with Alan Love, Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy and Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, as well as Director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, about assembling philosopher, theoretician, and experimentalist research teams for the $14M Templeton Foundation grant project, "Agency, Di

Episode 92: Prasanta Bandyopadhyay

On Episode 92, Nick chats with Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, Professor at Montana State University, about his work developing a Bayesian account of scientific methodology, in which he applies statistical/probabilistic notions to a long-standing conundrum of methodological issues in the sciences. Timestamps: (0:00) - Introduction (1:45) - Prasanta Bandyopadhyay and life in Montana