Bio

Helen Longino received her BA from Barnard College in 1966, her MA in Philosophy from Sussex University in 1967 and her PhD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1973. Her teaching and research interests are in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy. In addition to many articles, Longino is the author of Science As Social Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 1990), The Fate of Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 2001) and Studying Human Behavior, a study of the relationship between logical, epistemological, and social aspects of behavioral research (University of Chicago Press, 2013). She is C. I. Lewis Professor in Philosophy at Stanford University and recently completed her term as President of the Philosophy of Science Association.

Academic Appointments

Administrative Appointments

  • First Vice President, IUHPST; Division of Logic, Methodology, and Phiolosophy of Sscience and Technology (2016 - 2019)
  • Vice President, President, and Immediate Past President, Philosophy of Science Association (2011 - 2016)

Honors & Awards

  • Romanell Prize, American Philosophical Association (2020)
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, Phi Beta Kappa Beta of California (June, 2019)
  • Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017)
  • Doctor honoris causa, University of Turku School of Economics, Finland (May 13, 2016)
  • Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (April, 2016 -)
  • Doctor honoris causa, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (20 October, 2014)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • First Vice President, Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy, International Union HPS (2016 - 2019)
  • President, Philosophy of Science Association (2013 - 2014)

Program Affiliations

  • Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature
  • Program in History & Philosophy of Science
  • Science, Technology and Society

Contact

  • Academic
    hlongino@stanford.edu
    University - Emeritus faculty Department: Philosophy Position: Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council
    • Rm 92J, Building 90
    • Stanford,  California  94305-2155 

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2155

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

1) There are multiple ways a collection (whether of objects of people) are required to produce a phenomenon. We tend to lump all of these under the label "interaction." But some instances are instances of statistical interaction; others of joint action, and still others of mutual influence. Building on my previous work in social epistemology and on the analysis of the study of behavior, this project aims at a philosophical cataloguing and distinquishing of the various forms of interaction, focusing on the implications of the pervasiveness of interaction as mutual influence or exchange.

2) As standard epistemology has become engaged with questions labelled as social epistemology, it has maintained its focus on the individual cognitive agent. I argue that a real social epistemology focuses on the interactions among cognitive agents. Such a perspective has informed my previous work in philosophy of science. My current work aims at bringing this perspective to bear on the questions taken to be paradigmatic of social concerns in standard epistemology: disagreement and testimony; "network epistemology".

3 Where can western and non-western feminisms converge? What contributions can feminist philosophy of science make to understanding science and sustainability policy in so-called developing countries? I am pursuing this question in a research collaboration with Dr. Rajeswari Raina, National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies, Delhi, India.

3) How does a statistical understanding of data change traditional philosophical questions about evidential relations? Having just participated in a workshop on "Data Journeys" at Exeter University (UK) I am bringing this question to the task of thinking about the fate of data as they travel (are transported) from context to context.

Projects

  • Philosophy and Interaction, Stanford University and Institut d'Histoire et Philosohie des Sciences et Techniques, Paris

    Interaction is an understudied concept in recent Anglo-American analytic philosophy, and has undergone something of an eclipse in the social sciences more generally. This, even as the concept is increasingly invoked in biological contexts. Continental philosophers have a tradition of working with social theorists for whom forms of interaction are central to social theory. Thus, I am developing a collaboration among philosophers working in the two traditions who seek both to articulate concepts of interaction adequate to research in natural and social sciences.

    Location

    Rue du Four, Paris 6, France

    Collaborators

    • Philippe Huneman, Professor,, Institut d'Histoire et Philosohie des Sciences et Techniques
  • Strengthening the Research Ecosystem for Sustainability Research in India, Stanford University

    This interdisciplinary research project is prompted by the persistent neglect of environmental sustainability by nationally and regionally sponsored agricultural research programs designed to enhance food security in India. This project goes outside the usual sources of analysis and uses feminist philosophy of science to draw lessons and build capacities for the integration of climate policy with agriculture-food development policy in India. It analyses the environmental values and conceptualisations in science, development interventions and outcomes. The purpose is to demonstrate and enable climate-friendly problem statements and participatory knowledge-policy continuums in India’s agri-food system.
    The project will have two main foci: a critical one and a constructive one. The critical task will be the examination of calls for research and other policy documents generated by national and regional bodies. The aim will be to identify how climate insensitivity gets built into research through its framing by calls for proposals. Our assumption is that when environmental sustainability is not incorporated explicitly into calls, the result is research that continues the same climate unfriendly practices. The questions, assumptions, spcifications of goals of applied research are all infused with values. The challenge is identifying those values and discerning how they are shaping the research that results. The constructive focus will be the articulation of research frameworks that simultaneously address food security and environmental sustainability. To this end, the principal investigators will conduct capacity building workshops with multiple constituencies, including policy makers, researchers, and NGOs, S&T write-shops, policy dialogues, and produce research publications. This process will focus on building anticipatory, responsive and reflective capacities within Block level S&T-policy-practice communities in two farming systems for climate friendly agricultural development.

    Location

    National Institute for Science, Technology, and Development Studies, New Delhi, India

    Collaborators

    • Rajeswari Raina, Dr., National Institute for Science, Technology, and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi, India
    • Vijay Shankar, Director, Samaj Prgati Sahyog (SPS), Madhya Pradesh, India

2021-22 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications