
Helen Longino
Clarence Irving Lewis Professor in Philosophy
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.
Administrative Appointments
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Vice President, President, and Immediate Past President, Philosophy of Science Association (2011 - 2016)
Honors & Awards
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Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017)
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Doctor honoris causa, University of Turku School of Economics, Finland (May 13, 2016)
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Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (April, 2016 -)
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Doctor honoris causa, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (20 October, 2014)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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First Vice President, Division of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy, International Union HPS (2016 - 2019)
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President, Philosophy of Science Association (2013 - 2014)
Program Affiliations
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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
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Modern Thought and Literature
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Program in History & Philosophy of Science
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Science, Technology and Society
Current Research and Scholarly Interests
1) 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.
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) 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
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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
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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
2020-21 Courses
- Feminist and Queer Theories and Methods Across the Disciplines
FEMGEN 103, FEMGEN 203, PHIL 179A, PHIL 279A (Win) - Introduction to Philosophy of Science
HPS 60, PHIL 60 (Aut) -
Independent Studies (7)
- Directed Reading
FEMGEN 195 (Spr) - Graduate Independent Study
MTL 398 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Individual Work for Graduate Students
PHIL 240 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Individual Work, Undergraduate
PHIL 197 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Paper
MTL 390 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Reading for Orals
MTL 399 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Tutorial, Senior Year
PHIL 196 (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Directed Reading
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Prior Year Courses
2019-20 Courses
- Introduction to Philosophy of Science
HPS 60, PHIL 60, STS 200S (Aut)
2018-19 Courses
- Feminist and Queer Theories and Methods Across the Disciplines
FEMGEN 103, FEMGEN 203, PHIL 179A, PHIL 279A (Win) - Introduction to Philosophy of Science
HPS 60, PHIL 60 (Aut) - Philosophy of Biology
PHIL 167A, PHIL 267A (Aut)
2017-18 Courses
- Feminist and Queer Theories and Methods Across the Disciplines
FEMGEN 103, FEMGEN 203, PHIL 179A, PHIL 279A (Win) - Introduction to Philosophy of Science
HPS 60, PHIL 60 (Win) - Literature and Philosophy of Place
OSPPARIS 77 (Aut) - Social Dimensions of Scientific Knowledge
PHIL 361 (Spr)
- Introduction to Philosophy of Science
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Greg Priest, Kelvin Yang -
Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Marianna Bible, Michael Fitzpatrick -
Doctoral Dissertation Co-Advisor (AC)
Grace Huckins -
Doctoral (Program)
Lara Spencer
All Publications
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Interaction: a case for ontological pluralism
INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
2020; 45 (3): 432–45
View details for DOI 10.1080/03080188.2020.1794385
View details for Web of Science ID 000574180100013
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Foregrounding the Background
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
2016; 83 (5): 647-661
View details for Web of Science ID 000388172400002
- Studying Human Behavior University of Chicago Press. 2013
- The Fate of Knowledge Princeton University Press. 2002
- Science as Social Knowledge Princeton University Press. 1990
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The Epistemic Life of Groups: Essays in the Epistemology of Collectives (Book Review)
AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
2018; 96 (2): 401–4
View details for DOI 10.1080/00048402.2017.1365091
View details for Web of Science ID 000429349400015
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Lessons from Teaching The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
HISTORICAL STUDIES IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES
2012; 42 (5): 542-544
View details for DOI 10.1525/hsns.2012.42.5.542
View details for Web of Science ID 000311326800017
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Feminist Epistemology at Hypatia's 25th Anniversary
HYPATIA-A JOURNAL OF FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY
2010; 25 (4): 733-741
View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01131.x
View details for Web of Science ID 000289521800002
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Navigating the Social Turn in Philosophy of Science
FILOZOFIA
2009; 64 (4): 312-323
View details for Web of Science ID 000266024400002
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Circles of Reason: Some Feminist Reflections on Reason and Rationality
EPISTEME-A JOURNAL OF INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY
2005; 2 (1): 79-88
View details for DOI 10.3366/epi.2005.2.1.79
View details for Web of Science ID 000208975500008