TrueSciPhi

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

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75 episodes
2023 to 2025
Median: 27 minutes
Collections: Philosophy • Science

Description (podcaster-provided):

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

This podcast features conversations with leading scholars in the history, philosophy, and social studies of science, aimed at explaining contemporary issues in and around scientific knowledge for a general audience. Across the episodes, guests and hosts examine how scientific facts are produced, justified, and circulated, emphasising the roles of social practices, institutions, and values in shaping what counts as reliable knowledge. Recurring attention is given to trust, expertise, and objectivity, including how credibility is established, how disagreement and consensus function in scientific communities, and how public controversies around science arise and persist.

A substantial thread concerns science’s relationship to society and policy: discussions connect philosophical ideas to topics such as public health, psychiatry and stigma, open science and replication debates, science communication, and the responsibilities scientists and institutions bear toward the public. The podcast also explores methods used to study science itself, from ethnography and archival research to experimental philosophy and practice-oriented approaches, as well as questions about measurement and quantification in the human sciences.

Historical and conceptual case studies are used to illuminate broader themes, including debates about experimentation and the politics of knowledge, shifting definitions of “the human,” and the influence of background assumptions on research programs. Alongside these scholarly discussions, the show occasionally reflects on academic fields and communities—how areas like philosophy of science develop, how interdisciplinary work is organised, and how humanities perspectives can be used to interpret scientific activity.

Episodes:

S5 E11 - Steven Shapin on the Social Life of Scientific Knowledge 2025-Oct-19 50 minutes

S5 E10 - Cordelia Fine on "Patriarchy Inc" 2025-Oct-03 52 minutes

S5 E9 - Miriam Solomon on How Stigma Shapes Psychiatry 2025-Sep-19 26 minutes

S5 E8 - Philip Kitcher on Philosophy for Science and the Common Good 2025-Sep-11 47 minutes

S5 E7 - Lydia Patton on HOPOS 2025-Aug-28 34 minutes

S5 E6 - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on ‘Rethinking our Starting Assumptions’ 2025-Aug-21 29 minutes

S5 E5 - Cristian Larroulet Philippi on Measurement in the Human Sciences 2025-Aug-13 28 minutes

S5 E4 - Heather Douglas on Rethinking Science’s Social Contract 2025-Aug-07 46 minutes

S5 E3 - Hans-Jörg Rheinberger on 'Epistemic Things' 2025-Jul-31 29 minutes

S5 E2 - Surekha Davies on Humans: A Monstrous History 2025-Jul-24 19 minutes

S5 E1 - Samara and Thomas: Reflections and Roads Ahead 2025-Jul-17 30 minutes

Audience Faves: Daston & Harrison on 'Scientists and History' 2025-May-09 30 minutes

Audience Faves: Hasok Chang on 'Epistemic Iteration' 2025-May-09 35 minutes

Audience Faves: Rachael Brown on 'Values in Science' 2025-May-09 25 minutes

Audience Faves: Kristian Camilleri on 'The Disunity of Science' 2025-May-09 24 minutes

S4 Ep 12 - Joshua Eisenthal et al. on 'Philosophy of Science in Practice' 2024-Dec-04 28 minutes

S4 Ep 11 - Redux: Fiona Fidler on 'Collective Objectivity' 2024-Nov-27 20 minutes

S4 Ep 10 - Erika Milam on 'Colloquial Science' 2024-Nov-20 30 minutes

S4 Ep 9 - Holden Thorp on 'Teach History and Philosophy of Science' 2024-Nov-13 30 minutes

S4 Ep 8 - Nicole C. Nelson on 'Ethnographies of Science' 2024-Nov-06 27 minutes

S4 Ep 7 - Naomi Oreskes on 'Writing on Ignorance' 2024-Oct-30 35 minutes

S4 Ep 6 - Jen Martin on 'Communicating Science' 2024-Oct-23 28 minutes

S4 Ep 5 - Edouard Machery on 'Experimental Philosophy' 2024-Oct-16 28 minutes

S4 Ep 4 - Darrin Durant on 'Expertise' 2024-Oct-09 28 minutes

S4 Ep 3 - Simon Schaffer on 'Leviathan and the Air-Pump: 40 years later' (Part 2) 2024-Oct-02 26 minutes

S4 Ep 2 - Simon Schaffer on 'Leviathan and the Air-Pump: 40 years later' (Part 1) 2024-Sep-25 26 minutes

S4 Ep 1 - Sam and Carmelina on 'Studying Humanities and Science' 2024-Sep-18 20 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 5 - What's Next? 2024-Sep-04 37 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 4 - Give Dads a Break 2024-Sep-02 39 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 3 - Are Fathers Free? 2024-Aug-28 46 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 2 - What Gave Rise to the Breadwinner? 2024-Aug-26 36 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 1 - Where's Dad? 2024-Aug-21 27 minutes

Working Fathers Mini-Series. Introduction. 2024-Aug-21 4 minutes

S3 Ep 12 - Sabina Leonelli on 'The Philosophy of Open Science' 2024-May-29 39 minutes

S3 Ep 11 - Uljana Feest on 'What is Missing in Replication Debates' 2024-May-22 28 minutes

S3 Ep 10 - Aja Watkins & Miguel Ohnesorge on 'Philosophy of the Geosciences' 2024-May-16 26 minutes

S3 Ep 9 - Emma Kowal on 'Haunting Biology' 2024-May-09 26 minutes

S3 Ep 8 - Haixin Dang on 'Disagreement in Science' 2024-Apr-24 30 minutes

S3 Ep 7 - Sophie Ritson on 'Collaboration in Science' 2024-Apr-18 22 minutes

S3 Ep 6 - Kirsten Walsh on 'Rethinking Isaac Newton through his Archive' 2024-Apr-10 26 minutes

Throwback Thursday - Greg Radick on 'Counterfactual History of Science' 2024-Apr-03 29 minutes

S3 Ep 4 - Dan Hicks on 'Public Scientific Controversies' 2024-Mar-27 27 minutes

S3 Ep 3 - Anna Alexandrova on 'Philosophy of Well-Being Science' 2024-Mar-20 28 minutes

S3 Ep 2 - Kate Lynch on 'Causal Explanation in Science' 2024-Mar-13 24 minutes

S3 Ep 1 - Lorraine Daston & Peter Harrison on 'Scientists and History' 2024-Mar-06 30 minutes

S3 - Samara & Carmelina on 'Seeing Science Differently' 2024-Mar-06 19 minutes

BOOK LAUNCH - Mauricio Suárez on 'Inference and Representation' 2023-Dec-27 30 minutes

S2 Ep 12 - Highlights from the 2023 AAHPSSS Conference 2023-Dec-20 32 minutes

S2 Ep 11 - Hasok Chang on 'Epistemic Iteration' 2023-Dec-13 35 minutes

S2 Ep 10 - Katherine Furman on 'The Philosophy of Public Health' 2023-Dec-06 22 minutes

S2 Ep 9 - Carl Bergstrom on 'Science and Misinformation' 2023-Nov-29 27 minutes

S2 Ep 8 - Gerhard Wiesenfeldt on 'The Unknown Scientist' 2023-Nov-22 17 minutes

S2 Ep 7 - Ian Hesketh on 'Science History in Science' 2023-Nov-15 20 minutes

S2 Ep 6 - Sarah Qidwai on 'Science and Colonialism' 2023-Nov-08 23 minutes

S2 Ep 5 - Adrian Currie on 'Opportunistic Methods' 2023-Nov-01 28 minutes

S2 Ep 4 - Duane Hamacher on 'Indigenous Science' 2023-Oct-25 18 minutes

S2 Ep 3 - Kristian Camilleri on 'The Turn to Practice' 2023-Oct-18 22 minutes

S2 Ep 2 - David Kaiser on 'Scientific Training' 2023-Oct-11 31 minutes

S2 Ep 0.5 - Season 2 Intro Episode 2023-Oct-04 12 minutes

S2 Ep 1 - Rachel Ankeny on 'Research Repertoires' 2023-Oct-04 28 minutes

BONUS EPISODE - Joshua Eisenthal & HPS Chat 2023-Sep-28 30 minutes

BONUS EPISODE - Simine Vazire on 'Making Science Better' 2023-Aug-18 23 minutes

S1 Ep12 - Fiona Fidler on 'Collective Objectivity' 2023-Aug-16 21 minutes

S1 Ep 11 - James McElvenny on 'Language and Science' 2023-Aug-09 21 minutes

S1 Ep 10 - Martin Bush on 'Knowledge Circulation and Visualisation' 2023-Aug-02 19 minutes

S1 Ep 9 - Caleb Hazelwood on 'Scientific Metaphysics' 2023-Jul-26 21 minutes

S1 Ep 8 - Samara Greenwood on 'Social Change and Science' 2023-Jul-19 21 minutes

S1 Ep 7 - Rachael Brown on 'Values in Science' 2023-Jul-12 25 minutes

S1 Ep 6 - Fallon Mody on 'Biography in Science' 2023-Jul-05 23 minutes

S1 Ep 5 - Greg Radick on 'Counterfactual History of Science' 2023-Jun-28 29 minutes

S1 Ep 4 - Cordelia Fine on 'Sex Difference Research' 2023-Jun-21 21 minutes

S1 Ep 3 - Alan Love on 'Purpose in Biology' 2023-Jun-14 28 minutes

S1 Ep 2 - Kristian Camilleri on 'The Disunity of Science' 2023-Jun-07 24 minutes

S1 Ep 1 - Donna Haraway on 'Storytelling in Science' 2023-May-31 10 minutes

S1 Ep 0.5 - Introduction to the Podcast 2023-May-31 7 minutes