Massimiliano Simons

Jean-François Lyotard was born today, a century and a year ago (10th of August 1924). He is best known for his influential work "The Postmodern Condition" (1979), a foundational text in understanding the cultural and philosophical stakes of technoscientific society.
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Book cover of Solar Politics by Oxana Timofeeva

It looks like the perfect day to read this ☀️

Michel Callon has died, apparently already end of last month. Was of the central figures of Actor-Network Theory (with his famous case study of scallops in St. Brieuc Bay). Later also did great work on the performativity of economic markets.

www.csi.minesparis.psl.eu/articles-ved...

Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Special Issue Call for Abstracts: The journal Midwest Studies in Philosophy is putting together a special volume on Political Epistemology. The issue will feature invited contributions from scholars such as Alex Gu...

Michael (@michaelhannon.bsky.social) and I are putting together a Special Issue on Political Epistemology for Midwest Studies. Deadline for the CFA is October 31, 2025.

More details here! philevents.org/event/show/1...

Please share with others who might be interested :)

Greg Radick takes over as the new editor-in-chief of journal Metascience (thanks to Greg for this service)!
And ICYMI, Metascience now has a Bluesky account ⬇️
@metasciencejournal.bsky.social Welcome to Bsky Metascience & congrats on the great new editor!
#HPS
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Today we commemorate the passing of Bernard Stiegler, one of the most original voices in contemporary philosophy of technology.
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Candidates must have expertise and research interests in an area of philosophy and a demonstrable ability to conduct research that has a substantial connection to Artificial Intelligence (AI). We interpret a substantial connection to AI broadly to include, for example, the intersection of AI and philosophy of science, AI and logic/formal methods, AI and moral and political philosophy, and/or AI and philosophy of law. Candidates must be willing and able to make a substantial research-led contribution to the Department’s core teaching provision. (More information about our courses can be found here.)

Candidates must have expertise and research interests in an area of philosophy that has a substantial research connection to sustainability. Candidates must be able to develop a new course in philosophy and sustainability, and be able to make a substantial, research-led contribution to the Department’s core teaching provision. (More information about our courses can be found here.) This role is fully based in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, but involves extensive collaboration with LSE’s new Global School of Sustainability (GSoS). Candidates are expected to be committed to this collaboration and willing to contribute to GSoS activities. We therefore particularly welcome candidates whose work bears on GSoS’s five research themes.

Two job ads for people in philosophy in my dept (www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD999/a... and www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD995/a...). Ever heard of this thing called AI? You probably haven't it's pretty niche. But if you have maybe apply? Also this even more niche thing (sustainability) so that too.

Looking forward to reading it!

S5 E3 - Hans-Jörg Rheinberger on 'Epistemic Things' The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · Episode

This week, distinguished historian and philosopher of science Hans-Jörg Rheinberger joins us to explore how scientific inquiry unfolds through experimental systems. We discuss 'epistemic things', technical objects, and their implications for how science is practiced and understood.

#hps #histsci

The next Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) conference will be held at the University of Cambridge, U.K, on 15-18 July 2026.
#philsci
philosophy-science-practice.org

Synthetic Biology As a Postmodern Technology of Care - NanoEthics In recent years, synthetic biology emerged as a potentially ground-breaking biotechnology, promising breakthroughs in healthcare, biodiversity conservation and bioremediation. Combining various techno...

New paper out!📑🧑🏻‍🎓🎉
My article "Synthetic Biology as a Postmodern Technology of Care" is now in NanoEthics.
I show how synbio is a political practice of care, creatng "docile bodies" in non-human organisms to tackle global challenges.
Open access: doi.org/10.1007/s115...
#philsky #philtech #bioethics

(PDF) The Problem of Organization in Biology and Its Reception in Mainstream Philosophy of Science in the Mid-20th Century PDF | In the early to mid-20th century, English-speaking organicist biologists strongly advocated the idea of organization in biological phenomena as a... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

My paper on the history of biological organization was accepted at HOPOS! The paper looks at organicist efforts in the first half of the 20th century to elevate organization in biology as a central practical and theoretical notion. #hpbio #philbio #histbio www.researchgate.net/publication/...

How to Reanimate Rotting Brains in the Age of AI As artificial intelligence (AI) seeps into our daily lives, its impact on our thinking capacities is becoming increasingly clear. AI is replacing our

CLT Blog published my piece about how AI is becoming a far-right Trojan horse infecting our critical thinking skills.

It has been online for two weeks now, but I was ironically off the grid detoxing from emails and computers.

criticallegalthinking.com/2025/07/14/h...

No.

There is no way to go to conferences in the US at the moment.

Synthetic Human Genome Project gets go ahead Scientists start a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life, in what is thought to be a world first.

Sigh. This is such a terrible take on synthetic human genomes that just repeats tropes of the past.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Woon je in een van de onderstaande gemeenten?

Dan maakt jouw lokale politie gebruik van Israëlische software.

Lees het artikel op @apache.be : apache.be/2025/07/25/b...

Technology as Uncharted Territory: Integrative AI Ethics as a Response to the Notion of AI as New Moral Ground - Philosophy & Technology Recent research illustrates how AI can be developed and deployed in a manner detached from the concrete social context of application. By abstracting from the contexts of AI application, practitioners...

Putting it in the words of Donald Gotterbarn: “If these are tales about AI ethics simply because they involve AI, then my use of a scalpel to rob someone is a problem of medical ethics”

And base it all on some weird Russian philosophies everyone not able to speak Slavic languages doubt are real

Today we celebrate Herbert Marcuse's birthday, who was born in Berlin in 1898. Best known as a member of the Frankfurt School, throughout his work Marcuse developed a radical critique of technological society in books such as "One-Dimensional Man" (1964) and "An Essay on Liberation" (1969).
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The Care of the Self and the Care of the Other | Columbia University Press What is the relationship between the ethical transformation of the self and the political transformation of the world? This book explores the ways several tw... | CUP

@danielwyche.bsky.social, The Care of the Self and the Care of the Other. From Spiritual Exercises to Political Transformation - @columbiaup.bsky.social, May 2025
cup.columbia.edu/book/the-car...

My good colleague and friend Jip van Besouw (not on Bluesky) and I wrote a paper on 18th century fountains used for research and teaching in physics. It was fun stuff to colaborate on, including arguing for the use of the concept "pissing machine". /1

Symmetry unbound: Leviathan and the air-pump in methodological retrospect - Metascience Metascience -

Anniversary review alert! Suman Seth reviews Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer's, "Leviathan and the Air-Pump" for Metascience. Check out the review here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@alltoosuman.bsky.social

Job Opening at the Chair of Philosophy and History of Science and Technology at TUM! Research Fellow for 3 years (renewable). Preferably philosopher w interest in plant, crop & agricultural research (& their history and social studies)
All details: www.sts.sot.tum.de/en/sts/arbei... #philsci #sts

The Humanities and Technology Association (HTA) have published a Call for Papers for their 43rd annual Humanities and Technology Association Conference, held at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island from Oct. 23-25th, 2025.

HOPOS 2026 Paper and symposium proposals for HOPOS 2026 can now be submitted through this web site. For detailed instructions, plea

The HOPOS 2026 website is up. Detailed call for papers coming soon. Keynotes by Peter R. Anstey and Heather Douglas. hopos2026.dryfta.com #philsci

Philosophers in Vienna, if you're interested in a private tour on Sept 11, led by philosopher & Emeritus Prof Friedrich Stadler, co-curator of the "Vienna and the Scientific World View" exhibition, let me know! There's about 10 free spots.

www.wienbibliothek.at/besuchen-ent... #Vienna

Blue and black journal logo plus readable text available at link in post.

Over the next two issues of #HOPOS, Sander Verhaegh will contribute two papers on "The Analytic Turn in American Philosophy: An Institutional Perspective". Part 1: "Scientific versus Humanistic Philosophy" appears in our Spring 2025 issue.

Read it here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Oooo Charles Pence & Daniel Swaim are putting together a special issue on the philosophy of the historical sciences (and you can publish in French!).

pencelab.be/en/events/rp...

#philsci