Olesya Bondarenko

Autumn vibes in Vienna

EENPS-PSA_AW_2025 PSA Around the World 2025

eenps.weebly.com/eenps-psa_aw...

Happy to share I've been invited to give a talk as part of the panel "Showcasing excellent current work in the CEE region", organised by Magdalena Małecka at the PSA Around the World Conference this year. My co-panelists are Joanna Malinowska, Endla Lõhkivi, and Stathis Psillos. Save the date!

As it turns out, he contributed to a 1960 volume titled "Scientism and values" that seems to have quite a bit of philosophy of the social sciences in it. In case anyone knows anything about the context for this volume, please let me know - information on the Internet is scarce.

Had a great tour of the Zoological Collection of the University of Vienna. Apart from many interesting artefacts (including the Blaschka glass models of marine invertebrates which influenced the Art Nouveau movement), saw some of Ludwig von Bertalanffy's books stored in the same basement.

This could suggest some sort of a division of labour between STSers and philosophers of science, with the former providing pointers toward new scientific terrain to be explored and the latter offering a more in-depth scrutiny of the relevant epistemic (and non-epistemic) commitments.

What I do not appreciate about it: its relatively high tolerance for handwavy claims that may not be wrong per se but need to be backed up by more rigorous analyses in order to be substantiated.

This has been particularly evident in critical work on novel forms of biological/biosocial research.

What I, as a philosopher of science, appreciate about work in STS/sociology of science: its swift response to emerging areas of science and the ability to capture their broad epistemic (as well as political) contours before philosophers of science even get there.

Happy to share that the double session on values in genomics I am part of has been accepted for ISHPSSB. Thank you @celsoneto.bsky.social and @yashaddad.bsky.social for organising the session, and I look forward to seeing many fellow scholars of biology in Porto in July!

Featured Creature: Eastern Emerald Elysia - Biodiversity for a Livable Climate What creature steals photosynthesis, can go a year without eating, and blurs the animal-plant boundary? The Eastern Emerald Elysia!

When you work at an institute with a bunch of biologists, you learn about all sorts of cool life forms. This is Elysia chlorotica, a "solar-powered" sea slug that steals chloroplasts from algae to do its own photosynthesis, and it's shaped like a leaf through convergent evolution. Pretty awesome.

My Christmas call to my parents started with "Do you have electricity right now?", and they happily reported they had it for 1.5 hours before another emergency blackout caused by the Russian strike missile tonight.

📢 We’re hiring! We are currently looking for a Lecturer in Medicine, Health and Society to join our Department from Sept 25. For more info and to apply, please visit: https://bit.ly/41CTiXk
Closing Date: 2nd March 2025 #medicine #health #society #science #technology #WeAreSTS

Promotional image announcing the call for papers for the topical collection "The Pursuitworthiness of Experiments Across the Sciences" to be published in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science (Guest Editors: Enno Fischer and Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda). The call for papers runs from November 1, 2024 to April 20, 2025.

How do we judge whether a particular experiment is 'pursuitworthy'? What factors need to be considered? @ennofischer.bsky.social & I are receiving submissions exploring these & related questions for a topical collection in EJPS! Please help us spread the word! tu-dresden.de/gsw/phil/iph... #philsci

Summer Bioethics Program for Underrepresented Undergraduates About the Program The Hastings Center Summer Bioethics Program for Underrepresented Undergraduates is a five-day live online program for undergraduate

The Hastings Center has a summer program for undergrads from underrepresented backgrounds if that's applicable www.thehastingscenter.org/publications...

Interpreting Causality in the Health Sciences We argue that the health sciences make causal claims on the basis of evidence both of physical mechanisms, and of probabilistic dependencies. Consequently, an analysis of causality solely in terms ...

I am sure you have come across this paper www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1... and related work on the Russo-Williamson thesis

Great idea. Could you add me, please? Thanks!

That sounds amazing, congrats!

Glad you received it and honoured that it will be part of your library, Anna! This thesis would not have been possible without you. And the cover colour is Cambridge Blue, although you are right that there is a bit of CB in St John's colours as well.

I'll be sure to cite this joke in my lecture on interventionism tomorrow 🙂

1. those that belong to the Emperor, 2. embalmed ones, 3. those that are trained, 4. suckling pigs, 5. mermaids, 6. fabulous ones, 7. stray dogs, 8. those included in the present classification, 9. those that tremble as if they were mad, 10. innumerable ones, 11. those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, 12. others, 13. those that have just broken a flower vase, 14. those that from a long way off look like flies.

Some starter packs I plan to do when I get around to it

Congratulations to the authors on the feat they've accomplished, and I very much look forward to reading this book!

Last week, the KLI hosted the much-anticipated launch of the book 'Evolution Evolving' published by @princetonupress.bsky.social. It was a fantastic event, with a presentation by Kevin Lala, commentaries by Gerd Müller and Tim Lewens, and a panel discussion moderated by @drlynnchiu.bsky.social.

Thank you for the kind feedback, Anna!

This was such a treat, I'm really glad a recording is available. Going to listen again in a non-jetlagged state!

Thank you! I hope the talk does not paint an overly pessimistic picture, as there are many productive ways in which philosophy of science can contribute to debates around biosocial integration.

YouTube video by MN Center for Philosophy of Science Olesya Bondarenko (KLI): Can Philosophy of Science Successfully Engage w/Interdisciplinary Research?

If you are interested in integrative biosocial research (and whether philosophy of science can do justice to it), check out the recording of my talk from the U of Minnesota conference.

Five witches on paddle boards on Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, MN. Picture Credit: Roann Cramer

Happy Halloween to everyone in Minnesota, but especially these witches who paddled Lake Harriet this past weekend 🧙‍♀️👻

A lot of state poll results show ties. So are they tied because of voters — or pollsters? Analysis: Even in a close election, random chance means polls should be showing a broader range of results. That raises the question of whether we’re in for another polling surprise.

Excellent example of forensic meta-science in the wild: comparing polling results to their expected distribution www.nbcnews.com/politics/202...