Sander Verhaegh

I am quite excited to share a new preprint on the prospects for a 'metaphilosophy of science'—a second-order inquiry into the concepts, assumptions, aims, and methods that underpin philosophy of science itself. 👇📃 philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26661/ 1/3 #philsci #philsky #HPS #HPbio #metaphilosophy

Cobblestone pathway leading to the red-brick Institute of Philosophy building at KU Leuven in Belgium (home of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science), framed by ivy-covered walls, arched windows, and lush greenery with purple wisteria flowers in the foreground.

Hello, #AcademicSky! We are the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at KU Leuven. Our senior and junior researchers focus on #logic, #epistemology & #philsci. We’re here to share our work and connect with logicians and philosophers of science worldwide—help us spread the word! #philsky

So, if I understand this whole 4E thing, the mind is not a computer, unless you own a computer, in which case it is?

3 Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Positions in the History of Science, Technology, Medicine, and the Environment at Texas State University 🗃️ #HPS
#histsci #histmed #envhist

networks.h-net.org/jobs/68829/t...

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to watch them die. One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.” Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness. Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.” Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%. AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

no i don’t want to “manage cookies” r u insane

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

YouTube video by Causal Foundations E0: What is a Causal Model?

I decided to make an introductory episode, to provide some orientation for the later episodes. In it, I introduce DAGs and explain how causation is a strategy for managing complexity.

I spent a lot of time improving the sound quality, so I hope that paid off.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6t...

Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.

So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...

The history of medicine, in a nutshell...

Book titled is math real by Eugenia Cheng.

Already read empiricism semantics and ontology so I won't be buying this.

Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...

JAMA Forum on the proposed NIH budget…

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Yellow image with four people

HOPOS welcomes four new Associate Editors joining Editor Matthew J. Brown's team in 2025: Andreas Vrahimis, Sander Verhaegh, Bennett McNulty, and Emma Gannage. They join current AEs Sophie Roux, Francesca Biagioli, and Teru Miyake.

Welcome to our new Associate Editors!

The USA is about to rediscover that Louis Pasteur is at least as important a scientist as Albert Einstein.

MPS budget

Presidential budget is out. Here's NSF. Biggest cut, by amount, is $1 billion, or 66.8%, from MPS (Physics & Math directorate). nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

Rubio Reportedly Pauses New International Student Visa Interviews More than 1.1 million international students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023-2024 school year.

The US Administration has indefinitely blocked *all* student visa applicants from getting a visa interview.

Worldwide, unconditional, no end date. All.

International students are crucial to the US university system, American innovation, and future US prosperity.

It’s hard to put into words just how comprehensively this bill is going to hurt public colleges and universities in Texas—especially UT.

Call for Manuscripts: History of Philosophy and Science - De Gruyter Conversations We are looking for English-language manuscripts on the history of the engagement between philosophy and science.

Submit a manuscript proposal for the series History of Philosophy and Science at De Gruyter Press.

blog.degruyter.com/call-for-man...

#HPS #histsci

G. E. Bös, Real Possibilities for Husserl's Correlation between Truth and Evidence - PhilPapers Already before endorsing transcendental idealism, Husserl pairs truths and possibilities of evidence. This ‘correlationism’ is central for phenomenological metaphysics, but it remains disputed how it ...

"Real Possibilities" - what Husserl means by those and what he should have said instead*. Forthcoming in ergo, preprint now here:
philpapers.org/rec/BSRPFX

*Insofar as they're supposed to link contingent truth and evidence

Bar graph titled "Top 20 Countries by Research and Development Spending." The United States leads significantly in spending, followed by China, Japan, and Germany. Other countries include the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, and Australia, among others.

To see why destroying the US science enterprise is so detrimental to the world, we have to realize that the US spends more on research and development than any other country in the world (by far), and if we remove China and Japan, the US spends almost as much as ALL other countries combined.

Australia re-elects Anthony Albanese as Labor rides anti-Trump wave to seal crushing win Opposition leader Peter Dutton fails to dissociate himself from Trump-like rhetoric and policies – and loses his seat

This is two global elections in ONE WEEK where the conservative candidate trying to become prime minister not only led his party to a big loss but lost their own seat in parliament (!) in huge upsets. We are global pariahs unseen since the end of the Cold War and need stronger domestic opposition.

Diagram with three increasing circles reading Steady State Cosmology: matter created as the Universe expands; Big Bang cosmology: matter dilutes as the Universe expands

Eminent Danish historian of science Helge Kragh on the controversy between steady state and Big Bang cosmologies, and "to what extent philosophers and scientists entered a dialogue" during the debate.

Link: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The 2025 world press freedom index was just released

The US is ranked 57.

The report is clear: An “alarming deterioration of press freedom”.

Weaponising institutions, cutting support for media, sidelining reporters.

rsf.org/en/rsf-world...

journal cover

New issue of Journal of the History of Philosophy Vol. 63, No. 2 (2025) muse.jhu.edu/issue/54718 #openaccess @projectmuse.bsky.social @hopkinspress.bsky.social @sanderverhaegh.bsky.social

Indiana state legislature just staged a hostile takeover of IU, functionally eliminating tenure, promising to close smaller (hum) majors, taking over the IU board, and cutting the IU budget. This is so bleak

New PhD Position at Maastricht University, in #philtech, #STS or #techethics of agricultural #automation. Come join a fun group of interdisciplinary scholars!

Three men in white lab coats.

#HOPOS special issue on Nobel prize winning biologist François Jacob. With Jacques Monod, he proposed the concepts of "messenger RNA, regulator genes, operons and allosteric proteins" (www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...).

Issue: www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/hop...

Image (c) Institut Pasteur

Logical empiricist anti-exceptionalism in its Austro-German context

The first article in the special issue @martinkusch.bsky.social and I are coediting is out! Thomas Uebel lays to rest various myths about the Vienna Circle views of social sciences, proving yet again that they were right about pretty much everything. #philsci #philsky #histsci #sts

A Call for Constructive Engagement | AAC&U A Call for Constructive Engagement

“We must reject the coercive use of public research funding.” Over 150 college & university leaders from big and small institutions have signed a joint statement defending the right to speak “without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.” 🇺🇸

www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...

Michael Friedman, Suppes Professor of Philosophy of Science, Stanford University (1947-2025)

I regret to information the Bluesky philosophy community that Michael Friedman, noted philosopher of science and ground-breaking historian of Kant, neo-Kantianism, and logical positivism has died. May his memory be a blessing. #philsci