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183Pluralist Ethnobiology: Between Philosophical Reflection and Transdisciplinary ActionJournal of Ethnobiology 1 1-7. 2023.
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182What is wrong with global challenges?Journal of Responsible Innovation 1. 2021.Global challenges such as climate change, food security, or public health have become dominant concerns in research and innovation policy. This article examines how responses to these challenges are addressed by governance actors. We argue that appeals to global challenges can give rise to a ‘solution strategy' that presents responses of dominant actors as solutions and a ‘negotiation strategy' that highlights the availability of heterogeneous and often conflicting responses. On the basis of int…Read more
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175Confrontation or Dialogue? Productive Tensions between Decolonial and Intercultural ScholarshipErgo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.For several decades, intercultural philosophers have produced an extensive body of scholarly work aimed at mutual intercultural understanding. They have focused on the ideal of intercultural dialogue that is supported by dialogue principles and virtuous attitudes. However, this ideal is challenged by decolonial scholarship as neglecting power inequalities. Decolonial scholars have emphasized the differences between cultures and worldviews, shifting the focus to colonial history and radical alter…Read more
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167Disagreement in Scientific OntologiesJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie (1): 1-13. 2013.The aim of this article is to discuss the nature of disagreement in scientific ontologies in the light of case studies from biology and cognitive science. I argue that disagreements in scientific ontologies are usually not about purely factual issues but involve both verbal and normative aspects. Furthermore, I try to show that this partly non-factual character of disagreement in scientific ontologies does not lead to a radical deflationism but is compatible with a “normative ontological realism…Read more
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94Relating traditional and academic ecological knowledge: mechanistic and holistic epistemologies across culturesBiology and Philosophy 33 (5-6): 43. 2018.Current debates about the integration of traditional and academic ecological knowledge struggle with a dilemma of division and assimilation. On the one hand, the emphasis on differences between traditional and academic perspectives has been criticized as creating an artificial divide that brands TEK as “non-scientific” and contributes to its marginalization. On the other hand, there has been increased concern about inadequate assimilation of Indigenous and other traditional perspectives into sci…Read more
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91Global Epistemologies and Philosophies of Science (edited book)Routledge. 2021.In bringing together a global community of philosophers, Global Epistemologies and Philosophies of Science develops novel perspectives on epistemology and philosophy of science by demonstrating how frameworks from academic philosophy (e.g. standpoint theory, social epistemology, feminist philosophy of science) and related fields (e.g. decolonial studies, transdisciplinarity, global history of science) can contribute to critical engagement with global dimensions of knowledge and science. Global c…Read more
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85Hysteria, Race, Phlogiston. A Model of Ontological Elimination in the Human Sciences.Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (1): 68-77. 2013.Elimination controversies are ubiquitous in philosophy and the human sciences. For example, it has been suggested that human races, hysteria, intelligence, mental disorder, propositional attitudes such as beliefs and desires, the self, and the super-ego should be eliminated from the list of respectable entities in the human sciences. I argue that eliminativist proposals are often presented in the framework of an oversimplified “phlogiston model” and suggest an alternative account that describes …Read more
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70A Pluralist Theory of the MindSpringer. 2015.This book challenges common debates in philosophy of mind by questioning the framework of placement problems in contemporary metaphysics. The author argues that placement problems arise when exactly one fundamental ontology serves as the base for all entities, and will propose a pluralist alternative that takes the diversity of our conceptual resources and ontologies seriously. This general pluralist account is applied to issues in philosophy of mind to argue that contemporary debates about the …Read more
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61Beyond Physicalism and Dualism? Putnam’s Pragmatic Pluralism and the Philosophy of MindEuropean Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 3 (1): 245-257. 2011.Although Hilary Putnam has played a significant role in shaping contemporary philosophy of mind, he has more recently criticised its metaphysical foundations as fun-damentally flawed. According to Putnam, the standard positions in the philosophy of mind rest on dubious ontological assumptions which are challenged by his “pragmatic pluralism” and the idea that we can always describe reality in different but equally fun-damental ways. Putnam considers this pluralism about conceptual resources as a…Read more
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60Intercultural science education as a trading zone between traditional and academic knowledgeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 101337. forthcoming.
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53Gene Drives as Interventions into Nature: the Coproduction of Ontology and Morality in the Gene Drive DebateNanoEthics 17 (1): 1-25. 2023.Gene drives are potentially ontologically and morally disruptive technologies. The potential to shape evolutionary processes and to eradicate (e.g. malaria-transmitting or invasive) populations raises ontological questions about evolution, nature, and wilderness. The transformative promises and perils of gene drives also raise pressing ethical and political concerns. The aim of this article is to arrive at a better understanding of the gene drive debate by analysing how ontological and moral ass…Read more
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52Ontological Choices and the Value-Free IdealErkenntnis 81 (6): 1253-1272. 2016.The aim of this article is to argue that ontological choices in scientific practice undermine common formulations of the value-free ideal in science. First, I argue that the truth values of scientific statements depend on ontological choices. For example, statements about entities such as species, race, memory, intelligence, depression, or obesity are true or false relative to the choice of a biological, psychological, or medical ontology. Second, I show that ontological choices often depend on …Read more
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50University Collections as Archives of Scientific Practice -Revista Electrónica de Fuentes y Archivosmore 4. 2013.Elimination controversies are ubiquitous in philosophy and the human sciences. For example, it has been suggested that humanraces, hysteria, intelligence, mental disorder, propositional attitudes such as beliefs and desires, the self, and the super-ego should beeliminated from the list of respectable entities in the human sciences. I argue that eliminativist proposals are often presented in theframework of an oversimplified ‘‘phlogiston model’’ and suggest an alternative account that describes o…Read more
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46Mediating Objects. Scientific and Public Functions of Models in Nineteenth-Century BiologyHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 35 (2). 2013.The aim of this article is to examine the scientific and public functions of two- andthree-dimensional models in the context of three episodes from nineteenth-century biology. Iargue that these models incorporate both data and theory by presenting theoretical assumptions inthe light of concrete data or organizing data through theoretical assumptions. Despite their diverseroles in scientific practice, they all can be characterized as mediators between data and theory.Furthermore, I argue that the…Read more
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43New Wave PluralismDialectica 67 (4): 545-560. 2013.The aim of this paper is to develop a pluralist interpretation of the phenomenal concept strategy (PCS). My starting point is Horgan and Tienson's deconstructive argument according to which proponents of PCS face the following dilemma: either phenomenal concepts or physical concepts allow us to conceive phenomenal states as they are in themselves. If phenomenal concepts allow us to conceive phenomenal states as they are in themselves, then phenomenal states are non-physical states and physicalis…Read more
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43In this paper we analyze relations between ontology in anthropology and philosophy beyond simple homonymy or synonymy and show how this diagnosis allows for new interdisciplinary links and insights, while minimizing the risk of cross-disciplinary equivocation. We introduce the ontological turn in anthropology as an intellectual project rooted in the critique of dualism of culture and nature and propose a classification of the literature we reviewed into first-order claims about the world and sec…Read more
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37From naturalness to materiality: reimagining philosophy of scientific classificationEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 13 (1): 1-23. 2023.The notion of natural kinds has been widely criticized in philosophy of science but also appears indispensable for philosophical engagement with classificatory practices. Rather than addressing this tension through a new definition of “natural kind”, this article suggests materiality as a substitute for naturalness in philosophical debates about scientific classification. It is argued that a theory of material kinds provides an alternative and more inclusive entry point for analyzing classificat…Read more
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37Philosophy of Ethnobiology: Understanding Knowledge Integration and Its LimitationsJournal of Ethnobiology (1): 3-20. forthcoming.Ethnobiology has become increasingly concerned with applied and normative issues such as climate change adaptation, forest management, and sustainable agriculture. Applied ethnobiology emphasizes the practical importance of local and traditional knowledge in tackling these issues but thereby also raises complex theoretical questions about the integration of heterogeneous knowledge systems. The aim of this article is to develop a framework for addressing questions of integration through four core…Read more
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37Joshua Glasgow, Sally Haslanger, Chike Jeffers, and Quayshawn Spencer. What Is Race? Four Philosophical ViewsPhilosophy of Science 88 (1): 184-188. 2021.
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36Compte-rendu: Otto Neurath and the Unity of ScienceLato Sensu: Revue de la Société de Philosophie des Sciences 2 (1): 14-16. 2015.Review of John Symons, Olga Pombo, and Juan Manuel Torres. 2011. Otto Neurath and the Unity of Science. Dordrecht: Springer.
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34The complexity of the gene and the precision of CRISPR : What is the gene that is being edited?Elementa: Science of Anthropocene 9 (1): 00072. 2021.The rapid development of CRISPR-based gene editing has been accompanied by a polarized governance debate about the status of CRISPR-edited crops as genetically modified organisms. This article argues that the polarization around the governance of gene editing partly reflects a failure of public engagement with the current state of research in genomics and postgenomics. CRISPR-based gene-editing technology has become embedded in a narrow narrative about the ease and precision of the technique tha…Read more
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30Relating inclusive innovations to Indigenous and local knowledge: a conceptual frameworkAgriculture and Human Values 40 (1): 395-408. 2023.The concept of inclusive innovation has become widely embraced in the agricultural domain and promises to overcome traditional innovation paradigms by emphasizing more balanced, sustainable, and just human-environmental relations. Indigenous and local knowledge play an increasingly important role in debates about inclusive innovation, highlighting the diversity of relevant actors and marginalized perspectives. At the same time, the positioning of Indigenous and local knowledge in innovation proc…Read more
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23Exploring Partial Overlaps Between Knowledge Systems in a Brazilian Fishing CommunityHuman Ecology 50 (4): 633-649. forthcoming.Based on a mixed-methods study involving triad tasks and ethnobiological models, we analyze local categories and knowledge of key ethnospecies of fish exploring partial overlaps between artisanal fishers’ and academic knowledge in a fishing community in northeast Brazil. We argue that fishers’ and academic knowledge overlaps may provide common ground for transdisciplinary collaboration, while their partiality requires reflection on epistemological and ontological differences. Here, we show how k…Read more
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21Intercultural science education as a trading zone between traditional and academic knowledgeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 84 101337. 2020.
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17Back by popular demand, ontology: Productive tensions between anthropological and philosophical approaches to ontologySynthese 202 (2): 1-22. 2023.In this paper we analyze relations between _ontology_ in anthropology and philosophy beyond simple homonymy or synonymy and show how this diagnosis allows for new interdisciplinary links and insights, while minimizing the risk of cross-disciplinary equivocation. We introduce the ontological turn in anthropology as an intellectual project rooted in the critique of dualism of culture and nature and propose a classification of the literature we reviewed into first-order claims about the world and s…Read more
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11Epistemology from a Global Perspective: Mizumoto, M., Stich, S. P, & McCready, E. (Eds.). (2018). Epistemology for the Rest of the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 320 pp., ISBN: 9780190865085, £55.00 (Hardback) (review)Science & Education 28 (9-10): 1263-1265. 2019.
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7The Emergence of a Re-humanizing Pedagogy for African Agrarian PhilosophyIn Mbih Jerome Tosam & Erasmus Masitera (eds.), African Agrarian Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 263-285. 2023.Until today, an externally imposed epistemological paradigm is dominant in most educational curricula at universities in Africa. Despite ongoing Eurocentrism and Western hegemony in mainstream agricultural trainings in Africa, Indigenous knowledge on agriculture still exists: it has been preserved for generations by farmers and wise elders in rural communities who often are knowledge authorities on African agrarian Indigenous knowledge, values and practices. An imposed epistemological paradigm o…Read more
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6From Naturalness to Materiality: Reimagining Philosophy of Scientific Classification PreprintEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.The notion of natural kinds has been widely criticized in philosophy of science but also appears indispensable for philosophical engagement with classificatory practices. Rather than addressing this tension through a new definition of “natural kind”, this article suggests materiality as a substitute for naturalness in philosophical debates about scientific classification. It is argued that a theory of material kinds provides an alternative and more inclusive entry point for analyzing classificat…Read more
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Wageningen University and ResearchCommunication, Philosophy and Technology (CPT)Associate Professor
Wageningen, Gelderland, Netherlands