March 18, 2026 @ 16:00 – 17:30 CET
The complexity of current socio-environmental, health and climate issues impose on us the need to do socially just research. To engage with this reality, philosophers of science ask how we can bring abstract theory into practice, how we can do community-based research and strive towards justice and equity on the ground, how we can navigate epistemic and ontological diversity, and what could be the role of a philosopher in practice-oriented research? Our invited speaker, David Ludwig (Wageningen University) investigates these questions and explores the possibility of a transdisciplinary philosophy of science. We have discussed his co-authored chapter “Transdisciplinary Methods in Philosophy of Science: The Conde Project” (2025).
The seminar opened with a discussion on what developments are needed to come to a notion of transdisciplinary philosophy of science. Ludwig addressed the need for a productive interaction between general theorizing in philosophy and specific actions. Through learning in practice during transdisciplinary work, philosophers could inform traditional debates in philosophy of science (e.g. on natural kinds or explanations) to become more meaningful. Feminist philosophy of science offers valuable frameworks and concepts to do just transdisciplinary research. For instance, debates on situated knowledge, pluralism and objectivity could help to understand epistemic and ontological diversity or identify and explore the tensions between different epistemic systems in a particular context.
There are, however, several challenges in developing transdisciplinary philosophy. First, the struggle of bringing philosophical concepts into practice asks for a constant dialogue between philosophical debates, particular contexts and empirical strategies to provide justice-oriented research. Second, transdisciplinary practices are still undertheorized. It is therefore important to learn to navigate as researchers and practitioners in this complexity and to figure out what a good intervention could look like. Third, transdisciplinary research poses tensions between academic expectations and interests of communities. For instance, pursuing research questions that are not necessarily relevant for the community, challenges in publishing results given disciplinary boundaries in journals, or acknowledging and assigning co-authorship.
In the remaining part of the seminar, we have spent some time reflecting on what the role and contribution of a philosopher in the field can be. The impact of philosophers, or researchers more generally, only becomes valuable after developing robust and long-term relationships with the local community, in order to really understand the needs and the best way to conduct research in the specific context. A philosopher can also contribute to critically address when and whether certain practices are extractivist, or can act as a mediator among different epistemic communities. Transdisciplinary research especially asks to challenge and move beyond one’s disciplinary comfort zone. This could entail engaging in activities that you were not expected to do, or developing alternative research outputs to journal articles, such as audiovisual methods, films or podcasts that might be more valuable and accessible for non-academic spaces.
Organisers: Sapna Kumar and Futura Venuto