Curriculum Vitae - Phillip Honenberger
(updated January 29, 2022)
Academic Positions:
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Temple University, Department of Philosophy, Fall 2021
Research Associate, Colby College, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, 2020-2021
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Dept. of Philosophy, 2019-2020
Instructor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Dept. of Philosophy, 2018-2019, 2020-2022
Postdoctoral Associate (externally funded: NSF-STS Postdoc), University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, 2017-2018
Postdoctoral Fellow (external funded: NSF-STS Postdoc), Dartmouth College, Dept. of Biological Sciences, 2016-2017
Fellow-In-Residence, Program Coordinator, Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Philadelphia office), 2014-2016
Education:
Ph.D., Philosophy, Temple University, 2013
M.A., Philosophy, Temple University, 2007
B.A., Philosophy, College of William and Mary, 2003
Areas of Specialization:
philosophy of biology, philosophy of technology, philosophical anthropology
Areas of Competence:
ethics, history of Western philosophy (ancient, early modern, Kant and post-Kantian)
Dissertation
2013 Mediating Life: Animality, Artifactuality, and the Distinctiveness of the Human in the
Philosophical Anthropologies of Scheler, Plessner, Gehlen, and Mead
Committee: Joseph Margolis (chair), Miriam Solomon, Espen Hammer, Richard Schacht
Publications
Books – edited
2016 Phillip Honenberger (ed.), Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology: Nature, Life, and the
Human between Transcendental and Empirical Perspectives. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Journal Articles
2021 “Natural Artificiality, Niche Construction, and the Content-Open Mediation of Human
Behavior,” Biology & Philosophy 36: 55.
2019 “Translating Plessner’s Levels,” with Millay Hyatt, Human Studies 42 (1): 13-30.
2018 “Duhem’s Problem Revisited: Logical versus Epistemic Formulations and Solutions,” with
Michael Dietrich, Synthese, first online 04 July 2018: 1-18.
2018 “Darwin Among the Philosophers: Hull and Ruse on Darwin, Herschel, and Whewell,” HOPOS:
The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 8 (2): 278-309.
2015 “Grene and Hull on Types and Typological Thinking in Biology,” Studies in History and
Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 50: 13-25.
2015 “Animality, Sociality, and Historicity in Helmuth Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology,”
International Journal of Philosophical Studies 23 (5): 707-729.
2015 “The Poverty of Neo-Pragmatism: Rorty, Putnam, and Margolis on Realism and Relativism,”
Nordic Studies in Pragmatism 2: Pragmatism, Metaphysics, and Culture – Reflections on the
Philosophy of Joseph Margolis, ed. Dirk-Martin Grube and Robert Sinclair, 76-99.
2011 “History, Before and Beyond the Limit,” Journal of the Philosophy of History 4 (3-4): 274-295.
2010 “Ethics, Hermeneutics, and Eudaimonics,” International Philosophical Quarterly 50 (2):
243-256.
2007 “Le Nègre et Hegel: Fanon on Hegel, Colonialism, and the Dialectics of Recognition,” Human
Architecture: Journal of the Archeology of Self-Knowledge 5: 153-162.
Book Chapters
2022 “All Knowing is Orientation: Marjorie Grene’s Ecological Epistemology,” in G. Bianco, G. Van
de Vijver, and C. Wolfe (eds.), Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology. Springer.
(under review)
2016 “Introduction,” Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology, ed. P. Honenberger. London:
Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 1-26.
2016 “Naturalism, Pluralism, and the Human Place in the Worlds,” Naturalism and Philosophical
Anthropology, ed. P. Honenberger. London: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 94-120.
2014 “Conversazione per storici e filosofi sulla natura della spiegazione storica” [Abductive Inference
and Historiography: A Conversation for Historians and Philosophers], with Allan Megill, and
contributions from J. Dukes, J. Reich, J. Norman, S. Shepard, and H. Bracken, Theorie del
Pensiero Storico, ed. D. Bondi and G. Belloni. Edizioni Unicopli, pp. 69-99.
2007 “What Did the Neighbors Know about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings? A Case Study in
Historical Epistemology,” with Allan Megill and Stephen Shepard, in A. Megill, Historical
Knowledge, Historical Error: An Historian’s Guide to Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, pp. 125-150.
Entries in Reference Works
2022 (forthcoming) “Marjorie Grene,” Plessner-Handbook: Leben, Werk, Wirkung, ed. Joachim
Fischer. J.B. Metzler.
2016 “Hull, David Lee (1935-2010),” Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, ed. John Shook.
London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 489-492.
2016 “Keller, Evelyn Fox (1936- ),” Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, ed. John Shook.
London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 525-528.
Book Reviews
2019 Review of Maria Kronfelder, What’s Left of Human Nature?: A Post-Essentialist,
Pluralist, and Interactive Account of a Contested Concept (MIT Press, 2018), Notre Dame
Philosophical Reviews (https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/whats-left-of-human-nature-a-post-essentialist-
pluralist-and-interactive-account-of-a-contested-concept/).
2017 “From Species to Classification and Back Again.” Review Essay of Richard A. Richards’
Biological Classification: A Philosophical Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Metascience 26 (3): 493-497.
2016 “Eccentric Investigations of (Post-)Humanity.” Review Essay of Jos de Mul (ed.), Plessner’s
Philosophical Anthropology. Amsterdam University Press, 2014. Philosophy of the Social
Sciences 46 (1): 56-76, 2016.
2014 Review of Julie Zahle and Finn Collin (eds.), Rethinking the Individualism-Holism Debate:
Essays in the Philosophy of Social Science (Springer, 2014). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
(http://ndpr.nd.edu/), October 2014.
2010 Review of Edward Skidelsky, Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture (Yale University
Press, 2010). Metaphilosophy 41 (1): 239-243, 2010.
Works In Progress / Under Review
“Towards a General Theory of Mediation” (under review)
“Second-Order Plasticity and the Evolution of Human Cognition” (under review) .
Excentric Naturalism: Behavioral Plasticity and the Human Place in the World
(book MS, 73,000 words)
Presentations (select)
Invited Presentations
2021 “Excentric Naturalism: Behavioral Plasticity and the Human Place in the World,” Workshop
on Heterodox Naturalisms, hosted by U.Ghent, organized by Guiseppe Bianco, Gertrudis van de
Vijver, and Charles Wolfe.
2021 “The Multiple Lives of Marjorie Grene,” Workshop on Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy,
hosted by U.Ghent, organized by Guiseppe Bianco, Gertrudis van de Vijver, and Charles Wolfe.
2019 “The Archeology of Biology and Its Philosophy,” panel discussion of Wolfe and Bognon-Küss
(eds.), Philosophy of Biology before Biology (2018), ISHPSSB (International Society for History,
Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology) biennial conference, Oslo, Norway.
2019 “Natural Artificiality: A Contested Pattern in Human Evolution,” University of Nevada – Las
Vegas, Philosophy Colloquium, Las Vegas, Nevada.
2018 “Natural Artificiality: An Essay on Culture’s Place in Nature,” University of Nevada – Las
Vegas, Phi Sigma Tau Philosophy Honor Society & UNLV Philosophy Club, Las Vegas, Nevada.
2018 “Excentric Naturalism,” Workshop on Philosophical Anthropology and History of Science,
Univerity of Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
2018 “What is Philosophy of Biology?: A Data-Driven Account,” Zentrum fuer Literatur- und
Kulturforschung, Berlin.
2018 “What is Philosophy of Biology?: A Data-Driven Account,” University of Pittsburgh, Center for
Philosophy of Science, Lunch Talk Series.
2016 “Darwin’s Debts and Credits to Philosophy of Science: A Historiographic Re-evaluation,”
Dartmouth College EEES (Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems and Society), Lunch Talk Series.
2014 “Naturalism, Pluralism, and Anthropology: Field Notes on the Human ‘Place’ in Nature,”
Colloquium on Pragmatism and Philosophical Anthropology, University of Potsdam, Germany.
2014 “Grene and Hull on Typological Thinking in Biology.” Rowan University, “Theorizing at
Rowan” series.
2013 “Grene and Hull on Typological Thinking in Biology,” Richard Stockton College, Phi Sigma Tau
Speaker Series.
Conference Presentations on Research
2021 “Content-open Natural Artificiality as a Selection Target in Human Evolution.” Philosophy of
Science Association Biennial Conference, Baltimore, MD.
2021 “Digital Mediation of the Public Sphere: from Ethics to Politics.” The Public Use of Reason –
Philosophical Anthropology in the 21st Century. Conference hosted by the Helmuth Plessner
Society, by Zoom.
2018 “Phylogenetic Taxonomy and HGT: Reconcilable Tension or Grounds for Taxonomic
Revolution?” SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice), Gent, Belgium.
2018 “Text Analysis of Contributor Sections and Scientific Collaboration,” with Evelyn Brister,
University of Pittsburgh, LEAHPS conference (Learning from Empirical Approaches to History
and Philosophy of Science), Pittsburgh.
2017 “A Study of Scientific Collaborations, with Lessons Drawn from Nature.” ISHPSSB
(International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Sau Paulo, Brazil.
2016 “Debating Darwin’s Debt to Philosophy.” SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice),
Glassboro, New Jersey.
2015 “Hull and Ruse on Positivism, Historicism, and Darwin’s Debt to Philosophy.” ISHPSSB
(International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Montreal, Canada.
2015 “Marjorie Grene, David Hull, and the Origins of the ‘New’ Philosophy of Biology,” Introductory
Symposium, Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (now CHSTM), Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
2014 “Grene and Hull on Type-Concepts in Biology.” HOPOS (History of Philosophy of Science),
Ghent, Belgium.
2013 “Methodological Naturalism and ‘the Human Place in Nature’.” APA (American Philosophical
Association), Eastern Division, group program, Baltimore, Maryland.
2013 “The Substantive and Methodological Integration of Biology, Anthropology, and Philosophy in
Helmuth Plessner’s Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch.” ISHPSSB (International
Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Montpellier, France.
2013 “The Poverty of Neo-Pragmatism.” The Metaphysics of Culture: The Philosophy of Joseph
Margolis, Helsinki Institute for Advanced Studies, Helsinki, Finland.
2012 “Re-evaluating Classical Philosophical Anthropology, 1927-1940.” International Society for the
History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS), Halifax, Nova Scotia.
2012 “The Problem of Mediation in a Philosophical Anthropology.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Roundtable, Lincoln, Nebraska.
2011 “To What Questions Does Philosophical Anthropology Provide an Answer?” Pittsburgh Area
Philosophy Consortium, Pittsburgh, PA.
2010 “Human Nature and Natural Selves.” Temple Univ. Graduate Student Works-in-Progress Series,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2009 “Austere Realism and the Ontology of Institutions.” CHAT (Center for the Humanities at
Temple) Fellows Colloquium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2007 “Brandom’s Idealist Thesis: What’s the Idea?” APA (American Philosophical Association),
Eastern Division (General Program), Baltimore, Maryland.
2007 “Reflections on the Heideggerian Paradigm in Recent French Philosophy.” Fordham University
Graduate Student Conference, the Bronx, New York.
2007 “Fanon, Hegel, and the Dialectics of Recognition.” University of Massachusetts, Boston, 4th
Annual Social Theory Forum, Boston, Massachusetts.
Poster Presentations
2018 Contributor Sections as Indicators of Interdisciplinary Dynamics, with Evelyn Brister,
Philosophy of Science Association, Seattle, Washington, November 2018.
2016 Modeling Interdisciplinary Collaborations between Biologists and Philosophers, 1950-2000.
Philosophy of Science Association. Atlanta, Georgia, November 2016.
2016 Identifying and Modeling Interdisciplinary Collaborations between Biologists and Philosophers,
1950-2000. SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice), Rowan University, Glassboro,
New Jersey.
Grants and Awards:
2018 Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, Germany.
Visiting Research Fellowship, May-June.
Award Amount: Airfare, lodging, and per diem (~$4000)
2016-2018 National Science Foundation “Science, Technology and Society” Fellowship,
Michael Dietrich (PI), Phillip Honenberger (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Project Title: “A Social and Historical Study of Interdisciplinary Collaborations Between
Biologists and Philosophers.”
Award Amount: $175,000.
2014 NSF (Nat.Sci.Foundation) Travel Grant to HOPOS 2014.
Award Amount: $400 travel expenses
2012 NSF (Nat.Sci.Foundation) Travel Grant to HOPOS 2012.
Award Amount: $400 travel expenses
2009 Research Associateship, Temple University,
CHAT (Center for the Humanities at Temple).
Award Amount: $500 research funds
2006-2009 Travel Grant, College of Liberal Arts Fund for Graduate Excellence, Temple University
Award Amount: $500 each trip (x6)
Courses Taught (partial list)
Years Course Title Level Institution Format Times Taught
2021 Honors Ethics in Medicine 300 Temple University in-person
2021 Environmental Ethics 200 Temple University in-person
2021 Introduction to Ethical Theory 200 Temple University in-person
2021 Philosophy of Biology 200 Colby College (ME) hybrid
2021 Philosophy of Technology 200 Colby College (ME) hybrid
2020-2021 Ethics for Engineers & Scientists 200 University of Nevada, LV online x6
2017-2020 Ethics for Engineers & Scientists 100 University of Nevada, LV in-person x14
2020-2021 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV online x2
2019-2020 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV large lecture x2
(100+ students)
2017-2018 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV in-person x2
2018 Philosophy of Human Nature 200 University of Nevada, LV in-person
2011-2014 Philosophy of Science 200 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x8
2011-2014 Critical Thinking 100 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x2
2011-2014 Introduction to Philosophy 200 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x4
2007-2012 Introduction to Philosophy 100 Temple University (PA) in-person x8
2011-2012 Philosophy of the Human 100 Temple University (PA) in-person
2008-2009 Introduction to Philosophy of Mind 200 Temple University (PA) in-person x2
2007-2008 Introduction to Symbolic Logic 200 Temple University (PA) in-person
Professional Activities:
Service
Moderator, UNESCO Session, Rebel Model UN, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 2019
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft, 2017-
Member, Membership Development and Diversity Committee, ISHSSPB (International Society for
History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), 2015-
Session Chair, PSA (Philosophy of Science Association), “Natural Kinds: The Case of Species,”
November 2016
Graduate Student Representative, Department of Philosophy, Temple University, 2010-2011
Organized Sessions
Organizer, “Collaboration in Contemporary Bioscience: Sociological and Philosophical Approaches,”
ISHPSSB 2017
Organizer of bi-weekly History of Biology Works-In-Progress Workshop, Consortium for History of
Science, Technology and Medicine, January-July 2015
Organizer of double session, “Philosophical Anthropology I” and “Philosophical Anthropology II,”
for ISHPSSB 2013
Organizer of session, “Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology” for APA Eastern Division,
December 2013 (group session w/ Society for Humanist Philosophers)
Referee for Journals and Presses
Human Studies (x6), Theory, Culture, and Society (x3), Synthese (x2), History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (x1), Philosophy of the Social Sciences (x1), Journal of the American Philosophical Association (x1), Palgrave MacMillan (x1), Rowman and Littlefield / Lexington Books (x1), Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities (x1)
Referee for Funding Organizations
National Science Foundation – Science, Technology, and Society program
Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (fellowship applications)
Professional Society Memberships
American Philosophical Association, 2007-2013
International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 2012-
International Society for the History of International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies
of Biology, 2013-
Philosophy of Science Association, 2015-
Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft, 2016-
Working Group Memberships
Member, History and Philosophy of Science Working Group, CHSTM, 2012-
Member, History of Biological Sciences Working Group, CHSTM, 2015-
Member, Microbial Biology and Evolution lab (director: Prof. Olga Zhaxybayeva), Dartmouth College, 2016-2017
Languages:
English (native); German (intermediate); French (intermediate)
Additional Skills:
MySQL (database design); Python (text manipulation)
References:
Dr. Michael Dietrich, Professor, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh,
1017 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA USA 15260,
Phone: 412-624-5892, Email: mdietrich@pitt.edu
Dr. Miriam Solomon, Professor of Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Temple University,
Anderson Hall 729, 1114 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA USA 19122
Phone: 215-204-9629, Email: msolomon@temple.edu
Dr. John Zammito, John Antony Weir Professor, Department of History, Rice University,
317 Humanities Building, Houston, TX USA 77005
Phone: 713-348-2453, Email: zammito@rice.edu
Dr. Shane Epting, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts, Languages & Philosophy,
224 Castleman Hall, Missouri Institute of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO 65409
Phone: 573-341-4869 Email: shane.epting@mst.edu
Dr. David Forman*, Associate Prof., Dept. of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Department of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Box 455028, 4505 S. Maryland
Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154
Phone: 702-895-3624, Email: david.forman@unlv.edu
*Teaching reference
(updated January 29, 2022)
Academic Positions:
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Temple University, Department of Philosophy, Fall 2021
Research Associate, Colby College, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, 2020-2021
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Dept. of Philosophy, 2019-2020
Instructor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Dept. of Philosophy, 2018-2019, 2020-2022
Postdoctoral Associate (externally funded: NSF-STS Postdoc), University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, 2017-2018
Postdoctoral Fellow (external funded: NSF-STS Postdoc), Dartmouth College, Dept. of Biological Sciences, 2016-2017
Fellow-In-Residence, Program Coordinator, Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine (Philadelphia office), 2014-2016
Education:
Ph.D., Philosophy, Temple University, 2013
M.A., Philosophy, Temple University, 2007
B.A., Philosophy, College of William and Mary, 2003
Areas of Specialization:
philosophy of biology, philosophy of technology, philosophical anthropology
Areas of Competence:
ethics, history of Western philosophy (ancient, early modern, Kant and post-Kantian)
Dissertation
2013 Mediating Life: Animality, Artifactuality, and the Distinctiveness of the Human in the
Philosophical Anthropologies of Scheler, Plessner, Gehlen, and Mead
Committee: Joseph Margolis (chair), Miriam Solomon, Espen Hammer, Richard Schacht
Publications
Books – edited
2016 Phillip Honenberger (ed.), Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology: Nature, Life, and the
Human between Transcendental and Empirical Perspectives. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Journal Articles
2021 “Natural Artificiality, Niche Construction, and the Content-Open Mediation of Human
Behavior,” Biology & Philosophy 36: 55.
2019 “Translating Plessner’s Levels,” with Millay Hyatt, Human Studies 42 (1): 13-30.
2018 “Duhem’s Problem Revisited: Logical versus Epistemic Formulations and Solutions,” with
Michael Dietrich, Synthese, first online 04 July 2018: 1-18.
2018 “Darwin Among the Philosophers: Hull and Ruse on Darwin, Herschel, and Whewell,” HOPOS:
The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 8 (2): 278-309.
2015 “Grene and Hull on Types and Typological Thinking in Biology,” Studies in History and
Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 50: 13-25.
2015 “Animality, Sociality, and Historicity in Helmuth Plessner’s Philosophical Anthropology,”
International Journal of Philosophical Studies 23 (5): 707-729.
2015 “The Poverty of Neo-Pragmatism: Rorty, Putnam, and Margolis on Realism and Relativism,”
Nordic Studies in Pragmatism 2: Pragmatism, Metaphysics, and Culture – Reflections on the
Philosophy of Joseph Margolis, ed. Dirk-Martin Grube and Robert Sinclair, 76-99.
2011 “History, Before and Beyond the Limit,” Journal of the Philosophy of History 4 (3-4): 274-295.
2010 “Ethics, Hermeneutics, and Eudaimonics,” International Philosophical Quarterly 50 (2):
243-256.
2007 “Le Nègre et Hegel: Fanon on Hegel, Colonialism, and the Dialectics of Recognition,” Human
Architecture: Journal of the Archeology of Self-Knowledge 5: 153-162.
Book Chapters
2022 “All Knowing is Orientation: Marjorie Grene’s Ecological Epistemology,” in G. Bianco, G. Van
de Vijver, and C. Wolfe (eds.), Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy of Biology. Springer.
(under review)
2016 “Introduction,” Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology, ed. P. Honenberger. London:
Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 1-26.
2016 “Naturalism, Pluralism, and the Human Place in the Worlds,” Naturalism and Philosophical
Anthropology, ed. P. Honenberger. London: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 94-120.
2014 “Conversazione per storici e filosofi sulla natura della spiegazione storica” [Abductive Inference
and Historiography: A Conversation for Historians and Philosophers], with Allan Megill, and
contributions from J. Dukes, J. Reich, J. Norman, S. Shepard, and H. Bracken, Theorie del
Pensiero Storico, ed. D. Bondi and G. Belloni. Edizioni Unicopli, pp. 69-99.
2007 “What Did the Neighbors Know about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings? A Case Study in
Historical Epistemology,” with Allan Megill and Stephen Shepard, in A. Megill, Historical
Knowledge, Historical Error: An Historian’s Guide to Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, pp. 125-150.
Entries in Reference Works
2022 (forthcoming) “Marjorie Grene,” Plessner-Handbook: Leben, Werk, Wirkung, ed. Joachim
Fischer. J.B. Metzler.
2016 “Hull, David Lee (1935-2010),” Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, ed. John Shook.
London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 489-492.
2016 “Keller, Evelyn Fox (1936- ),” Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, ed. John Shook.
London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 525-528.
Book Reviews
2019 Review of Maria Kronfelder, What’s Left of Human Nature?: A Post-Essentialist,
Pluralist, and Interactive Account of a Contested Concept (MIT Press, 2018), Notre Dame
Philosophical Reviews (https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/whats-left-of-human-nature-a-post-essentialist-
pluralist-and-interactive-account-of-a-contested-concept/).
2017 “From Species to Classification and Back Again.” Review Essay of Richard A. Richards’
Biological Classification: A Philosophical Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Metascience 26 (3): 493-497.
2016 “Eccentric Investigations of (Post-)Humanity.” Review Essay of Jos de Mul (ed.), Plessner’s
Philosophical Anthropology. Amsterdam University Press, 2014. Philosophy of the Social
Sciences 46 (1): 56-76, 2016.
2014 Review of Julie Zahle and Finn Collin (eds.), Rethinking the Individualism-Holism Debate:
Essays in the Philosophy of Social Science (Springer, 2014). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
(http://ndpr.nd.edu/), October 2014.
2010 Review of Edward Skidelsky, Ernst Cassirer: The Last Philosopher of Culture (Yale University
Press, 2010). Metaphilosophy 41 (1): 239-243, 2010.
Works In Progress / Under Review
“Towards a General Theory of Mediation” (under review)
“Second-Order Plasticity and the Evolution of Human Cognition” (under review) .
Excentric Naturalism: Behavioral Plasticity and the Human Place in the World
(book MS, 73,000 words)
Presentations (select)
Invited Presentations
2021 “Excentric Naturalism: Behavioral Plasticity and the Human Place in the World,” Workshop
on Heterodox Naturalisms, hosted by U.Ghent, organized by Guiseppe Bianco, Gertrudis van de
Vijver, and Charles Wolfe.
2021 “The Multiple Lives of Marjorie Grene,” Workshop on Canguilhem and Continental Philosophy,
hosted by U.Ghent, organized by Guiseppe Bianco, Gertrudis van de Vijver, and Charles Wolfe.
2019 “The Archeology of Biology and Its Philosophy,” panel discussion of Wolfe and Bognon-Küss
(eds.), Philosophy of Biology before Biology (2018), ISHPSSB (International Society for History,
Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology) biennial conference, Oslo, Norway.
2019 “Natural Artificiality: A Contested Pattern in Human Evolution,” University of Nevada – Las
Vegas, Philosophy Colloquium, Las Vegas, Nevada.
2018 “Natural Artificiality: An Essay on Culture’s Place in Nature,” University of Nevada – Las
Vegas, Phi Sigma Tau Philosophy Honor Society & UNLV Philosophy Club, Las Vegas, Nevada.
2018 “Excentric Naturalism,” Workshop on Philosophical Anthropology and History of Science,
Univerity of Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
2018 “What is Philosophy of Biology?: A Data-Driven Account,” Zentrum fuer Literatur- und
Kulturforschung, Berlin.
2018 “What is Philosophy of Biology?: A Data-Driven Account,” University of Pittsburgh, Center for
Philosophy of Science, Lunch Talk Series.
2016 “Darwin’s Debts and Credits to Philosophy of Science: A Historiographic Re-evaluation,”
Dartmouth College EEES (Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems and Society), Lunch Talk Series.
2014 “Naturalism, Pluralism, and Anthropology: Field Notes on the Human ‘Place’ in Nature,”
Colloquium on Pragmatism and Philosophical Anthropology, University of Potsdam, Germany.
2014 “Grene and Hull on Typological Thinking in Biology.” Rowan University, “Theorizing at
Rowan” series.
2013 “Grene and Hull on Typological Thinking in Biology,” Richard Stockton College, Phi Sigma Tau
Speaker Series.
Conference Presentations on Research
2021 “Content-open Natural Artificiality as a Selection Target in Human Evolution.” Philosophy of
Science Association Biennial Conference, Baltimore, MD.
2021 “Digital Mediation of the Public Sphere: from Ethics to Politics.” The Public Use of Reason –
Philosophical Anthropology in the 21st Century. Conference hosted by the Helmuth Plessner
Society, by Zoom.
2018 “Phylogenetic Taxonomy and HGT: Reconcilable Tension or Grounds for Taxonomic
Revolution?” SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice), Gent, Belgium.
2018 “Text Analysis of Contributor Sections and Scientific Collaboration,” with Evelyn Brister,
University of Pittsburgh, LEAHPS conference (Learning from Empirical Approaches to History
and Philosophy of Science), Pittsburgh.
2017 “A Study of Scientific Collaborations, with Lessons Drawn from Nature.” ISHPSSB
(International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Sau Paulo, Brazil.
2016 “Debating Darwin’s Debt to Philosophy.” SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice),
Glassboro, New Jersey.
2015 “Hull and Ruse on Positivism, Historicism, and Darwin’s Debt to Philosophy.” ISHPSSB
(International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Montreal, Canada.
2015 “Marjorie Grene, David Hull, and the Origins of the ‘New’ Philosophy of Biology,” Introductory
Symposium, Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (now CHSTM), Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
2014 “Grene and Hull on Type-Concepts in Biology.” HOPOS (History of Philosophy of Science),
Ghent, Belgium.
2013 “Methodological Naturalism and ‘the Human Place in Nature’.” APA (American Philosophical
Association), Eastern Division, group program, Baltimore, Maryland.
2013 “The Substantive and Methodological Integration of Biology, Anthropology, and Philosophy in
Helmuth Plessner’s Die Stufen des Organischen und der Mensch.” ISHPSSB (International
Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), Montpellier, France.
2013 “The Poverty of Neo-Pragmatism.” The Metaphysics of Culture: The Philosophy of Joseph
Margolis, Helsinki Institute for Advanced Studies, Helsinki, Finland.
2012 “Re-evaluating Classical Philosophical Anthropology, 1927-1940.” International Society for the
History of Philosophy of Science (HOPOS), Halifax, Nova Scotia.
2012 “The Problem of Mediation in a Philosophical Anthropology.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Roundtable, Lincoln, Nebraska.
2011 “To What Questions Does Philosophical Anthropology Provide an Answer?” Pittsburgh Area
Philosophy Consortium, Pittsburgh, PA.
2010 “Human Nature and Natural Selves.” Temple Univ. Graduate Student Works-in-Progress Series,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2009 “Austere Realism and the Ontology of Institutions.” CHAT (Center for the Humanities at
Temple) Fellows Colloquium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2007 “Brandom’s Idealist Thesis: What’s the Idea?” APA (American Philosophical Association),
Eastern Division (General Program), Baltimore, Maryland.
2007 “Reflections on the Heideggerian Paradigm in Recent French Philosophy.” Fordham University
Graduate Student Conference, the Bronx, New York.
2007 “Fanon, Hegel, and the Dialectics of Recognition.” University of Massachusetts, Boston, 4th
Annual Social Theory Forum, Boston, Massachusetts.
Poster Presentations
2018 Contributor Sections as Indicators of Interdisciplinary Dynamics, with Evelyn Brister,
Philosophy of Science Association, Seattle, Washington, November 2018.
2016 Modeling Interdisciplinary Collaborations between Biologists and Philosophers, 1950-2000.
Philosophy of Science Association. Atlanta, Georgia, November 2016.
2016 Identifying and Modeling Interdisciplinary Collaborations between Biologists and Philosophers,
1950-2000. SPSP (Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice), Rowan University, Glassboro,
New Jersey.
Grants and Awards:
2018 Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, Germany.
Visiting Research Fellowship, May-June.
Award Amount: Airfare, lodging, and per diem (~$4000)
2016-2018 National Science Foundation “Science, Technology and Society” Fellowship,
Michael Dietrich (PI), Phillip Honenberger (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Project Title: “A Social and Historical Study of Interdisciplinary Collaborations Between
Biologists and Philosophers.”
Award Amount: $175,000.
2014 NSF (Nat.Sci.Foundation) Travel Grant to HOPOS 2014.
Award Amount: $400 travel expenses
2012 NSF (Nat.Sci.Foundation) Travel Grant to HOPOS 2012.
Award Amount: $400 travel expenses
2009 Research Associateship, Temple University,
CHAT (Center for the Humanities at Temple).
Award Amount: $500 research funds
2006-2009 Travel Grant, College of Liberal Arts Fund for Graduate Excellence, Temple University
Award Amount: $500 each trip (x6)
Courses Taught (partial list)
Years Course Title Level Institution Format Times Taught
2021 Honors Ethics in Medicine 300 Temple University in-person
2021 Environmental Ethics 200 Temple University in-person
2021 Introduction to Ethical Theory 200 Temple University in-person
2021 Philosophy of Biology 200 Colby College (ME) hybrid
2021 Philosophy of Technology 200 Colby College (ME) hybrid
2020-2021 Ethics for Engineers & Scientists 200 University of Nevada, LV online x6
2017-2020 Ethics for Engineers & Scientists 100 University of Nevada, LV in-person x14
2020-2021 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV online x2
2019-2020 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV large lecture x2
(100+ students)
2017-2018 Critical Thinking & Reasoning 100 University of Nevada, LV in-person x2
2018 Philosophy of Human Nature 200 University of Nevada, LV in-person
2011-2014 Philosophy of Science 200 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x8
2011-2014 Critical Thinking 100 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x2
2011-2014 Introduction to Philosophy 200 Rowan University (NJ) in-person x4
2007-2012 Introduction to Philosophy 100 Temple University (PA) in-person x8
2011-2012 Philosophy of the Human 100 Temple University (PA) in-person
2008-2009 Introduction to Philosophy of Mind 200 Temple University (PA) in-person x2
2007-2008 Introduction to Symbolic Logic 200 Temple University (PA) in-person
Professional Activities:
Service
Moderator, UNESCO Session, Rebel Model UN, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, 2019
Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft, 2017-
Member, Membership Development and Diversity Committee, ISHSSPB (International Society for
History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology), 2015-
Session Chair, PSA (Philosophy of Science Association), “Natural Kinds: The Case of Species,”
November 2016
Graduate Student Representative, Department of Philosophy, Temple University, 2010-2011
Organized Sessions
Organizer, “Collaboration in Contemporary Bioscience: Sociological and Philosophical Approaches,”
ISHPSSB 2017
Organizer of bi-weekly History of Biology Works-In-Progress Workshop, Consortium for History of
Science, Technology and Medicine, January-July 2015
Organizer of double session, “Philosophical Anthropology I” and “Philosophical Anthropology II,”
for ISHPSSB 2013
Organizer of session, “Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology” for APA Eastern Division,
December 2013 (group session w/ Society for Humanist Philosophers)
Referee for Journals and Presses
Human Studies (x6), Theory, Culture, and Society (x3), Synthese (x2), History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (x1), Philosophy of the Social Sciences (x1), Journal of the American Philosophical Association (x1), Palgrave MacMillan (x1), Rowman and Littlefield / Lexington Books (x1), Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities (x1)
Referee for Funding Organizations
National Science Foundation – Science, Technology, and Society program
Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (fellowship applications)
Professional Society Memberships
American Philosophical Association, 2007-2013
International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 2012-
International Society for the History of International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies
of Biology, 2013-
Philosophy of Science Association, 2015-
Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft, 2016-
Working Group Memberships
Member, History and Philosophy of Science Working Group, CHSTM, 2012-
Member, History of Biological Sciences Working Group, CHSTM, 2015-
Member, Microbial Biology and Evolution lab (director: Prof. Olga Zhaxybayeva), Dartmouth College, 2016-2017
Languages:
English (native); German (intermediate); French (intermediate)
Additional Skills:
MySQL (database design); Python (text manipulation)
References:
Dr. Michael Dietrich, Professor, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh,
1017 Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA USA 15260,
Phone: 412-624-5892, Email: mdietrich@pitt.edu
Dr. Miriam Solomon, Professor of Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Temple University,
Anderson Hall 729, 1114 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA USA 19122
Phone: 215-204-9629, Email: msolomon@temple.edu
Dr. John Zammito, John Antony Weir Professor, Department of History, Rice University,
317 Humanities Building, Houston, TX USA 77005
Phone: 713-348-2453, Email: zammito@rice.edu
Dr. Shane Epting, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts, Languages & Philosophy,
224 Castleman Hall, Missouri Institute of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO 65409
Phone: 573-341-4869 Email: shane.epting@mst.edu
Dr. David Forman*, Associate Prof., Dept. of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Department of Philosophy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Box 455028, 4505 S. Maryland
Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154
Phone: 702-895-3624, Email: david.forman@unlv.edu
*Teaching reference