Phillip Honenberger
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Phillip Honenberger, Ph.D.
Curriculum Vitae – November 11, 2020
 
Science, Technology and Society Program                                         Email: philliphonenberger@gmail.com
Colby College                 Waterville, Maine                                           Telephone (Cell): 267-276-5028         
                              
Academic Positions:

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

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

modern European philosophy (Kant to present), philosophy of biology

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 (forthcoming; accepted Nov. 9, 2020)

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

2021     “All Knowing is Orientation: Marjorie Grene’s Ecological Epistemology,” in G. Bianco, G. Van de Vijver,
               and C. Wolfe (eds.), Vitalism and the Contemporary Life Sciences. 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

2021     (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.

Presentations (select)

Invited Presentations

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 Biolog,.” 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

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:

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.

2018                   Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, Germany.
                           Visiting Research Fellowship, May-June.
                           Award Amount: Airfare, lodging, and per diem (~$4000)

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 (in-person unless marked)

Introduction to Philosophy                                                  (x12)
Philosophy of Science (in-person and online)                            (x10)
Ethics for Engineers & Scientists (in-person and online)         (x9)
Critical Thinking                                                                 (x4)
Philosophy of Human Nature                                              (x3)
Philosophy of Mind                                                             (x3)
Introduction to Symbolic Logic                                          (x2)
Introduction to Ethics                                                          (x2)
Philosophy and Society (online)                                         (x2)
Meaning of the Arts                                                             (x1)

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 (x5), 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. Joseph Margolis, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy, Dept. of Philosophy, Temple University,
             Anderson Hall 727, 1114 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA USA 19122,
             Phone: 215-462-1556, Email: josephmargolis455@hotmail.com

Dr. David Forman, Professor of Philosophy, Department 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: formand@unlv.edu