Abstract

Despite the widespread idea of a growing divorce between philosophy and science during the 20th and 21st centuries, there have been many calls recently for a reconnection between them. There are in fact many ways through which philosophy can impact science. In this talk, I focus on one peculiar and often overlooked impact of philosophy on science: some philosophers use philosophical tools to produce science (Laplane et al., PNAS , 2019). Such use of philosophical tools to attempt to make scientific contributions is what I have called ‘philosophy in science’. In recent work, we have shown that philosophy in science is a relatively small but clearly identifiable trend in recent philosophy of science, characterized by its specific methodologies, authors, and problems (Pradeu et al., BJPS , forthcoming). ‘Philosophy in science’ is not just scientifically informed philosophy of science. It is related to complementary science (Chang 1999, 2004) and philosophy of science in practice, although it is distinct from them. In this talk, I will offer a detailed examination of what philosophy in science is, and assess its impact on science. Finally, I will show that philosophy in science is better understood as part of a wider phenomenon, namely conceptual and theoretical thinking in science, done by philosophers and scientists alike.