"Occupational skill is not identical with class position. Some engineers are hired men; other engineers do the hiring. A consultant engineer may have his own office, work for his own account, and, economically speaking, be an independent enterpriser. Or an individual with the same type and amount...

Encountering the dialectic of recognition on my central line commute

A nice micro case study in scientistic ideology!

I want to thank Richard Dawkins for making my arguments about popular science writing as a vector for ideological scientism incredibly easy to develop

Folks, get off of Academia[.]edu. Delete your accounts. Put your work on a faculty webpage, on hcommons, on your own webpage. But not on Academia[.]edu. www.academia.edu/terms

did you know Robert De Niro's father was the spitting image of Wittgenstein?

My article in HOPOS, "Feyerabend, Freedom, and the Tyranny of Science" is now available ahead of print over at www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

For anyone attending MANCEPT 2025 this week, I'll be delivering my talk on ideological scientism at 16:30 today, as part of the "Integrating Politics and Philosophy of Science from Below" workshop. You can also hear grumble at length about the "Science & Values" paradigm :)

One of my employers has me supervising undergrad research projects on Aquinas on war, the Science of Logic, and Being & Time all at once

helen de cruz was fully who she was. her genuineness & humaneness was abundant in everything she did, including in dying, something we will all do, but few of us as honestly. in that she exemplified what you would hope a philosopher could be. i’m glad to have known her a little.

@helendecruz.net (1978-2025), RIP open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

This is sad news. I didn't know her well but from the times our paths crossed she seemed like a supremely kind and decent person

It is with profound sadness that we learned about the passing of our beloved friend, colleague, and mentor, Mario Biagioli. Mario was a pre-eminent scholar in many fields of inquiry: history of science, science studies, media studies, and the interdisciplinary study of intellectual properties. 1/2

So sad to hear news of Mario Biagioli's death. When I had just started my PhD, I tentatively reached out to Prof Biagioli to ask a few questions about Feyerabend's pedagogy. He didn't know me, but was so generous as to reply in vivid detail. Anyone interested in HPS must read Galileo, Courtier!

just in case anyone somehow still hasn't gotten around to it labour.org.uk/membership-r...

no class or dignity in genocide

Along with a man and a woman who are trans, and someone who is intersex, we are suing the EHRC and the Equalities Minister in respect of the disgraceful and unlawful EHRC guidance. In line with our transparency principles we are publishing the full 32 page legal letter. goodlaw.social/2ihj

NYU student speaker at graduation addresses Palestine; school is withholding his diploma for his speech www.nyu.edu/about/news-p...

Fresh off a Supreme Court 'victory' for 'real women' that apparently yielded few electoral dividends (who could have predicted?), Starmer seizes on another strategic blinder by sacking two women from his cabinet. You are witnessing a master at work.

Critics of Wokeism Found Celebrating after This Huge Win for Truth and Reason: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

(Not that notional agreement with an expert group by itself proves the correctness of a view, but) it is unsurprising that anti-trans ideologues purport to speak in the name of a univocal Science, all the while finding themselves at odds expert institutions www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Today at @stsucl.bsky.social History of Science Reading Group we discussed @gianamar97.bsky.social Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh and @feyerabender.bsky.social Rory Kent, “Crises and the history of science: a materialist rehabilitation,” BJHS Themes (2024) doi.org/10.1017/bjt.... i

Phd examining🧵 cont. In Feb together with @thehangedman.com we examined Rory's fantastically erudite and classy reinterpretation of Feyerabend. F himself couldn't possibly imagine being read that way but should be so grateful. A section on Brecht's theatre in a #philsci dissertation? Tick.

My PhD thesis is now openly available to read online :) www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/4aedae...

As it turns out, he contributed to a 1960 volume titled "Scientism and values" that seems to have quite a bit of philosophy of the social sciences in it. In case anyone knows anything about the context for this volume, please let me know - information on the Internet is scarce.

It's so obvious to good sense that describing biological systems like organs as having "jobs" is bad science, bad education, and bad ideology, but it's still happens up and down the country in almost every primary and secondary school

bro what did you do

"Palestine and trans rights, one struggle, one fight!"

"Over the counter and for free, HRT, HRT!" "Gender affirming care, life saving care!" "All kids deserve to live!"

On specifically about “biological,” but Lorraine Daston’s book Against Nature historicizes the uses of “nature”: direct.mit.edu/books/book/4...

Are there any historians of biological sciences who write the emergence of "biological" as a discursive device?

This is a cartoonish representation of oligarchic domination: a chauvinist billionaire donned in gold jewellery and smoking a cigar, celebrating a supreme court ruling that (by her own side's account) wouldn't have gone through without her extensive financial and political investments

My analysis of today's UK Supreme Court judgment. The UK Supreme Court Rules That Trans Women Aren't Women Under the Equality Act 2010 www.wearequeeraf.com/uk-supreme-c...

The language of "Science", "objective reality", and "biological fact" is being mobilised towards the oppression of trans people in the UK and elsewhere—just as it has been mobilised towards the oppression of women, queers, disabled people, black people, and the colonised the world over

Reposting a thought from me over at the other place, on scientism as an ideology 💭

I spent more than a year working on this SEP entry on ideology, and I actually think it is some of the best work I've ever done. There are three parts of it that I am especially happy with: plato.stanford.edu/entries/ideo...

Also, you may think that sending funny memes to your friends is an internet thing… but here is a cutout sent to Hesse from a friend, when they learnt she was getting an honorary degree at @cambridgeuni.bsky.social (accompanied by a more serious note of congratulations).

Leeds folk can hear Natasha and me discussing dating apps and ethics next week 💕📱

Today I passed my PhD viva--what a great experience! Thanks so much to @annaalexandrova.bsky.social and @thehangedman.com for their extremely thoughtful questions, comments, criticisms, and advice. So much to chew on for future work! But for now I'm hitting the pub 😮‍💨😊

Looking forward to the Nature of Knowledge lecture this Wed with Hasok Chang and @cdutilhnovaes.bsky.social on active knowledge and pragmatism. If you are in Edinburgh, this event is open and everyone is welcome!

Join if you are in Cambridge! #philsky

I had a dream last night that I walked into my PhD viva without having reread my thesis. My examiners were my sixth-form maths teacher and an old friend from childhood who (according to the dream) now holds a professorial chair in sociology 🤔 what could this mean

A kingly gift from @gianamar97.bsky.social ☺️

Besides Ha-Joon Chang, is there anyone who both is recognised as a peer by academic economists (i.e., not dismissed as a journalist, sociologist, etc.) and publicly mobilises their expertise to deconstruct or undermine pervasive misapprehensions about the nature of modern economic systems?

Just out, open access www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I'm returning to Wittig for inspiration on the issue of scientism in the anti-trans movement and wishing that more people read "The Straight Mind" (1979). It's one of those short but remarkably powerful essays that offers insights far beyond its notional subject matter

Hate when you're trying to discuss serious ideas, like re how eliminating the value form negates the negation of man's alienation from species-being, and dullards interrupt with shallow objections, like "why wouldn't bureaucrats who control everything just rule in their own interest?" Read a book 🙄

The BJHS: Themes special issue on "The History of Science and the 'Big Picture'" is now fully available over at www.cambridge.org/core/journal... Article by @gianamar97.bsky.social and me on science and crisis, do give it a read if you find the time!

Great to see the full "History of Science and the 'Big Picture'" issue of BJHS Themes out. What a cover, too! Had fun working with @feyerabender.bsky.social on our piece on crises and sciences (doi.org/10.1017/bjt....) Read the full issue here: cambridge.org/core/journal... @bshsnews.bsky.social