João Ohara
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oharajrm.com
João Ohara
@oharajrm.com
3K followers 850 following 760 posts
Theory and Philosophy of History @ University of São Paulo - USP (Brazil)
Interested in narrative, trust, and epistemic dependence.
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oharajrm.com
My paper on historical (anti-)realism is now available in EarlyView on @histandtheojrnl.bsky.social's website. It's my attempt at mapping the conceptual space in what I see as a deeply confused landscape, rife for unproductive polemics.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A screenshot of the paper's page on the journal website. Paper title: On Historical (Anti-)Realism. Author: João Ohara. Abstract: The problem of historical realism has gained some new momentum recently, with a fresh challenge to what is taken to be an anti-realist hegemony in the theory and philosophy of history. Unfortunately, this has also provided the opportunity for the reheating of old polemics and lazy scholarship that characterized the 1990s reaction to “postmodernism.” Ill-defined questions distract us from more important issues. Here, I offer a map that aims to clarify the conceptual space. I distinguish between a metaphysical problem, which is the problem of historical realism proper, and an epistemological problem, which is sometimes treated under the same phrase but is more adequately called the problem of historical skepticism. I then consider what the targets of each of these discussions are and map the conceptual space of possibilities in them.
January 22, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
lisaregazzoni.bsky.social
🛎️ The second volume of the BiUP Bielefeld Theory Talks series is now out.
It features Lucian Hölscher’s reflections on virtual history, followed by commentaries by Britta Hochkirchen, Chris Lorenz, and @rutakazlauskaite.bsky.social 👇
bielefelduniversitypress.de/publikatione...
January 20, 2026 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
markrubin.bsky.social
The difference between framed and framing enquiries by @celinehenne.bsky.social
The realist vs the pragmatist view of epistemology | Aeon Essays
Knowledge is often a matter of discovery. But when the nature of an enquiry itself is at question, it is an act of creation
aeon.co
January 17, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
histandtheojrnl.bsky.social
Our December 2025 "Philology Now" theme issue, edited by Valeria López Fadul and Courtney Weiss Smith, is out!

Read it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14682303...
January 12, 2026 at 6:42 PM
oharajrm.com
I used this app a lot less this year - new job, still acclimatizing -, but I feel like almost every time I opened it up there was some cool new article by a colleague that I immediately downloaded and read with great pleasure. That's a cool perk of our times, even if it comes with a lot of downsides
December 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
sjangtenhagen.bsky.social
Final update: our Special Issue on the past and present of peer review in the humanities has now been published in full as Minerva's December issue! Take a look and let us know what you think!

link.springer.com/journal/1102...
December 5, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
roto-rub.bsky.social
Next week, we welcome @rebeccasear.bsky.social in our Lecture Series. Rebecca will talk about 21st century eugenics, scientific racism and the role of academia in promoting political ideology. Just register here to participate 👉 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
#PhilSci #HPBio
Poster for the talk by Rebecca Sear, entitled "21st century eugenics, scientific racism and the role of academia in promoting political ideology". It will take place on Monday, 8 December 2025 at 4 pm (CET) via Zoom.
December 1, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
jeroenvanbouwel.bsky.social
The European Network for the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (ENPOSS) invites submissions to its 15th Conference at the University of Helsinki, 26-28 August 2026. More info here: enposs.eu
European Network for the Philosophy of the Social Sciences (ENPOSS)
enposs.eu
November 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
oharajrm.com
I'm so happy that our panel on Testimony, Trust, and Epistemic Dependence in Historiography has been accepted for the 2026 INTH Conference in Tallinn! I'll be joined by Jonas Ahlskog and Verónica Tozzi Thompson.
November 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Online workshop: Methodologies for use of History in Philosophy, hosted by Instituto de Investigatciones Filosoficas–UNAM, organised by María Martínez-Ordaz @mmartinezordaz.bsky.social & Teresa Rodriguez. Registration free. Complete form to receive zoom link forms.gle/qJRncUDEc254...
#HPS #Philsky
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES FILOSÓFICAS - UNAM WORKSHOPnine METHODOLOGIES for the use of history IN PHILOSOPHY NOVEMBER 13-14, 2025 KIRSTEN WALSH CUNIVERSITY OF EXETER) JOUNI-MATTI KUUKKANEN CUNIVERSITY OF OULU) ANNA GADIGNANI MARIA CHIARA PARISI EVELYN ERICKSON ANDRÉS VÁZQUEZ-QUIJANO JANIK ROJAS ZAINAB SABRA BOBBY VOS NATALIA ZORRILLA DUBIAN CAÑAS MARÍA MARTÍNEZ-ORDAZ +info: methodologiesfortheuseofhistor@gmail.com November 14, 2025 • [15:30-17:00 CET || 08:30-10:00 MX] Keynote Talk: "Towards a methodologist integration of history and philosophy of science. Marriage counseling from a pragmatist perspective." Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen (University of Oulu) • [17:00-17:50 CET || 10:00-10:50 MX] "Counterfactual Sufficiency in Historical Explanation: Old and New History in 1948" Zainab Sabra (American University of Beirut) • |17:50-18:00 CET I| 10:50-11:00 MX] MINI-BREAK • [18:00-18:50 CETI 11:00-11:50 MX] "Historical Macro-Units as a Form of Conceptual Engineering" Bobby Vos (University of Cambridge) • [18:50-19:40 CET // 11:50 - 12:40 MX] "Early Modern Feminist Approaches to Misogynistic Bias in the Historical Archive" Natalia Zorrilla (McGill University) • [19:40 -19:50CET || 12:40-12:50 MX] MINI-BREAK • [19:50-20:40 CET// 12:50-13:40 MX] "Idealising the history of science for philosophical purposes" Dubian Cañas. • |20:40-21:30 CET// 13:40-14:30 MX] "Why some inaccurate case studies work? Reflections on the epistemic value of philosophically biased historical reconstructions" María del Rosario Martínez-Ordaz November 13, 2025 • [16:00-17:30 CET I| 09:00-10:30 MX] Keynote Talk: "Newton's Metaphysics in Practice" Kirsten Walsh (University of Exeter, England) • 17:30-18:20 CET I| 10:30-11:20 MX| "Reconstructing Trust: Social-Historical Trajectories of the Physician-Patient Relationship in Post-Unification Italy" Anna Gadignani (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy) • [18:20-18:30 CET I| 11:20-11:30 MX] MINI-BREAK • [18:30-19:20 CETI 11:30-12:20 MX] "Aristotle and Proclus on Mathematics as an Axiomatic Science: A Data-Driven Comparison" Maria Chiara Parisi (University of Amsterdam, NL) • 19:20-20:10 CET // 12:20 - 13:10 MX] "A reply to incommensurability: from historiography to philosophy of logic" Evelyn Erickson (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil) • [20:10 -20:20CET || 13:10-13:20 MX] MINI-BREAK • [20:20-21:10 CET// 13:20-14:10 MX] "A Meta-Narrativist Approach to the Reconstruction of Internal History: The Autonomy-Continuity Problem" Andrés Vázquez-Quijano (UNAM) • [21:10-22:00 CET// 14:10-15:00 MX] "Problems in the historical study of the intellectual and spiritual contributions of women in classical Islam from a gender perspective" Tzitzi Janik Rojas Torres (UNAM)
November 7, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
histandtheojrnl.bsky.social
📢 Our September 2025 issue is out now!

Read it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14682303...
October 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
hist-theory.bsky.social
A new blogpost from Lisa Regazzoni (@lisaregazzoni.bsky.social): In it she describes her experience visiting the town of Salem and reflects on finding words for the encounter of merging temporal horizons.
Read more about how "1692 is “queerly” alive" here 👇
gtw.hypotheses.org/32090
#theoryofhistory
American (Hi)storytelling: Report #1 from a Real Experience. Written by a Theorist of History after a Tourist Visit to Salem, Massachusetts.
Lisa Regazzoni - October 5th, 2025. In Salem, Massachusetts, the temporal horizons seem to merge. In this small town near Boston, the past – specifically the year 1692 – is present in a way I had not...
gtw.hypotheses.org
October 21, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
hhenriikka.bsky.social
In a week, I’ll be referencing Dilthey, Ranke, Burckhardt, Heidegger, Troeltsch and Benjamin, all in one talk! From historical contemplation as existential consolation to history as a source of existential Angst. Do join!
centrephilohistory.bsky.social Centre for the Philosophy of Historiography @centrephilohistory.bsky.social · Oct 20
After Marilynn Johnson's talk this Thursday, our research seminar will already continue next week (30.10) with @hhenriikka.bsky.social's online talk "Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework". More info and the Zoom link: www.oulu.fi/en/events/ex....

All welcome!
Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework
Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework
www.oulu.fi
October 23, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
cpshoulu.bsky.social
That's right! There's one talk this Thursday (23.10) and one talk next Thursday (30.10, both 17h Finnish time) in our research seminar. Come and join us for both if you can!
centrephilohistory.bsky.social Centre for the Philosophy of Historiography @centrephilohistory.bsky.social · Oct 20
After Marilynn Johnson's talk this Thursday, our research seminar will already continue next week (30.10) with @hhenriikka.bsky.social's online talk "Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework". More info and the Zoom link: www.oulu.fi/en/events/ex....

All welcome!
Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework
Existential Historicism: The Rise and Fall of a Sense-Making Framework
www.oulu.fi
October 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
oharajrm.com
Excellent!
October 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
centrephilohistory.bsky.social
Today in two weeks, the autumn edition of our joint research seminar PHO2 will begin with @marilynnjohnson.bsky.social's talk "Archaeology as Historical Science: Centering the Human in Pre-History". The talk will be hybrid (in Ostrava & on Zoom). More info: www.oulu.fi/en/events/ar....

All welcome!
Archaeology as Historical Science: Centering the Human in Pre-History
Archaeology as Historical Science: Centering the Human in Pre-History
www.oulu.fi
October 9, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
what to do when a "let's all respectfully debate the intelligence of Black people" guy pops around is itself a political intelligence test and it's wild how poorly allegedly Serious Thinkers score on it
socio-steve.bsky.social Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · Sep 15
Maybe but then "let's all respectfully debate the intelligence of black people" was/is a part of that. And if he doesn't understand that then he has an enormous blind spot and I hope someone close to him sits him down for a talk.
September 15, 2025 at 11:58 PM
oharajrm.com
This week, I taught Hempel's d-n model in my philosophy of history course. And each time I come back to that text, I think I become more sympathetic to his point. I'm not sure which of my assumptions is shaken, but the model seems much more attractive now than when I first read about it years ago.
August 26, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
cak.ehess.fr
🎓 4-year postdoc position at Bielefeld University (start Jan 2026)
📌 Material-Oriented Theory of History, with Prof. Lisa Regazzoni

📆 Apply by 28 Aug 2025 👉 shorturl.at/yNQJm

Open to history, philosophy, STS, material studies profiles
#Postdoc #History #STS
August 1, 2025 at 9:42 AM
oharajrm.com
I'm not prepared for all the marking I'll have to do this week. Wish me luck.
June 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by João Ohara
masssimons.bsky.social
🧵1/ I'm happy to share my new article just published in the European Journal for Philosophy of Science:

"Political philosophy of experimentation"
🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#philsci #STS #politicalphilosophy
Political philosophy of experimentation - European Journal for Philosophy of Science
In this article, I sketch out the contours of a political philosophy of experimentation. Drawing on the work of Joseph Rouse, Hans Radder, Gilbert Hottois, and Jerome Ravetz, I argue that such a polit...
link.springer.com
June 20, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Reposted by João Ohara
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Call for papers: Women in Science: historical perspectives
Conference 18 Nov. 2025 at Royal Society

Submit proposals < 300 words, incl a biographical note of c.50 words) for 20-min papers to library@royalsociety.org subject line ‘proposal for conference paper’

Deadline: 30 June 2025
#HPS
June 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
oharajrm.com
Into the syllabus it goes.
June 12, 2025 at 4:25 PM
oharajrm.com
My wife said not much has changed here because I have always complained a lot. Ok, fair enough.
pfessenbecker.bsky.social Patrick Fessenbecker @pfessenbecker.bsky.social · Jun 12
ME: Compared to three years ago, do I spend more, less, or about the same time grading papers?

MY WIFE: [thinks, answers earnestly and honestly] i would say the main difference is that you talk more about all the grading you have to do and then spend more time not doing it
June 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM
oharajrm.com
I blame Liam for me being increasingly annoyed with my field.
lastpositivist.bsky.social lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · Jun 12
I also find the use of "Radical" as this kinda general praise term *really* contemptible. But I think it annoys me out of whack to how bad it actually is. But ftr it's because to me sounds like people arguing about who is really Deep just with a leftist inflection; and I hate Deepitude argument too.
June 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM