Thomas Spiteri
@tespiteri.bsky.social
PhD Candidate, HPS@UniMelb
Interested in the history and philosophy of psychological knowledge
🎙️ Host @hpspodcast.bsky.social | linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
Interested in the history and philosophy of psychological knowledge
🎙️ Host @hpspodcast.bsky.social | linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Good to see this by @cristianlarph.bsky.social published. The Stevens prohibition against averages from ordinal scales is hereby lifted. Albeit only when you have evidence that your scale is not purely ordinal #philsi #metascience #measurement
Against Prohibition (or, When Using Ordinal Scales to Compare Groups Is OK) | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
There is a widely held view on measurement inferences that goes back to Stevens’s theory of measurement scales and ‘permissible statistics’. This view defends the following prohibition: you should not...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
November 1, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Good to see this by @cristianlarph.bsky.social published. The Stevens prohibition against averages from ordinal scales is hereby lifted. Albeit only when you have evidence that your scale is not purely ordinal #philsi #metascience #measurement
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
🎉 50,000 listens! Thanks to everyone supporting The HPS Podcast, we're so grateful
We're proudly graduate-run— & work hard to provide episodes that reflect our community’s questions and passions, and the richness of ideas across HPS
Lots to come! Including some exciting developments for S6
(1/2)
We're proudly graduate-run— & work hard to provide episodes that reflect our community’s questions and passions, and the richness of ideas across HPS
Lots to come! Including some exciting developments for S6
(1/2)
October 24, 2025 at 2:43 AM
🎉 50,000 listens! Thanks to everyone supporting The HPS Podcast, we're so grateful
We're proudly graduate-run— & work hard to provide episodes that reflect our community’s questions and passions, and the richness of ideas across HPS
Lots to come! Including some exciting developments for S6
(1/2)
We're proudly graduate-run— & work hard to provide episodes that reflect our community’s questions and passions, and the richness of ideas across HPS
Lots to come! Including some exciting developments for S6
(1/2)
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Uljana Feest’s 'Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration' provides a rigorous and insightful analysis of psychological research. This important contribution is a must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy and history of science. I’ve jotted dow some brief reflections below
Operationism recast as method: Feest’s epistemology of exploration - Metascience
Metascience -
link.springer.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
I’ve just uploaded to philpapers my (preprint) chapter titled “Values and Measurement” forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of Values in Science.
It’s an overview of arguments for values playing significant roles in measurement practices.
Comments welcome!
philpapers.org/rec/LARVAM-2
It’s an overview of arguments for values playing significant roles in measurement practices.
Comments welcome!
philpapers.org/rec/LARVAM-2
Cristian Larroulet Philippi, Values and Measurement - PhilPapers
At first sight, measurement might appear to be a natural candidate for a scientific practice that is value-free. This chapter reviews prominent arguments supporting the opposite view, i.e., that value...
philpapers.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
I’ve just uploaded to philpapers my (preprint) chapter titled “Values and Measurement” forthcoming in the Routledge Handbook of Values in Science.
It’s an overview of arguments for values playing significant roles in measurement practices.
Comments welcome!
philpapers.org/rec/LARVAM-2
It’s an overview of arguments for values playing significant roles in measurement practices.
Comments welcome!
philpapers.org/rec/LARVAM-2
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
‘Extinction is a protracted, uneven process, and hard to square with our mental picture of abrupt catastrophe.’
Lorraine Daston reads 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥: 𝘈𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯by Sadiah Qureshi.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Lorraine Daston reads 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥: 𝘈𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯by Sadiah Qureshi.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Lorraine Daston · Kaboom! Slow-Motion Extinction
Historians who address such topics as extinction, which straddle the history of humans and of the Earth, face the...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 21, 2025 at 11:15 AM
‘Extinction is a protracted, uneven process, and hard to square with our mental picture of abrupt catastrophe.’
Lorraine Daston reads 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥: 𝘈𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯by Sadiah Qureshi.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Lorraine Daston reads 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥: 𝘈𝘯 𝘜𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯by Sadiah Qureshi.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
S5 E11 - Steven Shapin on the Social Life of Scientific Knowledge
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 19/10/2025 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:25 AM
This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Become a Visiting Fellow!
Interested in joining the Center for Philosophy of Science? Applications for 2026-27 now open for Visiting Fellows! Postdoc applications will be available soon!
More info about our programs available on our website at https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/programs/overview/
Interested in joining the Center for Philosophy of Science? Applications for 2026-27 now open for Visiting Fellows! Postdoc applications will be available soon!
More info about our programs available on our website at https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/programs/overview/
October 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Become a Visiting Fellow!
Interested in joining the Center for Philosophy of Science? Applications for 2026-27 now open for Visiting Fellows! Postdoc applications will be available soon!
More info about our programs available on our website at https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/programs/overview/
Interested in joining the Center for Philosophy of Science? Applications for 2026-27 now open for Visiting Fellows! Postdoc applications will be available soon!
More info about our programs available on our website at https://www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/programs/overview/
Uljana Feest’s 'Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration' provides a rigorous and insightful analysis of psychological research. This important contribution is a must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy and history of science. I’ve jotted dow some brief reflections below
Operationism recast as method: Feest’s epistemology of exploration - Metascience
Metascience -
link.springer.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Uljana Feest’s 'Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration' provides a rigorous and insightful analysis of psychological research. This important contribution is a must-read for anyone interested in the philosophy and history of science. I’ve jotted dow some brief reflections below
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Unexpectedly, there's an 'education focused' job in HPS at Sydney! At snr lecturer/assoc prof level, which means associate professor in US terms. You'll need to scan down below ruminant science etc to see it, though (perhaps a message there?):
#STS #bioethics #histstm #histsci #histmed
#STS #bioethics #histstm #histsci #histmed
Education Focused Academics (Sydney Horizon Educators) Faculty of Science
Full time and Part-time continuing (tenure-track) academic Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor (Education Focused) positions at The University of Sydney Opportunity for the best and brightest talented...
usyd.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com
October 15, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Unexpectedly, there's an 'education focused' job in HPS at Sydney! At snr lecturer/assoc prof level, which means associate professor in US terms. You'll need to scan down below ruminant science etc to see it, though (perhaps a message there?):
#STS #bioethics #histstm #histsci #histmed
#STS #bioethics #histstm #histsci #histmed
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
What does it mean that memory is epistemically blurry? Today at the Memory Palace, Uljana Feest discusses this important question and gives us a preview of her book "Operationism in Psychology. An Epistemology of Exploration".
open.substack.com/pub/thememor...
open.substack.com/pub/thememor...
Memory as an Epistemically Blurry Object of Research
Uljana Feest (Leibniz Universität Hannover)
open.substack.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
"In the 1930s, the British Association for the Advancement of Science established the Ferguson Committee to investigate the possibility of psychological attributes being measured scientifically. In its Final Report (Ferguson, et al., 1940), Campbell and the Committee concluded
October 14, 2025 at 7:31 AM
"In the 1930s, the British Association for the Advancement of Science established the Ferguson Committee to investigate the possibility of psychological attributes being measured scientifically. In its Final Report (Ferguson, et al., 1940), Campbell and the Committee concluded
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
ReplicationResearch.org is now open for submissions!
Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.
Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.
October 10, 2025 at 6:12 AM
ReplicationResearch.org is now open for submissions!
Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.
Submit replications and reproductions from many different fields, as well as conceptual contributions. With diamond OA, open and citable peer review reports, and reproducibility checks, we push the boundaries of open and fair publishing.
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
New publication! ✨
Remember Jonah Hill asking Sarah Brady to stop modeling to respect his “boundaries”? Or an abusive boss recommending mindfulness after your complaints?
@almagro.bsky.social and I are now ready to tell you when and why therapy-speak might be wrong.
🔓Link in reply
Remember Jonah Hill asking Sarah Brady to stop modeling to respect his “boundaries”? Or an abusive boss recommending mindfulness after your complaints?
@almagro.bsky.social and I are now ready to tell you when and why therapy-speak might be wrong.
🔓Link in reply
October 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
New publication! ✨
Remember Jonah Hill asking Sarah Brady to stop modeling to respect his “boundaries”? Or an abusive boss recommending mindfulness after your complaints?
@almagro.bsky.social and I are now ready to tell you when and why therapy-speak might be wrong.
🔓Link in reply
Remember Jonah Hill asking Sarah Brady to stop modeling to respect his “boundaries”? Or an abusive boss recommending mindfulness after your complaints?
@almagro.bsky.social and I are now ready to tell you when and why therapy-speak might be wrong.
🔓Link in reply
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
What’s the first thing you do when you’re awarded a Nobel Prize?
Deliver a first-year chemistry tutorial of course, and then celebrate ⚛️
Tap through to read more about Professor Robson’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry → unimelb.me/46YXtxo
Deliver a first-year chemistry tutorial of course, and then celebrate ⚛️
Tap through to read more about Professor Robson’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry → unimelb.me/46YXtxo
October 9, 2025 at 6:12 AM
What’s the first thing you do when you’re awarded a Nobel Prize?
Deliver a first-year chemistry tutorial of course, and then celebrate ⚛️
Tap through to read more about Professor Robson’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry → unimelb.me/46YXtxo
Deliver a first-year chemistry tutorial of course, and then celebrate ⚛️
Tap through to read more about Professor Robson’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry → unimelb.me/46YXtxo
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Call for papers: Philosophy through Art, Games, and Fiction think.taylorandfranc... Guest editor: Lisa Bortolotti. Deadline: 31 July 2026. Submit your work! #philsky #philpsy
Philosophy through Art, Games, and Fiction
Can we do philosophy by writing fiction, drawing, designing a game, or telling a story? Submit work to this special issue honouring the legacy of Helen De Cruz.
think.taylorandfrancis.com
October 2, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Call for papers: Philosophy through Art, Games, and Fiction think.taylorandfranc... Guest editor: Lisa Bortolotti. Deadline: 31 July 2026. Submit your work! #philsky #philpsy
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Registration for the 2025 AAHPSSS conference is now open!
For details, and to register, please see: aahpsss.net.au/conference/2...
For details, and to register, please see: aahpsss.net.au/conference/2...
October 7, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Registration for the 2025 AAHPSSS conference is now open!
For details, and to register, please see: aahpsss.net.au/conference/2...
For details, and to register, please see: aahpsss.net.au/conference/2...
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
I sat down with Prof. Cordelia Fine for an in-depth discussion about her wonderful new book “Patriarchy, Inc.”
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
S5 E10 - Cordelia Fine on
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 03/10/2025 · 53m
podcasts.apple.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:50 AM
I sat down with Prof. Cordelia Fine for an in-depth discussion about her wonderful new book “Patriarchy, Inc.”
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
I sat down with Prof. Cordelia Fine for an in-depth discussion about her wonderful new book “Patriarchy, Inc.”
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
S5 E10 - Cordelia Fine on
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 03/10/2025 · 53m
podcasts.apple.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:50 AM
I sat down with Prof. Cordelia Fine for an in-depth discussion about her wonderful new book “Patriarchy, Inc.”
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
She critiques two dominant stories of inequality — the “different but equal” view and the “business case for diversity” — and sets out a richer vision of what equality should mean today.
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
Didn’t expect to receive a hard copy of this volume. So satisfying to hold. An honour to philosophise alongside these wonderful thinkers. Here’s the link academic.oup.com/aristotelian...
September 30, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Didn’t expect to receive a hard copy of this volume. So satisfying to hold. An honour to philosophise alongside these wonderful thinkers. Here’s the link academic.oup.com/aristotelian...
We are grateful to have had @ufeest.bsky.social join for this week's HPS Seminar, where she discussed work from her new book Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration. A stimulating and insightful session. Thanks a lot, Uljana!
#iHPS
#iHPS
September 24, 2025 at 8:48 PM
We are grateful to have had @ufeest.bsky.social join for this week's HPS Seminar, where she discussed work from her new book Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration. A stimulating and insightful session. Thanks a lot, Uljana!
#iHPS
#iHPS
I am saddened to hear of Professor Jonathan Lear’s passing. His work has been a source of insight as I’ve engaged with psychoanalysis. I especially valued his attempt to reposition psychoanalysis beyond pathology, as a means for cultivating the human spirit; beyond fixing and toward flourishing
Jonathan Lear (1948-2025) - Daily Nous
Jonathan Lear, Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, has died. Professor Lear was well-known for bringing moral and social phil...
dailynous.com
September 23, 2025 at 7:40 AM
I am saddened to hear of Professor Jonathan Lear’s passing. His work has been a source of insight as I’ve engaged with psychoanalysis. I especially valued his attempt to reposition psychoanalysis beyond pathology, as a means for cultivating the human spirit; beyond fixing and toward flourishing
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
This week, we’re joined by Professor Miriam Solomon to discuss stigma and its impact on psychiatry — how it has shaped diagnoses, DSM revisions, and ideas of what counts as disorder
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
S5 E9 – Miriam Solomon on How Stigma Shapes Psychiatry
open.spotify.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:58 AM
This week, we’re joined by Professor Miriam Solomon to discuss stigma and its impact on psychiatry — how it has shaped diagnoses, DSM revisions, and ideas of what counts as disorder
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
This week, we’re joined by Professor Miriam Solomon to discuss stigma and its impact on psychiatry — how it has shaped diagnoses, DSM revisions, and ideas of what counts as disorder
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
S5 E9 – Miriam Solomon on How Stigma Shapes Psychiatry
open.spotify.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:58 AM
This week, we’re joined by Professor Miriam Solomon to discuss stigma and its impact on psychiatry — how it has shaped diagnoses, DSM revisions, and ideas of what counts as disorder
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
linktr.ee/thehpspodcast
#hps #philsci #psych
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
The Philosophy of Science Association makes experts on various topics available for conversation with graduate students anywhere with its "Office Hour" program. Other associations should consider doing this.
The PSA’s “Office Hour” Returns - Daily Nous
The Philosophy of Science Association (PSA) is continuing its excellent expert "office hour" series this semester---a program other academic associations should consider adopting. "The PSA Office Hour aims to facilitate interactions between our graduate student membership and prominent philosophers of science, and in a more controlled, accessible, and carbon-conscious setting than is provided by our
dailynous.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:11 PM
The Philosophy of Science Association makes experts on various topics available for conversation with graduate students anywhere with its "Office Hour" program. Other associations should consider doing this.
Reposted by Thomas Spiteri
I had a rich and wide-ranging conversation w/ Professor Philip Kitcher for the podcast this week.
We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.
We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.
S5 E8 - Philip Kitcher on Philosophy for Science and the Common Good
Podcast Episode · The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science · 11/09/2025 · 48m
podcasts.apple.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:17 PM
I had a rich and wide-ranging conversation w/ Professor Philip Kitcher for the podcast this week.
We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.
We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.