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Stathis Psillos (; el, Ευστάθιος (Στάθης) Ψύλλος; born 22 June 1965) is a Greek
philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
. He is Professor of
Philosophy of Science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultim ...
and
Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
at the
University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
, Greece and a member of th
Rotman Institute of Philosophy
of the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
. In 2013–15, he held the Rotman
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
in Philosophy of Science at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. In 2015, he was classified among the 91 most cited living philosophers with public
Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
pages.


Biography

Stathis Psillos was born in
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece. He studied
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at the
University of Patras The University of Patras (UPatras; el, Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών, ''Panepistímio Patrón'') is a public university in Patras, Greece. It is the third-largest university in Greece with respect to the size of the student body, the s ...
, Greece. Having obtained a state scholarship to study philosophy abroad, Psillos went on to
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
to study for an MSc in History and Philosophy of Science. Under the supervision of
David Papineau David Papineau (; born 1947) is a British academic philosopher, born in Como, Italy. He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London and the City University of New York Graduate Center, and previously taught for several ...
he obtained a PhD in Philosophy in 1994 from King's College London with a thesis titled ''Science and Realism: A Naturalistic Investigation into Scientific Enquiry''. The examiners were John Worrall and
William Newton-Smith William Herbert Newton-Smith (born May 25, 1943) is a Canadian philosopher of science. Biography Newton-Smith's undergraduate degree from Queen's University was in Mathematics and Philosophy, in 1966. He took an MA from Cornell University in P ...
. Between 1993 and 1998 he was initially assistant editor and subsequently deputy editor of the ''
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science ''British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'' (''BJPS'') is a peer-reviewed, academic journal of philosophy, owned by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science (BSPS) and published by University of Chicago Press. The journal publishes ...
''. Between 1995 and 1998, he was a
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
Post-Doctoral Fellow, at the Dept. of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method,
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
. Since 1998, he has been a Research Associate of the Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences,
London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...
. He joined th
Dept. of Philosophy and History of Science
at the University of Athens, Greece, in 1999. Psillos was among the founders of th
European Philosophy of Science Association
and served as its first elected President (2007–2009). In the midst of the Greek socio-economic crisis he organised the 3rd congress of the European Philosophy of Science Association, in Athens, in October 2011. From 2009 to 2014, he was the editor of the journal
Metascience
'. In 2008 Psillos was elected member of ''l’Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences'' (AIPS). In 2007, he was co-chair of the Programme Committee for the Philosophy of Science for the
World Congress of Philosophy The World Congress of Philosophy (originally known as the International Congress of Philosophy) is a global meeting of philosophers held every five years under the auspices of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP). First or ...
, which took place in Seoul, South Korea, in July 2008. In July 2011, he was the Springer Lecturer, at the 11th International IHPST Conference, held at the
University of Thessaloniki A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. In July 2012 he was William Evans Visiting Professor at the
University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...
, New Zealand. In March–May 2013, he delivered the Cardinal Mercier lectures in Philosophy at the
Université catholique de Louvain The Université catholique de Louvain (also known as the Catholic University of Louvain, the English translation of its French name, and the University of Louvain, its official English name) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It ...
, in Belgium. In 2015, he was elected member of
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
(Academy of Europe) for his contribution to promoting learning, education and research. Psillos is the author and editor of 8 books (two of which have been award-winning) and over 120 papers and reviews in learned journals and edited books, mainly on scientific realism, causation, explanation and the history of philosophy of science. He has delivered more than 150 talks in seminars and conferences around the world.


Philosophical work

Psillos is best known for his work in
scientific realism Scientific realism is the view that the universe described by science is real regardless of how it may be interpreted. Within philosophy of science, this view is often an answer to the question "how is the success of science to be explained?" Th ...
and the metaphysics of science. He is a notable defender of semantic realism about scientific theories (the view that theoretical assertions are no less meaningful than observational ones)Psillos's interview
with Richard Marshall for '' 3:AM Magazine'' (Archived at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
).
and also a notable critic of semantic
anti-realism In analytic philosophy, anti-realism is a position which encompasses many varieties such as metaphysical, mathematical, semantic, scientific, moral and epistemic. The term was first articulated by British philosopher Michael Dummett in an argument ...
about scientific theories (the view that theoretical terms of past scientific theories often fail to refer to anything) and structural realism.


Works

;Books *''Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth'', Routledge, 1999. *''Causation and Explanation'', Acumen (2002) & McGill-Queens University Press (2003)'' rize of the Presidents of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science for the best textbook in the Philosophy of Science *''Logic: The Structure of Argument'' (with Demetris Portides and D A Anapolitanos), Nefeli, 2007 (in Greek). *''Philosophy of Science A-Z'', Edinburgh University Press, 2007. *''The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science'' (with Martin Curd), Routledge, 2008 hoice Outstanding Academic Title for 2008 *''Science and Truth'', Okto Publishers 2008 (in Greek). *''Knowing the Structure of Nature: Essays on Realism and Explanation'', Macmillan-Palgrave, 2009. *''The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Science'' (with Martin Curd), Second Revised and Expanded Edition, Routledge, 2013.


References


External links


Psillos's homepage

"Philosophy of Science"
Richard Marshall's interview with Stathis Psillos in 3:16AM, Marshall's philosophy interviews blog
"Interview by Federica Russo"
''Reasoner'', Volume 5, no. 7, July 2011, pp. 102–106. {{DEFAULTSORT:Psillos, Stathis 1965 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Greek philosophers Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens University of Patras alumni People from Athens