Wow

We will hold a workshop: "The Epistemology of Experimentation in Biology" this Friday, April 17 from 13:00-15:00 at UCPH. @federicoboem.bsky.social and I will present on epistemic issues concerning scientific protocols! #hps #philsci @federicabocchi.bsky.social

Starting soon! Sea Level Rise: Measurement, Understanding, Adaptation
Hybrid lectures free to register below
www.conncoll.edu/academics/ma...

Mason Majszak is presenting our work at the annual Notre Dame HPS conference. We look at scenarios at the science-policy interface challenging mainstream accounts of expertise. We propose a notion of emergent expertise, drawing on our empirical research, social epistemology & political phil.science.

Me and @federicabocchi.bsky.social on paleoecology & how it might help us think about our relationship to nature & how it might help us think about the future… #philsci

Registration is open for this event 16-17 March @royalsociety.org with programme (titles and abstracts) available online: royalsociety.org/science-even.... In person and online.

📢Job ad!

Join us at Politecnico di Milano in an interdisciplinary collaboration between philosophy of science and biomedical engineering on transitions from animal research, with a 3-years postdoc (submission deadline: 12 January 2026)
www.meta.polimi.it/3-years-post....

#philsci #philsky #sts

Turning biodiversity data into evidence: the role of protocols in the epistemology of evidence-based conservation - BioSocieties Proponents of evidence-based conservation (EBC) maintain that environmental intervention ought to be based on biodiversity data and data synthesis, instead of relying on unproven theory, individual ex...

Happy holidays! Today my paper "Turning Biodiversity Data into Evidence" is officially out on BioSocieties. This is the first paper of a special issue on Data Communities co-edited with Paola Castaño & Emma Cavazzoni.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Stay tuned for the other contributions!

I look forward to attending your talk!

I will be celebrating World Philosophy Day this week by giving a talk in Copenhagen on the profound influence of Kierkegaard’s philosophy on Niels Bohr’s view on the nature of physical reality and the ideal of an open world in his 1950 letter to the UN. Part of this conference openworld.ku.dk/ow25/

Always a pleasure to be back @alisabokulich.bsky.social

This is happening tomorrow, Sunday October 19th!

Are We in a Sixth Mass Extinction? The Challenges of Answering and Value of Asking Federica Bocchi, Alisa Bokulich, Leticia Castillo Brache, Gloria Grand-Pierre, and Aja Watkins PDF PDF PLUS Abstract Full Text Abstract In both scientific and popular circles, it is often said that we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction. Although the urgency of our present environmental crises is not in doubt, such claims of a present mass extinction are highly controversial scientifically. Our aims are, first, to get to the bottom of this scientific debate by shedding philosophical light on the many conceptual and methodological challenges involved in answering this scientific question and, second, to offer new philosophical perspectives on what the value of asking this question has been—and whether that value persists today. We show that the conceptual challenges in defining ‘mass extinction’, uncertainties in past and present diversity assessments, and data incommensurabilities undermine a straightforward answer to the question of whether we are in, or entering, a sixth mass extinction today. More broadly, we argue that an excessive focus on the mass extinction framing can be misleading for present conservation efforts and may lead us to miss out on the many other valuable insights that Earth’s deep time can offer in guiding our future.

Zoom screenshot of 6 women smiling: Federica, Leticia, Alisa, Aja, Gloria, Matilde

Sections Abstract 1. Introduction 2. A Brief History of the Sixth Mass Extinction Debate 3. What Is a Mass Extinction? 4. Challenges from Palaeodiversity Data 5. Challenges from Biodiversity Data 6. Incommensurabilities of Past and Current Extinctions 7. Making the Comparisons More Compatible 8. Conclusion: Rethinking the Value of Asking Notes References

Excited our paper "Are We in a 6th Mass Extinction?" accepted in 2022 is now out @ BJPS! It began as UROP project w/ undergrad Gloria, expanded to a COVID lockdown project w/ Phi-Geo group, Sect 5 became kernel Federica's dissert & Sect 7 Aja's dissertation. Read ⬇️
doi.org/10.1086/722107
#HPS ⚒️

New paper alert!
My paper "Turning Biodiversity Data into Evidence" has been accepted in BioSocieties, as part of a collection on the making and shaping of #data_communities.

PREPRINT: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26871/

Second HPS of Biodiversity Meeting Use this form to submit your abstract

Call for Abstracts
#HPS of Biodiversity
April 30 — May 2, 2026
Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstracts of 200-500 words should be submitted through: tinyurl.com/hpsbio. The deadline for submissions is Friday, November 7, 2025. Co-organized by @federicabocchi.bsky.social

What to Do About Data Distance? Responsible Alternatives to Data Sharing

My article “What to do about data distance? Responsible alternatives to data sharing” now in Harvard Data Science Review as commentary on Groth & Borgman’s feature conceptualising data distance - a stimulating debate which I am grateful to be part of hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/c4t7vqmm... #philsci

Il lato umano della scienza: la ricerca come attività sociale | Il Bo Live UniPD La scienza è neutrale? I dati sono solo una rappresentazione dei fatti? A queste questioni si dedica la ricerca di Sabina Leonelli, filosofa della scienza, a cui abbiamo posto alcune domande sulla nat...

Italian readers: articolo intervista sul “lato umano della scienza” e la relazione tra #scienza e #filosofia, messo insieme da Sofia Belardinelli a Padova: ilbolive.unipd.it/it/news/scie... #philsci 🧪

Leticia smiling in front of a museum didplay

STS LUNCH SEMINAR Spring 2025, Fridays 12-1:15pm EST Science, Technology, and Society - Lunch Seminar Spring 2025 Schedule

This Friday Phi-Geo grad @leticiacastillo.bsky.social will be giving an invited lecture at Tufts University on "Hidden Narratives in Paleontology: Toward Ethical & Inclusive Practices". #philsci #STS #PhiGeo #philsky ⚒️

Thanks, @frabellazzi.bsky.social, for co-organizing a great multidisciplinary workshop on Scale and Measurement at the Center for Philosophy and the Sciences at the University of Oslo. Here's a picture from @beccajackson.bsky.social 's talk on the Apgar Score and "Construct Realization".

In these uncertain times, this is something to look forward to.

I will present a brand new project, "When Adequacy is Inadequate: a Pragmatist Approach to Accurate Measurement Democratization," with Carlos Santana. »www.centerphilsci.pitt.edu/event/pragmatism-and-mea...

I received some copies of my forthcoming book in the mail!
The official release date is March 11
#hps #philsci #psychology #metascience #sts

ScaM workshop: on scale and measurement in the sciences - Centre for Philosophy and the Sciences (CPS) Read this story on the University of Oslo's website.

I am honored to have been invited to present “Quantifying the Biodiversity Crisis: measurement and scaling issues” at the ScaM workshop on scale and measurement at the University of Oslo. Drawing from a collaboration with @alisabokulich.bsky.social

Check it out: www.hf.uio.no/english/rese...

I am excited to give a talk, "Democratizing Measurements for Environmental Justice," at the AAAS Meeting in Boston on Feb. 15th. I argue that "Science Shaping Tomorrow" must be participatory and democratic starting from the foundation: measurement.
Details:
aaas.confex.com/aaas/2025/me...

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING "Democratizing Measurements for Environmental Justice" Federica Bocchi, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Denmark Abstract Saturday, February 15, 2025

Another #HPS talk of interest at the upcoming AAAS meeting in Boston on Saturday, February 15, 2025 is "Democratizing Measurements for Environmental Justice" by
Federica Bocchi @federicabocchi.bsky.social , University of Copenhagen
#philsci #philsky

Thanks to all those who joined my talk at #PSA2024! Special thanks to my coauthor, Carlos Santana, and the other symposium presenters: Tina Heger, Melissa Charenko, Aja Watkins, and Karen Kovaka.

Publication alert! My paper, "Biodiversity Skepticism and Measurement Practices," is now available in Biology & Philosophy open access. It's my first attempt to link measurement theory and conceptual engineering to the practices of measuring biodiversity.
Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Don't forget to check out the Underrepresented Philosophy of Sciences Scholars (UPSS) Session highlighting PSA's UPSS Mentoring Initiative this weekend at #PSA24 in NOLA #philsci

New Stanford Encyclopedia article out today, written by myself and Katharine Jenkins: Feminist Metaphysics plato.stanford.edu/entries/femi...
#philsky

See you in NOLA!

Good morning, #phisky, #philsci, #conservation, #envhum and 🌎
@federicabocchi.bsky.social has an upcoming paper in Philosophy and Biology, arguing that we are not doomed to skepticism regarding biodiversity despite its multiple/conflicting measures. Preprint: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24138/