Behavioral Concepts and the Sciences of Human Behavior

When: Friday, April 21, 2017
Where: PGH 232
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Speaker: Professor Helen Longino, Stanford University

Host: Dr. Ioannis Pavlidis

What do researchers measure when measuring behavior? This talk explores the ways behavioral concepts are operationalized/defined for scientific study, the ways in which social preconceptions and values still permeate such concepts, and some of the social consequences of the particular operationalizations adopted. The focus will be on concepts of aggression and of sexuality.

Bio:

Helen Longino received her PhD in Philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University in 1973. Her teaching and research interests are in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy. She is particularly interested in the relations between scientific inquiry and its social, cultural, and economic contexts. In addition to Studying Human Behavior (University of Chicago Press, 2013), Longino is the author of Science As Social Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 1990), The Fate of Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 2001), many articles in the philosophy of science, feminist philosophy and epistemology, and co-editor of Scientific Pluralism (University of Minnesota Press, 2007). Longino has taught at UC San Diego, Mills College, Rice University, the University of Minnesota, and is currently Clarence Irving Lewis Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and other centers, and been recognized by prizes such as the Robert K Merton Professional Award (for The Fate of Knowledge), the Women’s Caucus of the Philosophy of Science Association Prize (for Studying Human Behavior), and the degree of Doctor honoris causa, conferred by the Free University of Amsterdam in 2014. In 2016, she was awarded the degree of Doctor honoris causa by the University of Turku School of Economics and also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has served on committees of many professional associations, and most recently served as President of the Philosophy of Science Association.