Education 

PhD, Stanford, 1981
A.M., Stanford, 1978
A.B., Brandeis, 1976

Background

I am a Senior Research Scholar and an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Clark University. I served for 11 years as Clark’s Provost (2010-2021) and subsequently for two years (2021-2023) as a Professor of Philosophy. Prior to coming to Clark I was a faculty member at the University of South Carolina (1982-2010), where I served as Dean of the South Carolina Honors College (2005-2010) and Chair of the Philosophy Department (1992-2005). Prior to my time in South Carolina I was for one year (1981-1982) a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona.

Research Interests

My research has focused on the history and philosophy of science and technology, including the development of analytical instrumentation and nanotechnology.

Recent Publications

Books

• 2012
  • co-edited with Eric Scerri and Lee McIntyre, Filosofía de la Química: Síntesis de Una
    Nueva Disciplina, Spanish Translation of Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of
    a New Discipline, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Gerardo
    Noriega, Translator, Dordrecht: Springer Academic Publishers.in Boston Studies
    in the Philosophy of Science, Dordrecht: Springer Academic Publishers
• 2006
  • co-edited with Joachim Schummer, Nanotechnology Challenges: Implications for
    Philosophy, Ethics and Society, London: World Scientific Publishers.
  • co-edited with Eric Scerri and Lee McIntyre, Philosophy of Chemistry: Synthesis of a
    New Discipline, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Dordrecht:
    Springer Academic Publishers. Spanish Translation, 2012.
• 2004
  • Thing Knowledge: A Philosophy of Scientific Instruments. Berkeley, California:
    University of California Press. Winner of the 2006 Paul Bunge prize. Japanese
    translation, 2008.
  • co-edited with Alfred Nordmann and Joachim Schummer, Discovering the Nanoscale,
    Amsterdam: IOS Scientific Publishers. Available online at
    http://cms.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/fileadmin/phil/nano/nano.html
• 1997
  • co-edited with R.I.G. Hughes and Alfred Nordmann, Heinrich Hertz: Classical Physicist,
    Modern Philosopher, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science,
    Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 
• 1992
  • Inductive Logic: Probability and Statistics. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
    Prentice-Hall; re-issued as Inductive Logic: Inferring the Unknown, Pearson
    Custom Publishing, 1999.

Articles

• 2021
  • with Alfred Nordmann, “Wohl gesetzte Tatsachen.” In Alfred Nordmann and Cheryce
    Xylander eds., Vollendete Tatsachen: Voom endgültig Vorläufigen und
    vorläufig Endgültigen in der Wissenschaft, 2021, Bielefeld: Verlag, 143-190.
    German translation and republication of “Facts-Well-Put,” 1994.
• 2015
  • “Outline of a Materialist Epistemology.” In Hans Radder ed., The Philosophy of
    Scientific Experimentation, 2003, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 39-
    67. Translated and reprinted in Japanese, 2015.
• 2010
  • with Arie Rip, “Preface.” In Understanding Nanotechnology: Philosophy, Politics and
    Publics, U. Fiedeler, C. Coenen, S. Davies and A. Ferrari, eds. Heidelberg
    Germany: IOS Press, pps. v-vi.
  • with Michael Dickson, “Significance Testing.” In Handbook of the Philosophy of
    Science, Dov M. Gabbay, Paul Thagard and John Woods, General Editors,
    Volume 7: Philosophy of Statistics, Prasanta Bandyopadhyay and Malcolm
    Forster, eds., pps. 197-226.
  • "Engineering Realities.” Spontaneous Generations, 4(1), 2010, pps. 1-17
    http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations.