CURRICULUM VITAE

 

BRIAN S. BAIGRIE

 

The Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology

The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada   M5S 1K7

voice: (416) 978-1750; (416) 385-2975 

Web Page: http://individual.utoronto.ca/baigrie

e-mail: baigrie@chass.utoronto.ca

fax: (416)385-1410

 

Education

Ph.D. and M.A.

      Department of Philosophy, York University (1978-1983).

      Dissertation: "Reason and Research: A Critique of the Theory of Research Programmes," Director: J. N. Hattiangadi.

 Honors B.A.   

      Department of Philosophy, University of Winnipeg (rank #1 in graduating class)

Academic Appointments

University of Toronto:

Associate Professor (tenured), The Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, 1989 —.

Undergraduate Coordinator, Arts and Sciences, 2001 —.

      Cross-Appointed to Graduate Program in Philosophy, 1989 —. 

University of Calgary:

      Assistant Professor of Philosophy, 1986-89.

University of Manitoba:

      Assistant Professor (sessional appointment), Department of Philosophy, 1984-86.

University of Western Ontario:         

      Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 1983-84.

Research Areas

*        History and philosophy of science and technology, especially 17th century natural philosophy.

*        Early modern philosophy (Descartes and Leibniz).

*        Scientific epistemology, especially the social and cultural factors in knowledge production.

 

Research Grants and Awards

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard grant ($46,640) for the period 2001-2003.

Victorial College General Research Grant ($1000), Sept. 2001 – April 2002.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Standard grant ($22,236) for the period 1996-98.

Spooner Travelling Fellowship Grant ($1250) for travel to Hong Kong (May 1996).

Victoria College General Research Grant ($2600), May 1995-April 1996.

Connaught Transformative Grant for work on Descartes ($219,713), April 1993 - April 1996.

Northrop Frye Research Grant, Victoria College ($2000): 1990, 1991, and 1994.

Humanities and Social Sciences Committee's General Research Grant ($2540), Nov. 1992 - April 1993.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Standard Grant ($13,500 for the period 1991-1993).

University of Toronto Humanities and Social Sciences Committee General Research Grant: 1989 ($2015), 1990 ($2190),

University of Toronto Humanities and Social Sciences Committee Travel Grant for conferences in Dubrovnik and Paris ($1200), January 1990.

University of Calgary Humanities and Research Council Committee General Research Grant ($2444), January 1988.

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute Fellowship ($3000), June-July, 1987.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (1983-84).

Numerous graduate and undergraduate awards and prizes (1973-77).

Professional Activities:

First Vice-President, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, 1997-1998.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Strategic Grants Program Committee — Science and Technology Policy in Canada, 1995-96.

Anglophone Program Chair, Canadian Philosophical Association, 1992-94.

Program Chair, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, 1990-91.

Area Coordinator, Canadian Philosophical Association (History of Philosophy Section), 1989-91.

Member of Council, Royal Canadian Institute for Science, 1993-1994.

Member of Council, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, 1990-93.

Member of Program Committee, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science (1986-87)

Editorial Advisor for Social Epistemology and International Studies in Philosophy of Science

Referee: Oxford University Press, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, National Science Foundation, Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Scientific Research (NWO), University of Toronto Press, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Social Epistemology, Perspec­tives on Science: Historical Philosophical, Sociological; Philosophy and Biology, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy.

 

Administrative Service:

Undergraduate Coordinator, IHPST, January 2001 -.

IHPST Committees (2001-2002): Appeals Committee, Director’s Advisory Committee, Graduate Curriculum Committee, Teaching Assistants Committee (ex officio)

Chairperson, Computer Committee, Victoria College (1999-2000)

Member of the Chancellor’s Council of Victoria University, 1996-97.

Member of Research Committee, Victoria College, 1993-94.

Member of President's Advisory Committee, Victoria University, 1992-1993.

Member of Appeals Committee, Division I, Faculty of Graduate Studies, 1991-92.

Ph.D. Supervision: Andris Krumins: “Symmetry, Conservation Laws, and Theoretical Particle Physics (1918-1979)”, January 28, 1999.  External examiner: Samuel Schweber (MIT).

Ph.D. Supervising (IHPST): Jill Lazenby, Kenneth Meiklejohn, Katherine Wright

Ph.D. Advising (IHPST): John Anderson, Jenene Wiedemer, Darrin Durant.

2000 Paper Supervision (IHPST): Bryan Boddy, Andris Krumins, Michael Doerksen, Jill Lazenby, Chris Neil, Kenneth Meiklejohn, Rebecca Pinkus, Claudia Wittman, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.   

1500 Paper Supervision: Jesse Richmond, Gillian Gass.

M. A. Thesis Supervisor (Calgary): Lance Cooke (1987)

Ph. D. External Examiner:

        Chuang Tong Lee, University of Ottawa: "Incommensurability Revisited," Supervisor: Andrew Lugg (March 11, 1993).

Kent Donald Hogarth, University of Western Ontario: "Knowledge Practices: A Critique of Scientific Ideology," Supervisor: Alison Wylie (September 15, 1995).

John Duncan, York University: “Nature, History and Critical Theory,”

          Supervisor: A. Horowitz (June 19, 1998).

William Vanderburgh, University of Western Ontario: “Dark Matters in Contemporary Astrophysics: A Case Study in Theory Choice and Evidential Reasoning,” Supervisor: Kathleen Okruhlik (January 19, 2001).

Publications and Presentations:

Editor

Scientific Revolutions: The Primary Texts.  2 volumes, 650 pp.  New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.  Publication date: December 2002. 

History of Modern Science and Mathematics.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Press, 2002, 4 volumes, 1012 pp. & vii. 

Life Scientists of the Twentieth Century.  Scribner’s Science Reference Series.  Volume 2.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001, 244 pp & ix.

The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution: Biographical Portraits.  Scribner’s Science Reference Series.  Volume 1.  New York: Charles Scribner’s & Sons, 2000, 244 pp & ix.

Picturing Knowledge: Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning the Use of Art In Science, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1996, 389pp & xxiv.     

 

Chapters in Books

“The New Science: Kepler, Galileo, and Mersenne.”  In Steven Nadler, ed., A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy.  London: Blackwell’s.  8000 words, forthcoming August 2002.

 “Introduction.”  History of Modern Science and Mathematics, vol. 1, pp. i-vii.  

“Nineteenth Century Astronomy.” History of Modern Science and Mathematics, vol. 2, pp. 40-53.

“Eighteenth Century Astronomy.” History of Modern Science and Mathematics, vol. 2, pp. 24-39.

“Atomic and Nuclear Science.”  History of Modern Science and Mathematics, vol. 2, pp. 75-105.

“Electromagnetism.”  History of Modern Science and Mathematics, vol. 3, pp. 69-92. 

 “Introduction.”  The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution: Biographical Portraits, pp. vii-ix.

"Les recoins de la raison: vers une sociologie cognitive de la connaissance," Actes du Collogue International d'Epistémologie et de Philosophie des Sciences: La Sociologie de la Science, dirigée par Madame Angèle Kremer-Marietti.  Mardaga: 1998, pp. 209-32. 

"Descartes and la grande méchanique de la nature." In B. Baigrie, ed., Picturing Knowledge: Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning The Use of Art In Science.  Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1996, pp. 87-133.

"Introduction." In B. Baigrie, ed., Picturing Knowledge Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning the Use of Art as Science.  Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1996, pp. xvii-xxiv.

"Scientific Practice: The View from the Tabletop."  In J. Buchwald, ed., Scientific Practice: Theories and Stories of Doing Physics.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, pp. 87-122.

"Descartes' Mechanical Cosmology," The Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology. Ed. Norriss Hetherington.  New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1992, pp. 164-176.   

"René Descartes (1596-1650)," The Encyclopedia of Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Scientific Foundations of Modern Cosmology.  Ed. Norriss Hetherington.  New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1992, pp. 160-64.

"Gustav Theodor Fechner," Great Lives from History: Renaissance to 1900, ed. Frank N. Magill.  Pasadena: Salem Press, 1990, volume 2, pp. 722-26.

"Erwin Schrödinger," Great Lives from History: Twentieth Century, ed. Frank. N. Magill.  Pasadena: Salem Press, 1990, volume 5, pp. 2071-2076.

"The Vortex Theory of Planetary Motion, 1687-1713: Empirical Difficulties and Guiding Assumptions." In A. Donovan, L. Laudan, and R. Laudan, eds., Scrutinizing Science.  Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1988, pp. 85-102.  Reissued in soft cover by The Johns Hopkins Press, 1992. 

 

Articles

“The Cavendish Experiment 1789-1900: The Value of Replication in Scientific Practice.”  Submitted to Studies in History and Philosophy of Physics, May 2002.

“Galileo and the Rise of Visual Astronomy.”  Submitted to Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, May 2002.   

“The Invention of Light Writing or How the Cosmos Came to Draw Itself.”  Optics and Photonics News.  Forthcoming, November 2002.

“The Chemistry of the Stars.”  Optics and Photonics News 13 (2002), 47-49.

“Roentgen’s Mysterious X Rays.” Optics & Photonics News 13 (2002): 40-43. (Y)

“Making the Invisible Visible: Roentgen’s Mysterious Rays.”  Optics and Photonics News.  Published by the Optical Society of America 13 (2001) 26-29. 

“Bioelectricity and the Mechanization of Physiology.”  Optics and Photonics News.  Published by the Optical Society of America 12 (2001), 42-45.

“Galileo’s Lunar Landscapes.”  Optics and Photonics News.  Published by the Optical Society of America 12 (2001), 32-36.

“Illustrating Racial Difference: Camer’s ‘The Facial Angle’”.  Under review by the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes. 

“Isaac Newton.”  Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy.  New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.  Publication date: 2001. 

“The Scientific Life of the Camera Obscura.”  Optics and Photonics News.  Published by Optical Society of America. 11 (2000), 18-21.

“Rapid Discovery, Cross-Breeding Networks, and the Scientific Revolution.”  Philosophy of the Social Sciences 30 (2000), 257-273.

“Critical Notice: Catherine Wilson’s The Invisible World."  International Studies in Philosophy of Science 12 (1998): 165-174.

"Biotechnology and the Creation of Health Care Needs" (with P. Kazan).  Philosophy & Technology (1997): 2-24.

"HPS and Philosophy’s Classic Normative Mission."  Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 1995.

"Fuller’s Civic Republicanism and the Question of Scientific Expertise."  Philosophy of the Social Sciences 24 (1995), 502-11.

"Social Epistemology, Scientific Practice, and the Elusive Social."  Argumentation 8 (1994), 125-44.

"Generativist Versus Foundational Justification: A Reply to Andrew Lugg."  Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 23 (1992), 503-508.

"On Consensus and Stability in Science" (with J. N. Hattiangadi), The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 43 (1992), 435-58.

"A Reappraisal of Duhem's Conception of Scientific Progress."  Revue Inter­national de Philosophie 182 (1992), 344-360.

“Relativism, Truth and Progress."  Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Series V, Volume IV (1990), 9-19.

"The Justification of Kepler's Ellipse."  Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 21 (1990), 633-664.

"Philosophy of Science at the Crossroads."  Social Epistemology 3 (1989), 311-319.

"Popper and Progress: A Reply to Donald Campbell."  Social Epistemology 3 (1989), 65-69.

"Trial and Error Elimination vs Natural Selection."  International Studies in Philosophy of Science 3 (1988), 157-72.

"Philosophy of Science as Normative Sociology," Metaphilosophy 19 (1988), 237-52.

"Siegel on the Rationality of Science," Philosophy of Science 55 (1988), 435-41.

"Popperjeva evolucijska epistemiologija" (in Slovenian), Anthropos 18 (1988), 270-78.

"Why Evolutionary Epistemology is an Endangered Theory," Social Epistemology 2 (1988), 357-69.

"Science and Scepticism," Philosophy of the Social Sciences 17 (1987), 535-41.

"Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, Before and After Newton's Principia: An Essay on the Transformation of Scientific Problems," Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 18 (1987), 177-208.

"One World or Many?," Eidos 3 (1984), 26-45.

"Does Laudan Have a Theory of Adhocness?," Abstracts of the Seventh International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Salzburg 3 (1983), 17-20.

"Laudan's Problems" (with J. N. Hattiangadi), Metaphilosophy 12 (1981), 85-95.

"The Draughtsman Reconsidered: Popper and the Ontology of Natural Science," Proceedings of the Sixth International Wittgenstein Symposium, Vienna (1981), 361-63.

Book Reviews

Science and Sociological Practice by S. Yearley, Philosophy of the Social Sciences 18 (1988), 145-47.

Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism by P. Kitcher, Dialogue 25 (1986), 588-92.

Science and Society by J. Agassi, Philosophy of the Social Sciences 15 (1985), 228-32.

Principles of Philosophy by René Descartes, trans. V. R. Miller and R. P. Miller, Communiqué 13 (1984), 13-16.

Public Talks

“Galileo’s Lunar Landscapes and the Emergence of Visual Astronomy.”  Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.  October 3, 2001.

“The Scientific Life of the Camera Obscura.”  Invited paper delivered at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of York University.  March 5, 2000.

“Philosophy and the Seventeenth Century Revolution in Science.”  York University, September 19, 1999.

“Descartes and the Mechanization of Nature.”  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association.  Sherbrooke University.  June 6, 1999.

“The Construction of the Concept of Race: Philosophical Perspectives.”  Visiting Speaker’s Series, University of Western Ontario, March 6, 1998.

"The Science of Difference: Morton, Agassiz, and the Creation of Human Kinds."  Visiting Speaker’s Series, Carleton University, April 14, 1997.

"Catherine Wilson’s The Invisible World."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Brock University, June 1, 1996.

"Descartes and the Microscopists."  Descartes 400, University of Toronto, April 20, 1996.

"The Descartes Biographical Dictionary."  Claremont Graduate School, March 29, 1996.

"Descartes and the Mechanization of Nature, Seen Through the Mechanics of Machinery."  Claremont graduate School, March 30, 1996.

"How the Sperm Came to Master the Egg: Leeuwenhoek, Mechanism, and the Masculinization of Reproduction."  Department of Philosophy, University of Manitoba, January 19, 1995.

"Technology and Theories of Human Nature."  President’s Speaker’s Series.  University of Manitoba, January 18, 1995.

"Biotechnology and Health Care Needs."  Department of Philosophy Colloquium Series, University of Waterloo, Dec. 2, 1994.

"Scientific Practice and Normativity."  Symposium on Discourse and Practice: From HPS to Science Studies, Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, New Orleans, November 16, 1994.

"From HPS to STS: The difference that Culture Makes."  Symposium on Steve Fuller’s Philosophy, Rhetoric, and the Ends of Knowledge: The Coming of Science and Technology Studies, Annual Meeting of the 4S Society, New Orleans, Nov. 13, 1994.

"Newton, Distant Stars and the Realism Question in the Principia."  Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Calgary, June 12, 1994.

"Normativity and the Discourse of Practice."  Workshop on "The New Contextualism: Knowledge as Discourse and Culture," Department of History, University of Florida, March 11, 1994.

"Biotechnology and the Creation of Health Care Needs."  Faculty of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, March 25, 1994.

"Descartes on Automata and the Illusion of Self-Instigated Movement."  History of Science Society Meeting, Santa Fe, Nov. 11, 1993.

"Modernity and the Construction of Health Science."  Department of Philosophy, University of Winnipeg, Sept. 8 1993; and Department. of Philosophy, University of Manitoba, Sept. 10 1993.

"Method in Newton's Principia."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Carleton University, May 1993.

"What's Scientific About Health Science?"  Keynote Lecture, Faculty of Dentistry Research Day, University of Toronto, February 23, 1993.

"Experiment in the Human and in the Natural Sciences."  Faculty of Nursing, the University of Toronto, September 1992.

"Experimental Science as an Essentially Historical Activity (With Reference to Gravity Experiments 1746-1901)."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Charlottetown, May 1992.

"Developing Mechanical Intuitions: The Pictorial Elements in Descartes' Scientific Treatises."  One-Day Conference on Historical and Philosophical Problems Concerning Scientific Illustration, Univ­ersity of Toronto, October 1991.

"Descartes' Theory of Experience."  York University, April 1991; University of Manitoba, April 1991; and the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association, Kingston, May 1991.

"Locke on Representation."  Annual Meeting of Canadian Philosophical Association, May 1991.

"The Experimental Basis of Newton's Deductions from the Phenomena."  Conference on Deductions From the Phenomena, University of Western Ontario, November 1990.

"Descartes' Cosmology."  Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, October 1990.

"Reason In and Out of Context."  International Conference in Philosophy of Science, Dubrovnik, April 1990; and at the Colloque International D'Epistémologie et de Philosophie des Sciences on La Sociologie de la Science, the Sorbonne, Paris, April 1990.

"Relativism, Truth and Progress."  The Main Symposium of the Royal Society of Canada, Quebec City, June 1989. 

"The Significance of the Newtonian Revolution."  Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, April 1989.

"Innovation in Science: The Case of 17th Century Astronomy."  Conference on Pierre Duhem: Historian and Philosopher of Science, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, March 1989.

"What is Relativism?"  The University of Calgary, January 1989.

"Scientific Rationality vs Sociological Explanation."  The University of Toronto, November 1988.

"On Doxastic Warrant."  Annual Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Calgary, October 1988.

"Causal Explanations and Kepler's New Astronomy."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science , Winsor, May 1988.

"Trial and Error Elimination vs Natural Selection."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association, Windsor, May 1988. 

"Popper and Evolutionary Biology."  Philosophy of Science Conference, Dubrovnik, April 1988. 

"Towards a Sociology of Rationality."  Annual Meeting of the Western Social Science Association, Boulder, April 1988.

"Popper, Campbell, and Ruse: The Muddy Waters of Evolutionary Epistemology." York University, February 1988.

"Should Kepler Be Credited With the Elliptical Orbit?"  Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, December 1987.

"Evolutionary Epistemology: An Endangered Theory?"  University of Toronto, November 1987. 

"Kuhn's Impact on the Philosophy of Science."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association, Hamilton, May 1987.

"On the Conceptual Dimensions of Theory Appraisal."  Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, March 1987.

"Is the Problem Concerning the Rationality of Science a Pseudo-Problem?"  Annual Meeting of the Western Canadian Philosophical Association, Edmonton, October 1986.

"The Problem of Vortex Motion, 1687-1713."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Winnipeg, May 1986; and Conference on Testing Theories of Scientific Change, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, October 1986. 

"The Foundationalist Analysis of Knowledge and Its Alternatives" (with Jack Bailey). The University of Manitoba, February 1986.

"Science and Sensationalism."  The University of Manitoba, November 1985; and The University of Calgary, April 1986.

"The Background to Leibniz's Monadology (with Reference to Descartes)."  The University of Victoria, March 1985.

"Dworkin and the Problem of Moral Autonomy."  York University, March 1985.

"Philosophy of Science as Normative Sociology."  The University of Winnipeg, February 1985. 

"Rules and Rule-Governed Behavior."  The University of Manitoba, November 1984.

"Kepler Among the Cartesians: A Study of Problem-Inflation."  The University of Western Ontario, March 1984; and the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Guelph, June 1984.

"Popper and the Ontology of Natural Science."  The Sixth International Wittgenstein Symposium, Austria, August 1981. 

"Popper's Three World Theory and the Problem of Scientific Determinism."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Montreal, June 1980. 

"Leibniz and Descartes' Third Law of Motion."  Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Saskatoon, June 1979.