The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science
Leading scholars in History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (HPS) introduce contemporary topics for a general audience. Developed by graduate students from the HPS program at the University of Melbourne.
Lead Hosts: Thomas Spiteri (2025) and Samara Greenwood (2023-2024).
Season Five is now here! Episodes released weekly. More information on the podcast can be found at hpsunimelb.org
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 72
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
S4 Ep 4 - Darrin Durant on 'Expertise'
Today Carmelina is joined by Dr Darrin Durant a Senior Lecturer in HPS at the University of Melbourne specialising in Science and Technology studies. Darrin's research covers two seemingly distinct a…
S4 Ep 3 - Simon Schaffer on 'Leviathan and the Air-Pump: 40 years later' (Part 2)
This episode forms Part 2 of our extended interview with the celebrated historian of science, and master communicator, Professor Simon Schaffer.
Today, we continue to focus our discussion on the book …
S4 Ep 2 - Simon Schaffer on 'Leviathan and the Air-Pump: 40 years later' (Part 1)
This episode is the first of two in which the celebrated Professor of History of Science, Simon Schaffer, discusses the famous HPS publication, Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle and the Exper…
S4 Ep 1 - Sam and Carmelina on 'Studying Humanities and Science'
Welcome back to The HPS Podcast for Season 4.
In today's episode, Carmelina and Samara touch on a variety of topics, but a core theme is 'how we study science through the lens of the humanities'. Both…
Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 5 - What's Next?
We are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series Working Fathers created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, social psychologis…
Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 4 - Give Dads a Break
We are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series Working Fathers created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, social psychologis…
Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 3 - Are Fathers Free?
We are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series Working Fathers created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, social psychologis…
Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 2 - What Gave Rise to the Breadwinner?
We are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series Working Fathers created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, social psychologis…
Working Fathers Mini-series. Ep 1 - Where's Dad?
We are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, social psychologist, Dr Melissa Wh…
Working Fathers Mini-Series. Introduction.
In a break from our usual format, we are pleased to bring you a special five episode podcast series created by Professor in HPS Cordelia Fine, political philosopher Associate Professor Dan Halliday, …
S3 Ep 12 - Sabina Leonelli on 'The Philosophy of Open Science'
Our guest today is Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Exeter, Sabina Leonelli. Sabina recently released a book in the Cambridge Elements Philosophy of Science series …
S3 Ep 11 - Uljana Feest on 'What is Missing in Replication Debates'
Today Carmelina is joined by Professor Uljana Feest, Philosopher of Psychology and Chair for Philosophy of Social Science and Social Philosophy at the Leibniz University of Hannover.
In this episode…
S3 Ep 10 - Aja Watkins & Miguel Ohnesorge on 'Philosophy of the Geosciences'
Today we are joined by Miguel Ohnesorge and Aja Watkins to talk about a new subfield of HPS - The Philosophy of the Geosciences.
Miguel and Aja recently co-authored an article titled 'What is the Ph…
S3 Ep 9 - Emma Kowal on 'Haunting Biology'
How are we to understand Indigenous biological difference in the twenty-first century?
Is it a racist ruse, a stubborn residue of racial pseudoscience?
Or is it a potentially empowering force that can …
S3 Ep 8 - Haixin Dang on 'Disagreement in Science'
We have a very special episode today with guest host Dr Joshua Eisenthal interviewing fellow philosopher of science, and good friend, Dr Haixin Dang on the fascinating subject of Disagreement in Scie…
S3 Ep 7 - Sophie Ritson on 'Collaboration in Science'
Today's episode features one of our favourite philosophers of physics, Dr Sophie Ritson. Sophie's research focuses on the way contemporary physicists – of both the experimental and theoretical kind –…
S3 Ep 6 - Kirsten Walsh on 'Rethinking Isaac Newton through his Archive'
Today's guest is Dr Kirsten Walsh, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Exeter.
Kirsten’s research primarily focuses on Isaac Newton and his methodology, but she is careful to consider philosoph…
Throwback Thursday - Greg Radick on 'Counterfactual History of Science'
This week the team at The HPS Podcast are taking a mid-semester break!
To celebrate we are reposting one of our favourite episodes from Season 1 featuring Professor Greg Radick, a leading historian of…
S3 Ep 4 - Dan Hicks on 'Public Scientific Controversies'
In today’s episode we have assistant professor and philosopher of science, Dan Hicks, taking us through better understanding public scientific controversies.
‘Public scientific controversies’ is a ter…
S3 Ep 3 - Anna Alexandrova on 'Philosophy of Well-Being Science'
Today's episode features Professor Anna Alexandrova from the University of Cambridge discussing a field she has pioneered - the Philosophy of Well-Being Science.
As Anna points out, well-being and hap…