Positions
Prof. Dr. Thomas Reydon
Prof. Dr. Thomas Reydon
Phone
Email
Address
Lange Laube 6
30159 Hannover
30159 Hannover
Building
Room
Office hours
Appointment via Stud.IP
Prof. Dr. Thomas Reydon
Phone
Email
Chairperson of the Examination Board
Examination Board Philosophy of Science (Master of Arts)
Executive Board
Institute of Philosophy
Officers/Coordinators
Representatives and Contact Persons for Students and Prospective Students, Institute of Philosophy
Representatives for Professors
Examination Board Philosophy of Science (Master of Arts)
Professors
Office hours
Appointment via Stud.IP
Appointment via Stud.IP
Institute of Philosophy
Professors
Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology
Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences
Profile
Thomas Reydon was born in The Hague on the Dutch North Sea coast in 1969. He is a philosopher of science with a background in physics, philosophy, and theoretical biology, and a research focus in theoretical as well as practical philosophy of the life sciences. He holds two Master's degrees (one in physics, one in philosophy of science) and a Doctoral degree, all from Leiden University. He wrote his dissertation ("Species as Units of Generalization in Biological Science: A Philosophical Analysis”) at the (meanwhile abolished) Chair of Philosophy of Biology, which was located within the section of Theoretical Biology in Leiden's Institute of Biology.
After having finished the dissertation work in Leiden he moved to Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany), where he subsequently was a Postdoc/Lecturer/Assistant Professor (= German “Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter”) at the former ZEWW, a Junior Professor and then Professor of Philosophy of Biology, and now Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology in the Institure of Philosophy with a cross appointment at the Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS).
At earlier stages of his career he has been a trainee Policy Officer at the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), where he worked on topics in GMO regulation and medical ethics, and a Visiting Fellow (twice, Fall 2008 & Fall 2013) at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) and again in the Fall Semester 2013, as well as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Interdisciplinarity (C4I) at Michigan State University in the Fall and Spring Semesters 2018-2019. He is Associated Faculty in the Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science (SEPOS) group at Michigan State University, Fellow of the Linnean Society, Editor-in-Chief (with two colleagues) of the Journal for General Philosophy of Science, Editor-in-Chief (with two colleagues) of the book series History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences and co-founder of the German Society for Philosophy of Science (Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsphilosophie).
For detailed information about his work, including a list of publications and teaching, please refer to his homepage at www.reydon.info
Main Areas of Research and Teaching
- Philosophy of biology
- General philosophy of science (epistemology & metaphysics)
- Bioethics
- Ethics in science
-
Selected Publications
2023 Du Crest, A., Valkovic, M., Ariew, A., Desmond, H., Huneman, P. & Reydon, T.A.C. (Eds): Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines: Problems and Perspectives in Generalized Darwinism, Cham: Springer.
2023 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘The proper role of history in evolutionary explanations’, Noûs 57: 162-187.
2023 Ereshefsky, M. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘The Grounded Functionality Account of natural kinds’, in: Bausman, W.C., Baxter, J.K. & Lean, O.M. (Eds): From Biological Practice to Scientific Metaphysics, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 236-265.
2022 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Deflating the de-extinction debates: Dominance and artifactuality are not the problem’, Ethics, Policy & Environment 25: 113-115.
2022 Reydon, T.A.C. & Ereshefsky, M.: ‘How to incorporate non-epistemic values into a theory of classification’, European Journal for Philosophy of Science 12: article #4.
2022 Cuypers, V., Reydon, T.A.C. & Artois, T.: ‘Deceiving insects, deceiving taxonomists? Making theoretical sense of taxonomic disagreement in the European orchid genus Ophrys’, Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 56: article #125686.
2022 Dammann, O., Dörk, T., Hillemanns, P. & Reydon, T.A.C. (2022): ‘Causation and causal inference in obstetrics-gynecology’, American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 226: 12-23.
2022 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘‘Species’ as a technical term: Multiple meanings in practice, one idea in theory’, in: Wilkins, J., Zachos, F. & Pavlinov, I. (Eds): Species Problems and Beyond: Contemporary Philosophy and Practice, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 65-89.
2022 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Psychopathy as a scientific kind: On usefulness and underpinnings’, in: Malatesti, L., McMillan, J. & Šustar, P. (Eds): Psychopathy: Practical Consequences, Validity and Mental Illness Status, Cham: Springer, pp. 169-187.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Misconceptions, conceptual pluralism, and conceptual toolkits: Bringing the philosophy of science to the teaching of evolution’, European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11: article #48.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C. & Kunz, W.: ‘Classification below the species level: When are infra-specific groups biologically meaningful?’, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 134: 246-260.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Generalized Darwinism as modest unification’, American Philosophical Quarterly 58: 79-93.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘On radical solutions in the philosophy of biology: What does “indiv-iduals thinking” actually solve?’, Synthese 198: 3389-3411.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Functional kinds and the metaphysics of functional levels: In what sense are functionally defined kinds and levels nonarbitrary?’, in: Brooks, D.S., DiFrisco, J. & Wimsatt, W.C. (Eds): Levels of Organization in the Biological Sciences, Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, pp. 261-277.
2021 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Zur Unvergleichbarkeit akademischer Systeme’, Ordnung der Wissen-schaft, issue 1/2021, pp. 33-45, open access at http://www.ordnungderwissenschaft. de.
2020 Lohse, S., Wasmer, M.S. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Integrating philosophy of science into res-earch on ethical, legal and social issues in the life sciences’, Perspectives on Science 28: 700-736.
2020 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘How can science be well-ordered in times of crisis? Learning from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic’, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42: article #53.
2020 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘What is the foundation of biological classification? The search for natural systems’, in: Kampourakis, K. & Uller, T. (Eds): Philosophy of Science for Biologists, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 216-234.
2020 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘What attitude should scientists have? Good academic practice as a precondition for the production of knowledge’, in: McCain, K.R. & Kampourakis, K. (Eds): What is Scientific Knowledge? An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology of Science, New York & London: Routledge, pp. 18-32.
2019 Reydon, T.A.C. & Kunz, W.: ‘Species as natural entities, instrumental units and ranked taxa: New perspectives on the grouping and ranking problems’, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 126: 623-636. 2019 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Are species good units for biodiversity studies and conservation efforts?’, in: Casetta E., Marquez da Silva, J. & Vecchi, D. (ed.): From Assessing to Conserving Biodiversity: Beyond the Species Approach, Cham: Springer, pp. 167-193. 2017 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Philosophie der Biologie’, in: Lohse, S. & Reydon, T.A.C. (ed.): Grundriss Wissenschaftsphilosophie: Die Philosophien der Einzelwissenschaften, Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 253-286.
2016 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘From a zooming-in model to a co-creation model: Towards a more dynamic account of classification and kinds’, in: Kendig, C.E. (ed.): Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice, London & New York: Routledge, 59-73.
2015 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘The evolution of human nature and its implications for politics: A critique’, Journal of Bioeconomics 17: 17-36. 2015 Reydon, T.A.C. & Scholz, M.: ‘Searching for Darwinism in Generalized Darwinism’, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66: 561-589.
2015 Ereshefsky, M. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Scientific kinds’, Philosophical Studies 172: 969-986.
2014 Reydon, T.A.C. & Scholz, M.: ‘Darwinism and Organizational Ecology: A case of in-completeness or incompatibility?’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences 44: 364-373.
2014 Kampourakis, K., Reydon, T.A.C., Patrinos, G.P. & Strasser, B.J.: ‘Genetics and society – Educating scientifically literate citizens: Introduction to the thematic issue’, Science & Education 23: 251-258.
2014 Franssen, M.P.M., Kroes, P., Reydon, T.A.C. & Vermaas, P.E.: ‘Introduction: The ontology of technical artefacts’, in: Franssen, M.P.M., Kroes, P., Reydon, T.A.C. & Vermaas, P.E. (Hrsg.): Artefact Kinds: Ontology and the Human-Made World, Dordrecht: Springer, 1-14. 2014 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Metaphysical and epistemological approaches to developing a theory of artifact kinds’, in: Franssen, M.P.M., Kroes, P., Reydon, T.A.C. & Vermaas, P.E. (ed.): Artefact Kinds: Ontology and the Human-Made World, Dordrecht: Springer, 125-144.
2013 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Classifying life, reconstructing history and teaching diversity: Philosophical issues in the teaching of biological systematics and biodiversity’, Science & Education 22: 189-220.
2013 Scholz, M. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘On the explanatory power of Generalized Darwinism: Missing items on the research agenda’, Organization Studies 34: 993-999.
2013 MacLeod, M. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Natural kinds in the life sciences: Scholastic twilight or new dawn?’, Biological Theory 7: 89-99. 2013 Reydon, T.A.C.: Wissenschaftsethik: Eine Einführung (UTB textbook series no. 4032), Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer Verlag / UTB. Lohse, S. & Reydon, T.A.C. (2017): ‘Einleitung: Zur Ausdifferenzierung der Wissenschaftsphilosophie’, in: Lohse, S. & Reydon, T.A.C. (Hrsg.): Grundriss Wissenschaftsphilosophie: Die Philosophien der Einzelwissenschaften, Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 9-15.
2016 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘A critical assessment of graph-based Generalized Darwinism’, in: Jagers op Akkerhuis, G.A.J.M. (ed.): Evolution and Transitions in Complexity: The Science of Hierarchical Organization in Nature, Cham: Springer, 125-135.
2016 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Die Wissenschaftsethik von Übermorgen: Zwischen Werten und Verantwortung’, in: Maring, M. (Hrsg.): Zur Zukunft der Bereichsethiken – Herausforderungen durch die Ökonomisierung der Welt, Karlsruhe: KIT Scientific Publishing, 303-316.
2015 Kirschning, A. & Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Is organic chemistry science – and does this question make any sense at all?’, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry 11: 893-896, open access at https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjoc/.
2015 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Epistemologische Aspekte der Anwendung des Vorsorgeprinzips bei Biosicherheitsfragen’, Ordnung der Wissenschaft, issue 2 of 2015, 73-82, open access at http://www.ordnungderwissenschaft.de.
2015 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Plagiate als Professionalisierungsproblem’, in: Lahusen, C. & Markschies, C. (ed.): Zitat, Paraphrase, Plagiat: Wissenschaft zwischen guter Praxis und Fehlverhalten, Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, 293-304.
2013 Reydon, T.A.C.: ‘Symmetry and the explanation of organismal form: Commentary on Golubitsky’, in: Gähde, U., Hartmann, S. & Wolf, J.H. (ed.): Models, Simulations and the Re-duction of Complexity, Berlin: De Gruyter, 43-51.
2014 Franssen, M.P.M., Kroes, P., Reydon, T.A.C. & Vermaas, P.E. (ed.): Artefact Kinds: Ontology and the Human-Made World (Synthese Library, Vol. 365), Heidelberg: Springer.