The following is a guest post* by C. Kenneth Waters, professor of philosophy at the University of Calgary and Canada Research Chair in Logic and Philosophy of Science. The Status of Philosophy of Science in the Profession by C. Kenneth Waters Has philosophy of science been given a backseat at American Philosophical Association (APA) and Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA) conferences? Many philosophers of science think so and some complain bitterly. But what are the facts? As with many discussions about our profession, philosophers seem comfortable drawing broad conclusions from anecdotes. In this case, the anecdotes are usually not about experiences of those who have put in the hard work of constructing conference programs; rather, the anecdotes are about not having been invited to give presentations. Where’s the data? Brian Hanley, Niall Roe, and I are collecting some that could help inform discussion. As part of a project we call PhilSci at the APA & CPA, we inspected the 2016 programs of the three APA conferences and we will inspect programs of future CPA and APA conferences as they appear. Our methodology adheres to official categories (e.g. major sessions, invited papers, colloquia papers, etc.). We try to identify and count all presentations in each category that address topics and that use approaches characteristic of presentations at conferences such as the Philosophy of Science Biennial Meetings, of articles published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, and of preprints posted at sites such as the PhilSci-Archive. This turns out to be more difficult than it might sound. Our data shows that of the 13 sessions that the APA labeled as “major sessions” at the three conferences, none counted as philosophy of science. Of the 12 invited papers, none counted as philosophy of science. We counted 6 of the 59 invited symposia as philosophy of science, but all of them were at the Pacific conference. The combined number of philosophy of science presentations in the categories of major sessions, invited papers, invited symposia, and authors meet critics on the main programs of the Eastern and Central divisions was exactly zero. Perhaps 2016 was a fluke. We will find out as PhilSci at the APA & CPA continues to collect data. But there is..

Source: The Status of Philosophy of Science in the Profession (guest post by C. Kenneth Waters) – Daily Nous