Welcome!
I am a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science and a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Ghent University. My primary research and teaching areas are: history and philosophy of the social sciences, social epistemology and general philosophy of science. My systematic work in philosophy has been centred on explanatory and scientific pluralism, that is, elaborating our understanding of scientific pluralism in relation with more traditional topics in philosophy of (social) science like the theory of scientific explanation, causality, social ontology, scientific objectivity and values in science. In my research, I try to connect these philosophical problems to actual scientific practice in political science, economics, history, sociology - both historically and contemporary - analysing the sources of plurality and how plurality has been (and should be) dealt with. Paying close attention to the historical and social embeddedness of science in society (and how this is linked to plurality) also inspired my thinking, writing and teaching about the deep entanglements between science and democracy, e.g., in citizen sciences, the co-production of knowledge, epistocracy vs epistemic democracy. More generally, I explore how power hides in epistemic structures as well as ways to advance a social epistemology of citizen participation in science and society.
Jeroen Van Bouwel
Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science
Department of Philosophy and Moral Science
Ghent University
Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Email: Jeroen.VanBouwel@UGent.be
Other pages related to my research