(Fall 2026, Pitt) PHIL 1690: Topics in the Philosophy of Science, "Local" Knowledge & the Global South
Philosophy of science has traditionally taken, as its objects of study, questions that arise most naturally in scientific research conducted in university settings. Recently, reflections on different practices of knowledge production within a more diverse set of communities -- indigenous communities in North America and former colonies in the Global South, for example -- have raised questions about the epistemological superiority of science relative to other knowledge systems, as well as how (de)colonization may bear on matters of epistemology.
In this course, we will focus on the “local” knowledge, specifically in relation to “scientific” knowledge, as well as various proposals for epistemological and medical pluralism and scholarship that takes seriously practices of knowledge construction in communities outside the university. In what sense has science been characterized as “Western” or “Eurocentric”? What does this mean, both politically and epistemically? What does this have to do with legacies of colonialism? What exactly is meant by “local” knowledge? Is this a contradiction in terms? Is knowledge supposed to be “universal”? In what sense? What would a set of a epistemic practices that are truly pluralistic look like? What does philosophy in the field & in the community look like?
(syllabus available on request)
(Spring 2024, Pitt) PHIL 0010: (Queer) Concepts of Human Nature
Traditional questions about human nature tend to concern what is essential to human nature, what makes humankind different from the various other forms of life. This sort of thinking about humanity has often served as a basis for ethical and political thought, including questions such as who counts as a human, whether humans are naturally social and in what way, and how we should organize human life; the flipside of this is that the concept of human nature has tremendous potential to be used in mass exploitation, dehumanization, and genocide. For example, queer people have historically been called “deviants,” in the sense that they deviate from some given human norm, a human nature. But an important question is whether there is even a norm or nature to deviate from. This question will be the background for us as we explore some more specific aspects of human experience that queer life and deviance highlights: the legitimacy of talking about different “kinds” of humans, the nature of desires and passions that we have, and the myriad possible ways humans can relate to one another. In this course, we will explore such questions as we also deviate and break out of the norms of traditional philosophy, reading plays, poems, and fiction by people not traditionally considered philosophers, alongside more traditional philosophical texts.
(syllabus available on request)