Michela Massimi

Michela Massimi
Massimi in 2016
Alma materLondon School of Economics and Political Science
Scientific career
FieldsPhilosophy of science
InstitutionsUniversity of Edinburgh
ThesisPauli's exclusion principle : a philosophical perspective (2002)
Doctoral advisorMichael Redhead

Michela Massimi is an Italian and British philosopher of science.[1] Massimi is professor of philosophy of science at the University of Edinburgh. She was Vice President of the European Philosophy of Science Association (2015-9), and President of the Philosophy of Science Association (2023-4).[2] She has extensively published on topics such as realism in science, perspectival realism in philosophy of science,[3] local knowledge[4] and the philosophical-conceptual foundations of the right to participate in science.

Education and career

Massimi has dual Italian and British citizenship.[5] After studying philosophy at Sapienza University of Rome from 1993 to 1997,[1] she completed a Ph.D. in 2002 at the London School of Economics, and after three years of postdoctoral research as a Junior Research Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge, she became a Lecturer in history and philosophy of science at University College London in 2005. She moved to the University of Edinburgh in 2012 and became professor there in 2015.[6]

She was co-editor-in-chief of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science from 2011 to 2016, and was President of the Philosophy of Science Association for the 2023–2024 term.[2]

Recognition

Massimi was the Wilkins–Bernal–Medawar Medalist and Lecturer of the Royal Society in 2017, speaking on "Why philosophy of science matters to science,"[7] and she won the Lakatos Award of the London School of Economics in 2023 for her 2022 book Perspectival Realism.[8]

She was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2018, and as Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2019.[2] She was also elected to the Academia Europaea in 2019.[6]

Books

Massimi is the author of Pauli’s Exclusion Principle: The Origin and Validation of a Scientific Principle (Cambridge University Press, 2005)[9] and Perspectival Realism (Oxford University Press, 2022).[8]

Her edited volumes include:

  • Kant and Philosophy of Science Today (Cambridge University Press, 2008)[10]
  • Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone (Routledge, 2014)[11]
  • Kant and the Laws of Nature (with Angela Breitenbach, Cambridge University Press, 2017)[12]
  • Understanding Perspectivism: Scientific Challenges and Methodological Prospects (with Casey D. McCoy, Routledge, 2019)[13]
  • Knowledge from a Human Point of View (with Ana-Maria Creţu, Springer, 2020)
  • Ways of World Knowing. Local Knowledge, Coastal Communities, and Equitable Ocean Governance (with Abbe E.L. Brown, Marcel Jaspars, Oxford University Press, 2026)[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Michela Massimi: Bio, retrieved 2021-02-15
  2. ^ a b c "Michela Massimi, Professor", Staff profiles, University of Edinburgh, retrieved 2021-02-15
  3. ^ Massimi, Michela (2022), Perspectival Realism (1st ed.), New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780197555651
  4. ^ Massimi, Michela (2026), Ways of World Knowing. Local knowledge, coastal communities, and equitable ocean governance, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780197815335{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ West, Peter; Massimi, Michela (January 2018), "Interview with Invited Speaker Michela Massimi, Philosophy as a Way of Life", Perspectives, 8 (1): 31–34, doi:10.2478/pipjp-2018-0004, S2CID 214625173
  6. ^ a b "Michela Massimi", Members, Academia Europaea, retrieved 2021-02-15; see also attached curriculum vitae
  7. ^ "Why philosophy of science matters to science", Wilkins–Bernal–Medawar Prize Lecture, Royal Society, May 2018, retrieved 2021-02-15
  8. ^ a b Michela Massimi wins the 2023 Lakatos Award, The London School of Economics and Political Science, 6 July 2023, retrieved 2024-08-13
  9. ^ Reviews of Pauli's Exclusion Principle:
  10. ^ Reviews of Kant and Philosophy of Science Today:
    • Pollok, Konstantin (August 2010), "Review", Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
    • Stan, Marius (Fall 2011), HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 1 (2): 364–367, doi:10.1086/661208, JSTOR 10.1086/661208{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  11. ^ Review of Philosophy and the Sciences for Everyone:
    • Rojas Durán, Edgar Eduardo (January–June 2016), "Review" (PDF), Signos Filosóficos (in Spanish), 18 (35): 203–206
  12. ^ Reviews of Kant and the Laws of Nature:
  13. ^ Reviews of Understanding Perspectivism:
  14. ^ Massimi, Brown, and Jaspars, Michela, Abbe E.L., Marcel (2026), Ways of World Knowing. Local Knowledge, Coastal Communities, and Equitable Ocean Governance, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780197815335{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)