Since the mid-20th century, diversity has become an important concern in philosophy of science. Feminist philosophers highlighted the epistemic benefits of diverse perspectives for knowledge production. More recently, however, efforts to integrate diversity into scientific practice, methods, and reasoning have come under attack. These debates resonate not only in feminist epistemology, sociology of science, and cultural studies, but also within the sciences themselves—for instance, in discussions about biodiversity or the microbiome. This workshop responds to these challenges by emphasizing the continued relevance of diversity for science and philosophy. We aim to explore its (i) philosophical, (ii) historical, (iii) epistemic, and (iv) cross-disciplinary dimensions.

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This workshop is organized by the ROTO research group (‘The Return of the Organism in the Biosciences: Theoretical, Historical and Social Dimensions’) and the chair of History and Philosophy of Science at Ruhr University Bochum. For more information regarding the group and our research, please visit https://rotorub.wordpress.com/​​