Poster: How Do Scientists and Engineers View Philosophy of Science and Engage with Philosophers of Science?

Authors: Kathryn S. Plaisance, Sara Doody (University of Waterloo), Chad Gonnerman (University of Southern Indiana), Aaron M. McCright (University of Michigan) 

Poster presented by Chad Gonnerman at the Philosophy of Science Association Conference, November 2024 

To cite this poster: 

Plaisance, Kathryn S., Sara Doody, Chad Gonnerman, and Aaron M. McCright. “How Do Scientists and Engineers View Philosophy of Science and Engage with Philosophers of Science?” Poster presented at the Philosophy of Science Biennial Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 2024. 

A PDF version of the poster is available for download.

While some prominent scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking have made negative comments about philosophy of science in public, empirical research has yet to examine how scientists and engineers actually view the field of philosophy of science. This study investigated the attitudes of STEM researchers towards philosophy of science and their interest in collaborating with philosophers of science.  

We surveyed tenure-system science and engineering faculty at 54 Canadian and US universities using a three-stage probability sampling design drawn from 784 departments. The online survey, administered through Qualtrics in mid- to late-2023, received 1,557 fully and 526 partially completed responses (N=2083, a 9.8% response rate).

• 76.0% of respondents viewed philosophy of science as beneficial to their field, while only 3.6% viewed it negatively (the rest had neutral or indifferent views). 
• Respondents attributed slightly less positive views to their peers than to themselves. 
• Nearly 70% of respondents expressed interest in collaborating with philosophers of science, and 9.4% had already collaborated. 
• The top barrier to collaboration was not knowing any philosophers of science (72.5%), followed by funding (62%) and time constraints (51.5%). 
• Respondents were far more likely to cite their own lack of philosophical knowledge (48.3%) than philosophers’ of science lack of scientific knowledge (6.0%) as a barrier. 
• Support was high for low-stakes engagement actions (e.g., inviting a philosopher of science to give a department talk had 80% support) and lower for higher-stakes actions (e.g., including a philosopher on a STEM grad student’s committee had 31.6% support). 

These findings challenge the common assumption that scientists and engineers are largely indifferent or hostile towards philosophy of science. Instead, interest in collaboration appears widespread, with the main obstacle to collaborations being a lack of opportunities for connection between STEM and philosophy communities rather than disinterest or distrust. Future work should explore the motivations behind this interest and develop practical tools to facilitate philosopher-science collaborations.