Katie Plaisance

Cross-appointments:

• Department of Philosophy
• Department of Psychology

Areas of interest

• Philosophy of science
• Philosophy of the human behavioural sciences
• Socially relevant philosophy of science
• Social epistemology
• Interactional expertise
• Interdisciplinary collaboration

For PDF copies of any publications, please email Katie Plaisance.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Plaisance, Kathryn S.(2026), “Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science,” in Routledge Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Science after Kant, edited by Flavia Padovani and Adam Tamas Tuboly, 102-112. Routledge Press.
• Doody, Sara, and Kathryn S. Plaisance (2025), “What is ‘Good’ Science? How Disciplinary Norms and Expectations Discourage Broad Interdisciplinary Collaboration,” Perspectives on Science, 1-37.  
• Plaisance, Kathryn S., Christine Logel, and Christopher Lok (2024), “Making Collaboration Work: Fostering Positive Attitudes and Experiences around Psychological Safety, Diversity, and the Value of Teamwork,” Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CJSoTL) 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S. and Kevin C. Elliott (2021), “A Framework for Broadly Engaged Philosophy of Science,” Philosophy of Science vol 88 (4): 594-615 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S., Jay Michaud, and John McLevey (2021), “Pathways of Influence: Understanding the Impact of Philosophy of Science in Scientific Domains,” Synthese, 199: 4865-4896. 
• Burgoyne, A. P., Carroll, S., Clark, D. A., Hambrick, D. Z., Plaisance K. S., Klump, K. L., & Burt, S. A. (2020), Can a brief intervention alter genetic and environmental influences on psychological traits? An experimental behavioral genetics approach. Learning and Motivation, 72, 101683. 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S. (2020), “The Benefits of Acquiring Interactional Expertise: Why (Some) Philosophers of Science Should Engage Scientific Communities,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 83: 53-62. 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S., Alexander V. Graham, John McLevey, and Jay Michaud (2019), “Show Me the Numbers: A Quantitative Portrait of the Attitudes, Experiences, and Values of Philosophers of Science Regarding Broadly Engaged Work,” Synthese, 198: 4603-4633. 
• Burt, S. Alex, Kathryn S. Plaisance, and Zach D. Hambrick (2019), “Understanding ‘What Could Be’: A Call for Experimental Behavioral Genetics,” Behavior Genetics, 49: 235-243. 
• McLevey, John, Alexander V. Graham, Reid McIlroy-Young, Pierson Brown, and Kathryn S. Plaisance (2018), “Interdisciplinarity and Insularity in the Diffusion of Knowledge: An Analysis of Disciplinary Boundaries Between Philosophy of Science and The Sciences,” Scientometrics, 117: 331-349. 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S., and Eric B. Kennedy (2014), “A Pluralistic Approach to Interactional Expertise”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 47: 60-68. 
• Plaisance, Kathryn S., Thomas Reydon, and Mehmet Elgin (2012), "Why the (Gene) Counting Argument Fails in the Massive Modularity Debate: The Need for Understanding Gene Concepts and Genotype-Phenotype Relationships", Philosophical Psychology, 25(6): 873-892. 
• Fehr, Carla and Kathryn S. Plaisance (2010), "Socially Relevant Philosophy of Science: An Introduction", Synthese, 177(3): 301-316. 

Edited volumes

• Plaisance, Kathryn S. and Thomas Reydon, eds. (2012) "Philosophy of Behavioral Biology", Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 282
• Plaisance, Kathryn S. and Carla Fehr, eds. (2010), "Making Philosophy of Science More Socially Relevant", special issue of Synthese, vol. 177(3): 301-492.

Selected grants, fellowships, awards

• SSHRC Insight Grant, 2020-26, “Engaging Science with Philosophy: Best Practices for Fostering Effective Collaboration” ($188,179)
• Templeton Grant, 2017-2019, “Understanding ‘What Could Be’: Heritability in a Randomized Twin Design” ($425,000 USD)
• SSHRC Insight Development Grant, 2016-2018, “Increasing the Impact of Philosophy of Science in Scientific Domains” ($59,302 CAD)
• Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) Teaching Excellence Award, 2022
• University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award, 2016