Prof. Dr. Martin Carrier
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Carrier
Senior Professor of Philosophy of Science
Department of Philosophy
Bielefeld University
P.O. Box 100131
D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Secretary: Eike Inga Schilling
Phone: +49 (0) 521 106-6894
Fax: +49 (0) 521 106-156894
Email: eike_inga.schilling@uni-bielefeld.de
Education
Appointments
Honors, Awards, Functions
- Honorary Doctorate conferred by the University of Athens 2025
- Werner-Heisenberg Medal of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation 2018
- Full Member of the Académie internationale de philosophie des sciences, since 2018
- Member of the permanent advisory council of the Center for Science Studies of the German National Academy Leopoldina, 2017 – 2025
- John-G.-Diefenbaker Award of the Canada Council for the Arts 2016
- Blaise-Pascal Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities of the European Academy of Sciences 2015
- Member of the European Academy of Sciences, since 2014
- One-year research grant of the “Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald,” 2014/15.
- Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science, since 2012
- Member of the “Academia Europaea/The Academy of Europe” since 2010
- Member of the University Council of Bielefeld University, 2009 – 2023
- Leibniz Prize of theDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for 2008
- One-year research grant of the DFG: “Science under the Pressure of Practice,” co-director of a ZiF resarch group on the same topic, 2006/07
- Member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, since 2003
- Member of the ZiF Governing Board, 2002 – 2009
- Member of the German Academy of Scientists Leopoldina (National Academy), since 2000
Chief Areas of Work
I work on science and society or the science-society nexus. This includes methodological issues of practice-driven research. Philosophy of science often focuses on the characteristics of fundamental research whereas a large part of scientific research today is commissioned research, industrial research, or applied research, performed with short-term practical goals in view. The second area is science in the social arena which includes scientific policy advice, scientific expertise, responsible research and innovation, and the public credibility of science.
Publications
Ph.D. Theses Supervised
- Andreas Hüttemann, Idealisierungen und das Ziel der Physik (1996)
- James L. Cook, Recursive Fitness (1997)
- Jutta Rockmann, Wissenschaftlicher Realismus und Unterbestimmtheit (1999)
- Jesse Kraai, Rheticus? Heliocentric Providence. A study concerning the astrology/astronomy of the sixteenth century (2001)
- Patrick Finzer, Verstehen komplexer Systeme. Reduktionen in Biologie und Biomedizin (2002)
- Matthias Adam, Theoriebeladenheit und Objektivität. Zur Rolle von Beobachtungen in den Naturwissenschaften (2002
- Torsten Wilholt, Zahl und Wirklichkeit: Eine philosophische Untersuchung über die Anwendbarkeit der Mathematik (2002)
- Alexander Mäder, Falsche Überzeugungen verstehen: Begriffliche und methodische Überlegungen zur Erforschung der alltagspsychologischen Praxis (2003)
- Michael Stöltzner, Vienna Indeterminism. Causality, Realism and the Two Strands of Boltzmann's Legacy (1896-1936) (2003)
- Christian Schütte, Gesetze am Himmel. Die Astronomie der Frühen Neuzeit als Wegbereiterin moderner Naturwissenschaft (2006)
- Cornelis Menke, Zum methodologischen Wert von Vorhersagen neuartiger Phänomene (2007)
- Soazig Le Bihan, Understanding Quantum Phenomena (2008) (Cotutelle avec U. Nancy 2)
- Sandro Gaycken, Technisches Wissen – Philosophische Untersuchungen (2008)
- Tobias Knobloch, Quasi-Experimente. Zum Erkenntniswert von Gedankenexperimenten und Computersimulationen (2009)
- Anna Leuschner, Die Glaubwürdigkeit der Wissenschaft (2011)
- Anke Büter, Pluralismus statt Wertfreiheit: Soziale Erkenntnistheorie und das Beispiel der Frauengesundheitsforschung (2012)
- Adele Gerdes, Die Selbstorganisation dynamischer Systeme. Whiteheads Beitrag zur Philosophie des Geistes (2013)
- Fabian Lausen, Tragweite und Grenzen eines heuristischen Reduktionismus (2013)
- David Willmes, Zur Legitimität ethischer und sozialer Werte in der Wissenschaft (2013)
- Daniel Stephen Brooks, The Concept of Levels of Organization in Biology (2014)
- Stephan Kopsieker, Modularität und Plastizität in biologischen Systemen. Eine mechanistische Perspektive (2016)