Two Postdoctoral Researchers (1 fte) in History of Philosophy of Science and/or Digital Humanities

The postdoc’s primary responsibility will be to contribute to the research project (description below) and to publish in peer reviewed journals and books. The researcher should also contribute to the project in other ways, such as by giving conference presentations, (co-)editing a special issue, and (co-)organizing reading groups and workshops. Furthermore, the researcher will be a member of the Tilburg Center for Moral Philosophy, Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS) and contribute to its colloquia and seminars.

The project
Exiled Empiricists: American Philosophy and the Great Intellectual Migration

The Exiled Empiricists project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and led by Sander Verhaegh within the Tilburg Center for Moral Philosophy, Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS), Tilburg University.

Summary: In the 1930s, hundreds of European academics fled to the United States, escaping the quickly deteriorating political situation on the continent. Among them were a few dozen philosophers from a variety of schools: logical empiricists, critical theorists, and phenomenologists. Especially the first group would have a tremendous impact on American philosophy. Whereas the local intellectual climate had been dictated by American traditions like pragmatism, U.S. philosophers soon began to advance views that were heavily indebted to the empiricists. In fact, much of academic philosophy today is still shaped by the discussions and practices first instigated in this disruptive period. 

Although historians have reconstructed the fate of the exiled empiricists, little attention has been paid to the American context in which their movement came to full bloom. This is surprising, since any account of the empiricists’ success requires an explanation of why the Americans were so receptive to their views. To what extent did developments in American philosophy pave the way for logical empiricism? And why was the American community more receptive to empiricism than to critical theory or phenomenology? This project shifts the perspective from the refugees to the local philosophical climate by 1) quantitatively analyzing thousands of American journal publications and 2) qualitatively examining the archives of dozens of key American philosophers and institutions. 

A more detailed description of the project can be found on the project website .