Jan Potters
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janpotters.bsky.social
Jan Potters
@janpotters.bsky.social
510 followers 400 following 150 posts
Philosophy of Science, History of Physics; Postdoc University of Antwerp (Belgium)
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janpotters.bsky.social
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · Dec 4
Hi (new) followers, I am a postdoc in history and/of philosophy of science. In the past, I have worked on the history of early twentieth-century electron experiments (see e.g. online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...). Nowadays, my focus is on Thomas Kuhn's historical work ...
online.ucpress.edu
Reposted by Jan Potters
ptrbck.bsky.social
A good day for the Ghent HOPOS-tradition (I take the liberty of considering @masssimons.bsky.social as part of that tradition, I don't think he will mind?)
masssimons.bsky.social Massimiliano Simons @masssimons.bsky.social · 11d
14/END

And finally: I am perhaps even more proud that my article is in the same issue as the fabulous article that @mvandyck.bsky.social wrote on Bas van Fraassen his constructive empiricism - definitely also work checking out!

www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/hopos/cu...
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
September 25, 2026 at 8:57 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
ptrbck.bsky.social
My article arguing that Nathan Cofnas's race realism is rightly labelled as pseudoscience is now also published at @skeptic.org.uk. Honoured to have it up there.
September 25, 2026 at 9:12 AM
janpotters.bsky.social
What can we learn from the history of philosophy of experimentation, you ask?

Well, tell me your philosophy of experiment, and I'll show you what you take to be the goal of philosophy of science!

Very nice paper by Massimiliano, building on our earlier work in @hoposjournal.bsky.social
masssimons.bsky.social Massimiliano Simons @masssimons.bsky.social · 11d
1/ 🧵 The history of the philosophy of experimentation isn't really just a history of what philosophers have said about experiments.

In a new #HOPOS paper, I argue that it is also a history of what philosophers thought philosophy of science itself was *for*.

#philsci
A Picture of the first page of the article
September 25, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
alisabokulich.bsky.social
via Siska De Baerdemaeker:
2 #HPS #philjobs in Philosophy Dept @ Stockholm Uni:
1. #PhilSci w/ a focus on social epistemology, values & science:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

2. #HistSci or #DigitalHumanities:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Deadline: November 8, 2026.
Researcher in Philosophy of Science
The Department of Philosophy at Stockholm University is the largest in Sweden, with vibrant research groups in a wide range of philosophical disciplines. The department has significant strengths in ph
su.varbi.com
September 22, 2026 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
jenbren.bsky.social
Simpsons meme A journalist in a press conference audienxe standing up & asking me watching everyone suddenly turning on Ed Sheeran: WHY NOW? WHY NOT THE VERY FIRST TIME YOU EVER HEARD HIS MUSIC?
September 16, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
bestor2008.bsky.social
Call for submissions open at Gewina!

The Gewina–Descartes–Huygens Thesis Prize recognizes outstanding master’s theses in the history of science and universities.

Deadline: 1 November 2026

More information via the link: www.gewina.nl/call-for-sub...
September 15, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
ptrbck.bsky.social
@deafspraak.bsky.social Waarom blijven journalisten herhalen dat Cofnas onderzoek doet naar ras en IQ. Stop daar aub mee. Hij schrijft ideologische traktaten over ras op zijn blog, hij doet er geen onderzoek naar.
September 9, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Call for Nominations: 2026 Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize by Radboud University for best work in History &/or Philosophy of Modern Physics, by a student as part of Masters Thesis
Prize: 2000 euros
Nominations by a supervisor due by October 5, 2026
Qs & submit to [email protected]
#HPS ⚛️
September 7, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
moneschleper.bsky.social
Hello #sts #histsci folks. I am looking for an accessible reading, undergraduate level, that talks about science, trust and authority, maybe the scientific persona, in the post truth, climate crisis, trump2 era. Oreskes 2019 is great, but a bit long… suggestions?
September 3, 2026 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
sanderverhaegh.bsky.social
In the 1930s, a group of European philosophers fled fascism and reshaped American philosophy. Why did logical positivism have such an impact on US thought? And why did it play a central role in the culture wars of the 1950s and 1960s?

Released today! Logical Positivism: An American History

(1/3)
Cover of Logical Positivism: An American History
September 2, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
danielsugarman.bsky.social
The world's most notorious custard-pie thrower is dead. What an obituary. He got Bernard-Henri Lévy seven times.
​Known to his army of fans as L’Entarteur or Georges le Gloupier, Godin launched his career as a serial deflator of egos in 1969, when he planted a tarte à la crème on the face of the French novelist Marguerite Duras (“She has a kind of intelligence and cleverness that serves only her own vanity,” he complained), and he went on to “pie” a cast list of celebrities for sins ranging from pomposity to “choosing to function in the service of the capitalist status quo”. The same could not be said of Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France’s “new philosophers,” whose provocative views on sex, frequent appearances on television and penchant for white silk shirts unbuttoned practically to the navel, had made him a cult figure – and one of Godin’s most satisfying victims. Levy once declared: “I am the most gifted writer of my generation,” and often boasted of his reasonableness and tolerance, but he was forced to endure footage being repeatedly shown on French television of himself, covered in cream, during a visit to the Belgian city of Liège, trying to strangle Godin and shouting: “Get up, or I’ll kick your head in.” Noël Godin was born on September 13 1945 and came to pie-throwing after a rebellious youth in which he scandalised the priests in the confessional by speaking of his “horrible sexual life”, and was thrown out of Liège University after emptying a pot of glue over the head of a law lecturer who had helped write the constitution for the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. He found work at Friends of Film, an obscure magazine published by the Belgian Catholic League. It had a tiny readership, which was just as well, as Godin made up most of his articles. In one he claimed that Louis Armstrong had once been a cannibal and had invested in a film called The Vegetables of Good Will in which Claudia Cardinale played a giant endive. In another he conjured up a fictional blind Thai filmmaker named Vivian Pei, describing her film, The Lotus Flower Will Never Again Grow on the Edge of Your Island, in such convincing terms that an Asian film specialist travelled to Thailand in an effort to track her down. “We’re very careful not to hurt people,’’ he explained. “Well, they are hurt, but always in their amour-propre.” In 1995 Godin published an autobiography, Cream and Punishment. His other targets over the years included the New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard (who charmed his assailant by hailing the attack as a homage to silent film), the French politician Nicolas Sarkozy, the choreographer Maurice Béjart and the Ryanair chairman Michael O​’Leary. He tended not to pick Belgian victims, he explained, because few would notice if he did.
August 30, 2026 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
ptrbck.bsky.social
We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter.

forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond to the negative and incorrect framing of Ghent University’s decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. With th...
forms.gle
August 25, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
hpsvanessa.bsky.social
Q for #histSTM colleagues: I'm out of the loop - is anyone *currently* doing good stuff with Kuhn/Paradigms as a genuinely useful model for exploring *specific* (ideally post-1800) case studies of changing scientific theories? Not just oblig ref but as explicit way to structure story/explanation?
August 25, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
elifoezmen.bsky.social
Ich, wenn jemand ERC Grant sagt
August 24, 2026 at 6:16 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
That fifa can make uefa seem to have any principles is quite an achievement.
July 30, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
innes.bsky.social
but they already made a historically accurate version of the odyssey?
three men, grinning, stand in front of an old timey microphone in a still from O Brother Where Art Thou
July 22, 2026 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social
I am afeaid to say it but it is now incumbent on you all to support Belgium tomorrow.
July 5, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
mischajaye.bsky.social
The cooling system was installed by the village AC technician, Thermodynamix 😊
June 26, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Jan Potters
alexdecampi.bsky.social
I love this. Unmute.
June 17, 2026 at 11:49 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
economeager.bsky.social
Rosencrantz: what time is it?

Guildenstern, looking at his watch: t

Rosencrantz, later: now what time is it

Guildenstern, frowning: now it’s t again. Or t still?

Rosencrantz: that can’t be right. It’s got to be t+1 or something eventually

Guildenstern: the watch hand just keeps clicking back…
economeager.bsky.social Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · Jun 5
this place has the juice!!!!
June 5, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
hoposjournal.bsky.social
We are delighted to announce that HOPOS will become a publication of Cambridge University Press @universitypress.cambridge.org as of 2027.

All publications starting with vol. 17 will be open access. It is an honor to join the Cambridge family of journals.
#HOPOS #HPS #philsky #philosophy #histsci
Blue and red and white announcement that HOPOS will join Cambridge University Press. Follow link in post for more details.
June 4, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
alisabokulich.bsky.social
Call for papers (<10K words unpublished) for 2026 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics
Topic: Newton’s Principia & its reception (300th anniversary of 3rd Ed.)
Prize $1,000, workshop, & pub in SHPS
Open to grad students & w/in 5 yrs PhD
Deadline: September 1, 2026
www.duchateletprize.org
#HPS
A painting of Du Châtelet in 18thC dress at her desk with her books & compass. Text: The Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics
June 1, 2026 at 9:38 PM
janpotters.bsky.social
Preprint of a forthcoming paper in HOPOS @hoposjournal.bsky.social on Thomas Kuhn's (unpublished) work on the history of quantum physics
philsci-archive.bsky.social PhilSci-Archive @philsci-archive.bsky.social · May 29
New on the Archive:

Potters, Jan (2027) Sharpening Philosophical Concepts: Thomas Kuhn and the History of Quantum Physics. [Preprint]

https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/29809/
June 1, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
philsci-archive.bsky.social
New on the Archive:

Potters, Jan (2027) Sharpening Philosophical Concepts: Thomas Kuhn and the History of Quantum Physics. [Preprint]

https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/29809/
May 29, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Jan Potters
natalan.bsky.social
happy boards of canada day to all who celebrate
May 29, 2026 at 7:14 AM