Philosophy Professor’s Book Wins Prestigious Lakatos Award
Michela Massimi wins the prize for her book, “Perspectival Realism”.
The Lakatos Award is given annually for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science.
The prize is presented by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is named in memory of former LSE professor Imre Lakatos.
Perspectival realism is a novel view in philosophy of science that takes a three-pronged interdisciplinary approach which combines the philosophy of science with scientific practice, the history of science and the history of philosophy.
Professor Massimi’s book explores how scientific knowledge grows and evolves thanks to a plurality of epistemic communities occupying a number of scientific perspectives. The result is a philosophical view that goes under the name of "perspectival realism", and it offers a new lens for thinking about scientific knowledge, realism and pluralism in science.
I am genuinely thrilled and humbled that my book Perspectival Realism has been given the recognition of the 2023 Lakatos Award. This book has been in the making for over ten years. In it I tell a story about realism in science that places center stage the situated knowledge of many epistemic communities. I am very grateful to my nominators, the anonymous selectors for the award, and the Lakatos Management Committee. And special thanks to the European Research Council whose Consolidator Grant (Jan 2016-June 2021) gave me the research time to write the book and the possibility of publishing it fully Open Access
Perspectival Realism is available now through Oxford University Press.