Ian Hacking
Biographical Information
Ian Hacking is Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto,
Canada and Collège de France, Paris, France. Ian Hacking’s doctoral thesis work done in
the early 60’s in Cambridge, UK, led to his first book “Logic of Statistical Inference”. Since
then, he has become an acclaimed expert in epistemology, in the philosophy of sciences
and in the philosophy of languages and has pioneered the relatively new field of “Science
Studies” He is an acclaimed writer on subjects ranging from experimental physics to multiple
personality. In addition to his many publications in peer-reviewed journals, his social
commentaries and book reviews are regularly published in the popular press. Another
of his books, “The Taming of Chance” first published in 1990, became a non-fiction best
seller. Professor Hacking is particularly interested in the different styles of scientific reasoning
and in the hierarchical relationships in the arrangement of thought processes. In
particular he has conducted a serious exploration of how humankind uses science not
only to describe the world, but to modify. If pressed to give a definition of his own discipline
(a word he doesn’t underestimate), he chooses the term “analytic philosophy”. He
has also claimed not to be an interdisciplinarian and never to collaborate with them. The
highest academic honors of numerous countries have been bestowed on him. He holds a
Chair in the Philosophy and History of Scientific Concepts at the Collège de France. In
2005, Le Nouvel Observateur, voted him philosopher of the year. |
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