ALISON WYLIE
Department of Philosophy
University of Washington

345 Savery Hall, Box 353350
Seattle, WA 98195
   (206) 543 - 5873
   aw26@u.washington.edu

RESEARCH
INTERESTS

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PUBLICATIONS,
PRESENTATIONS, &
CURRENT PROJECTS

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CONFERENCES
& WORKSHOPS

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COURSES



My areas of specialization are philosophy of the social and historical sciences, specifically archaeology, and feminist philosophy of science. I am particularly interested in how archaeologists establish knowledge claims about the social and cultural past, and in the question of what follows, for ideals of objectivity, when it is acknowledged that contextual values play an ineliminable role in the research process. In both cases, I argue, the answers lie in an analysis of evidential reasoning. To explain how evidential constraints operate in archaeology I have developed models of analogical inference, hypothesis testing, and the role of background knowledge. And to explore the epistemic role of standpoint-specific interests and contextual values in the sciences, I am currently engaged in a study of feminist research programs in the social sciences. For a more detailed description of these interests see Research Interests.
 

Recent and Forthcoming Publications

For a full list of publications by area, current projects, and recent presentations, see Publications, Presentations, & Current Projects.
 

  • When Difference Makes a Difference: Epistemic Diversity and Dissent: special issue of Episteme:Journal of Social Epistemology, based on papers presented at the Episteme annual conference, University of Toronto (June 2-3, 2006): Episteme 3.1-2(2006). Episteme website.
  • Science and Values, co-edited with Harold Kincaid and John Dupre, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • Thinking From Things: Essays in the Philosophy of Archaeology, University of California Press, Berkeley CA,  (2002). UCPress
  • “Agnatology in/of Archaeology,” Agnatology: The Cultural Production of Ignorance, edited by Robert N. Proctor and Londa Schiebinger; Stanford University Press, forthcoming. Conference website
  • “The Feminism Question in Science: What Does it Mean to ‘Do Social Science as a Feminist’?”, Handbook of Feminist Research, edited by Sharlene Hesse-Biber, Sage, 2007, pp. 567-578.
  • “Philosophy of Archaeology; Philosophy in Archaeology,” in The Philosophy of Anthropology and Sociology, edited by Stephen Turner and Mark Risjord; volume 14, Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Elsevier Science, 2007, pp. 517-549.
  • “Socially Naturalized Norms of Epistemic Rationality: Aggregation and Deliberation,” The Southern Journal of Philosophy 44 Supplement (2006): 43-48.
  • "The Promise and Perils of an Ethic of Stewardship," Beyond Ethics: Anthropological Moralities on the Boundaries of the Public and the Professional, edited by Lynn Meskell and Peter Pells, Berg Press, London, 2005, pp. 47-68.
  • “Why Standpoint Matters,” in Science and Other Cultures: Issues in Philosophies of Science and Technology, edited by Robert Figueroa and Sandra Harding, Routledge, New York, 2003, pp. 26-48.