How can philosophers work with scientists? Can philosophy be empirical?

In their book chapter "Philosophy of science in practice and weak scientism together apart," KLI fellow Luana Poliseli and philosopher Federica Russo (University of Amsterdam) defended the move to adopt empirical methods in philosophy. They argue that these methods put philosophy in a better position to contribute to knowledge production, an endeavor shared with the sciences, and in a very interdisciplinary spirit. You can find the pre-print of the chapter here at Philsci Archive.

As an example of philosophy of science in practice, Poliseli developed an interesting approach to collaborate with scientists. With Russo, Charbel El-Hani and ecologists Jeferson Coutinho and Blande Viana, they discussed mechanistic explanations in ecology (amongst other things) in the article 'Philosophy of science in practice in ecological model building.'

Publications:

Poliseli L, Russo F (2022) Philosophy of science in practice and weak scientism together apart. In: Mizrahi M (ed) For and against scientism: science, methodology, and the future of philosophy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Poliseli, L., Coutinho, J.G. ., Viana, B. et al. Philosophy of science in practice in ecological model building. Biol Philos 37, 21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-022-09851-4