Drs. B. (Bart) Karstens

Position:
  • PhD Candidate
Expertise:
  • Philosophy of Science
  • History of Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computational Linguistics
  • History of Linguistics


Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 4174
E-Mail: b.karstens@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte
Office Address: Witte Singel-complex
Witte Singel 25/M. de Vrieshof 4
2311 BZ Leiden
Room number 106B


Biography:
Drs. Bart Karstens studied Artificial Intelligence at the Institute of Philosophy in Utrecht. He specialized in Computational Linguistics and Logic. He also studied History in Utrecht and specialized in ‘Historical and Comparative Studies of the Sciences and Humanities’ which he studied in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Berlin. For a year he worked on a project at the Centre of Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam (2002-2003). He was connected to the Department of History in Utrecht as a teacher (2007). Since September 2008 he is PhD in Leiden on the NWO granted project "Philosophical Foundations of the Historiography of Science".  

Current research:
Within the NWO programme I focus on the project ‘Assessments of Past Science’. Maybe the whole project boils down to one question: how much of the process of science do we need know to evaluate its outcomes? Related questions are: what kind of evaluations do we want and which evaluations do we perceive as possible within the History of Science and/or the Philosophy of Science? The ambitious goal of the project is to transform the answers to these questions into a methodology for historical research. It is still in its infancy but the plan is to use the comparative method to bridge the gap between socially and culturally oriented studies of science and historiography that focuses exclusively on scientific content. What I like about the project is the combination between various disciplines: philosophy, history and possibly sociology. For instance, the perennial problem for history: how to account for both continuity and discontinuity, is obviously also a profound philosophical problem. I am convinced that studying the phenomenon of science is the most fruitful when an interdisciplinary approach is used.

Last Modified: 06-12-2011