Michela Massimi wins the 2023 Lakatos Award#

Professor Michela Massimi, Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the Academia Europaea Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies section since 2019 has received the 2023 Lakatos Award for her book ‘Perspectival Realism’ (Oxford University Press, 2022).

The Lakatos Award was made possible by a generous endowment from the Latsis Foundation, in memory of the former LSE professor Imre Lakatos. It is administered by an international Management Committee, which is organised from the LSE but entirely independent of LSE’s Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. The Committee decides the outcome of the Award competition on the basis of advice from an anonymous panel of selectors who produce detailed reports on the shortlisted books.

The prize winner will receive their Award and deliver their prize lecture at the LSE at a time and location to be confirmed later. The lecture will be open to the public.

About the book#

Perspectival Realism is praised by the selectors of the Lakatos Award as “a tour de force” that “presents a new philosophical framework for understanding how we come to know about particular phenomena”. It offers “unquestionably the best articulation of perspectival realism”, and in presenting her position Massimi “provides a much-needed philosophical articulation of the theory and also responses to the many objections it faces”. She sets “an agenda for new programs of research in the philosophy of science”, which “represents a significant reorientation of our thinking on a number of fronts, epistemic and ontological, opening new possibilities for inquiry going forward”. Her book is praised as “stuffed with erudition: great knowledge, wonderful examples, and a deep understanding of how science works”.

About Michela Massimi#

Michela Massimi is Professor of Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy, at the University of Edinburgh, affiliated with the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics.

Michela works in the area of history and philosophy of science with a focus on the physical sciences. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Astronomical Society, corresponding Member of the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and member of the Academia Europaea Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies section since 2019.

About the Lakatos Award#

The Lakatos Award is given annually for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science, widely interpreted, in the form of a book published in English during the current year or the previous five years.