Aviezer Tucker, Centre for Philosophy of Historiography, University of Ostrava
This blog aims to explore what it means to practice philosophy of science in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. What kinds of challenges shape philosophical work here? Are there distinctive advantages compared to other parts of the world? How have regional histories, including the legacy of communism, influenced philosophical inquiry, and how do they continue to shape it today? We intend to cover both individuals and institutions and to create space where our members can showcase their existing work and share experiences that inspire future excellence. [EENPS]
Tell us about the history of your research centre.
We founded this “Foundation for the Philosophy of Historiography” at the philosophy department of the University of Ostrava in 2023 with grants from the EU and the Czech government. The idea was to create one of the few centres for philosophy of historiography and the historical sciences in the world. We were successful in founding the largest such centre in the world today.
Within the philosophy of science, some philosophers have been in denial that there are sciences other than physics or perhaps also biology. Though, in fact, the historical sciences have been progressively offering new and exciting knowledge that has rewritten human consciousness about our place in time over the last quarter millennia. We have learned that the universe began expanding almost 14 billion years ago and has accelerated its expansion a few billion years ago. We learned the life had some common origin, and about the phylogenies of DNA and species. Geology proved that the continents have been moving and that once they all formed one ancient continent, Pangea. Biology proved that the Neanderthals have not disappeared, but hybridized with homo sapiens. The integration of DNA analysis, philology, and archaeology allowed the reconstruction of ancient migration roots out of Africa. Philology has proved the common origins of language families. The study of primary sources pioneered by Ranke has allowed historians to form highly probable knowledge of the human past, beyond previous myths, ideologies and memories.
Interestingly, there are grounds for an optimistic induction in the historical sciences. Each had a single founding scientific revolution, and since has been expanding knowledge through innovative information theories and methodologies leading to the discovery of new evidence. Yet, nothing substantial has been proven false after the initial scientific revolution, comparably to the changing revolutionary paradigms of physics, as the theories of Newton were falsified. This allows a realist interpretation of the historical sciences that is much more difficult in theoretical sciences like physics that are internally incoherent (quantum vs. relativity) and give grounds for a pessimistic induction.
All the historical sciences are about the transmission of information from past to future. Once this information is decoded reliably, there may be new information to add, but old information is unlikely to be falsified. So, philosophers of science can find a more solid basis for likely knowledge in the historical sciences than in theoretical sciences like physics. This insight however is lost on many philosophers of science who are not familiar with the historical sciences and suffer from what Freud could have called “Physics-envy.”
What are its present activities and makeup?
David Černin has been working at the University of Ostrava for all his career. On the basis of the grant money we were able to hire 3 other researchers: Adam Timmins who is a graduate of the University of York in England and has published a couple of books in the field (Towards a Realist Philosophy of History), Georg Gangl, originally from Graz who did his PhD with Jouni Matti Kuukkannen in Oulu in Finland, and Eugen Zeleniak who is also teaching at the Catholic University in Ruzomberok in Slovakia. With five members, the foundation enjoys the highest concentration of philosophers of historiography (the research of historical scientists) in the world today.
We have regular seminars in person, online (you can watch previous ones on youtube - Georg Gangl interviews Aviezer Tucker), and inhouse, just for us five.
David and I co-edited the Bloomsbury Handbook for the Philosophy of the Historical Sciences and Big History.
We present our work in conferences around the world, such as the European Society for Philosophy of Science, the East European society for Philosophy of Science, and the society for Theory of history. I have been invited recently to speak in Brazil, Chile, and China, as well as around Europe. We are trying to promote and elevate the discussion of the philosophy of the historical sciences globally.
On the basis of a recent grant from the Visegrad Fund, we plan two conferences in Ostrava (this November) and Katowice, and a summer school in 2027 in Ruzomberok. CFP for the conference and later for the summer school will be published soon.
Is the work of your centre affected by its location and if so how (topics, methods)?
The University of Ostrava is new, post-1989. Though this is the second urban agglomeration in the Czech Republic after Prague, it had no university, just a technical university-mining school. This is good for us, because the university has no traditions from the Communist era, such as incompetence, xenophobia, corruption, and antisemitism that I encountered when I taught at Palacky University in Olomouc in the mid-nineties. This makes working easier, with a supportive administration that is open to the world. In contrast to the nineties, even the secretaries and shop assistants want to practice their usually good English on Foreigners. The support of the institution and the relative pluralistic cohesiveness of the five of us allow discussions and debates, and consequently fruitful cooperation. The post-industrial local context means that locals are aware of history, historical change, and the need to understand it philosophically.
How does your centre interact with others and contribute to the global discussion?
Georg Gangl maintains contacts with his dissertation director, Jouni Matti in Oulu, who has his own centre. I forged links with the University of Brasilia, and have been invited to speak in Universities in Europe, like Navarra, Padua, the Sorbonne, and globally, like in Sun Yat Sen in Guangzhou, the Universities of Brasilia and Macapa in Brazil, and Adolfo Ibanez in Chile. I travel quite a lot, so hopefully we will lead a revival or an “Ostrava Spring” of the field. Elsewhere there are individuals who are sometimes isolated, working on the philosophy of the historical sciences, but no concentration of experts.
What are the special challenges for your institution arising from it being in the CEE region?
Money, money, and more money. We are entirely dependent on grant funding, as long as it lasts. True, the cost of living is very low here, though we are still within cheap and easy commuting distance with Prague, Vienna, and Cracow. So, we can be much more cost efficient than comparable institutions would be in Western Europe and deliver a bang for the buck. Yet, funding can also be more scarce.
What are the main achievements of your institution and its members? What makes you proud to be part of the institution?
The handbook I mentioned above. Adam Timmins published a couple of books, and Černin and Gangl are working on articles and short books in the Elements series of Cambridge UP. I published an element on historiographic reasoning, and a few articles, while working on my grand monograph on scientific Origins that I should bring to a conclusion in the next few months (asking what are origins in science and how are they inferred). The summer school next summer should make a sizeable contribution to educational outreach. The founding conference in November with the participation of the likes of Derek Turner, Carol Cleland, Adrian Currie, Gregory Radick and more, will be the first of its kind, and hopefully not the last.
What are the outlooks, goals and ambitions of the institution?
We hope to continue beyond 2027 when the current grants end, and we are working on securing more grant funding. Georg should transmute his dissertation into a book and David is working on a number of interesting articles for example about the absence of evidence that should eventually lead to a monograph as well.
Are there also special opportunities, what do you wish to highlight for potential collaborators/students/postdocs?
We are looking for speakers at our seminars, especially ones who can visit us. There will be a call for papers for the conference in November, and for students (Visegrad ones will be funded; all will receive free tuition for credit) for the summer school next year. We are open to co-applications for grants and other forms of cooperation.
Tell us about the history of your research centre.
We founded this “Foundation for the Philosophy of Historiography” at the philosophy department of the University of Ostrava in 2023 with grants from the EU and the Czech government. The idea was to create one of the few centres for philosophy of historiography and the historical sciences in the world. We were successful in founding the largest such centre in the world today.
Within the philosophy of science, some philosophers have been in denial that there are sciences other than physics or perhaps also biology. Though, in fact, the historical sciences have been progressively offering new and exciting knowledge that has rewritten human consciousness about our place in time over the last quarter millennia. We have learned that the universe began expanding almost 14 billion years ago and has accelerated its expansion a few billion years ago. We learned the life had some common origin, and about the phylogenies of DNA and species. Geology proved that the continents have been moving and that once they all formed one ancient continent, Pangea. Biology proved that the Neanderthals have not disappeared, but hybridized with homo sapiens. The integration of DNA analysis, philology, and archaeology allowed the reconstruction of ancient migration roots out of Africa. Philology has proved the common origins of language families. The study of primary sources pioneered by Ranke has allowed historians to form highly probable knowledge of the human past, beyond previous myths, ideologies and memories.
Interestingly, there are grounds for an optimistic induction in the historical sciences. Each had a single founding scientific revolution, and since has been expanding knowledge through innovative information theories and methodologies leading to the discovery of new evidence. Yet, nothing substantial has been proven false after the initial scientific revolution, comparably to the changing revolutionary paradigms of physics, as the theories of Newton were falsified. This allows a realist interpretation of the historical sciences that is much more difficult in theoretical sciences like physics that are internally incoherent (quantum vs. relativity) and give grounds for a pessimistic induction.
All the historical sciences are about the transmission of information from past to future. Once this information is decoded reliably, there may be new information to add, but old information is unlikely to be falsified. So, philosophers of science can find a more solid basis for likely knowledge in the historical sciences than in theoretical sciences like physics. This insight however is lost on many philosophers of science who are not familiar with the historical sciences and suffer from what Freud could have called “Physics-envy.”
What are its present activities and makeup?
David Černin has been working at the University of Ostrava for all his career. On the basis of the grant money we were able to hire 3 other researchers: Adam Timmins who is a graduate of the University of York in England and has published a couple of books in the field (Towards a Realist Philosophy of History), Georg Gangl, originally from Graz who did his PhD with Jouni Matti Kuukkannen in Oulu in Finland, and Eugen Zeleniak who is also teaching at the Catholic University in Ruzomberok in Slovakia. With five members, the foundation enjoys the highest concentration of philosophers of historiography (the research of historical scientists) in the world today.
We have regular seminars in person, online (you can watch previous ones on youtube - Georg Gangl interviews Aviezer Tucker), and inhouse, just for us five.
David and I co-edited the Bloomsbury Handbook for the Philosophy of the Historical Sciences and Big History.
We present our work in conferences around the world, such as the European Society for Philosophy of Science, the East European society for Philosophy of Science, and the society for Theory of history. I have been invited recently to speak in Brazil, Chile, and China, as well as around Europe. We are trying to promote and elevate the discussion of the philosophy of the historical sciences globally.
On the basis of a recent grant from the Visegrad Fund, we plan two conferences in Ostrava (this November) and Katowice, and a summer school in 2027 in Ruzomberok. CFP for the conference and later for the summer school will be published soon.
Is the work of your centre affected by its location and if so how (topics, methods)?
The University of Ostrava is new, post-1989. Though this is the second urban agglomeration in the Czech Republic after Prague, it had no university, just a technical university-mining school. This is good for us, because the university has no traditions from the Communist era, such as incompetence, xenophobia, corruption, and antisemitism that I encountered when I taught at Palacky University in Olomouc in the mid-nineties. This makes working easier, with a supportive administration that is open to the world. In contrast to the nineties, even the secretaries and shop assistants want to practice their usually good English on Foreigners. The support of the institution and the relative pluralistic cohesiveness of the five of us allow discussions and debates, and consequently fruitful cooperation. The post-industrial local context means that locals are aware of history, historical change, and the need to understand it philosophically.
How does your centre interact with others and contribute to the global discussion?
Georg Gangl maintains contacts with his dissertation director, Jouni Matti in Oulu, who has his own centre. I forged links with the University of Brasilia, and have been invited to speak in Universities in Europe, like Navarra, Padua, the Sorbonne, and globally, like in Sun Yat Sen in Guangzhou, the Universities of Brasilia and Macapa in Brazil, and Adolfo Ibanez in Chile. I travel quite a lot, so hopefully we will lead a revival or an “Ostrava Spring” of the field. Elsewhere there are individuals who are sometimes isolated, working on the philosophy of the historical sciences, but no concentration of experts.
What are the special challenges for your institution arising from it being in the CEE region?
Money, money, and more money. We are entirely dependent on grant funding, as long as it lasts. True, the cost of living is very low here, though we are still within cheap and easy commuting distance with Prague, Vienna, and Cracow. So, we can be much more cost efficient than comparable institutions would be in Western Europe and deliver a bang for the buck. Yet, funding can also be more scarce.
What are the main achievements of your institution and its members? What makes you proud to be part of the institution?
The handbook I mentioned above. Adam Timmins published a couple of books, and Černin and Gangl are working on articles and short books in the Elements series of Cambridge UP. I published an element on historiographic reasoning, and a few articles, while working on my grand monograph on scientific Origins that I should bring to a conclusion in the next few months (asking what are origins in science and how are they inferred). The summer school next summer should make a sizeable contribution to educational outreach. The founding conference in November with the participation of the likes of Derek Turner, Carol Cleland, Adrian Currie, Gregory Radick and more, will be the first of its kind, and hopefully not the last.
What are the outlooks, goals and ambitions of the institution?
We hope to continue beyond 2027 when the current grants end, and we are working on securing more grant funding. Georg should transmute his dissertation into a book and David is working on a number of interesting articles for example about the absence of evidence that should eventually lead to a monograph as well.
Are there also special opportunities, what do you wish to highlight for potential collaborators/students/postdocs?
We are looking for speakers at our seminars, especially ones who can visit us. There will be a call for papers for the conference in November, and for students (Visegrad ones will be funded; all will receive free tuition for credit) for the summer school next year. We are open to co-applications for grants and other forms of cooperation.
