April 17th, 2026, hosted by: Research Center Normative Orders, Goethe Universität Frankfurt
Call for Proposals
Sociology and philosophy have always shared a close relationship. Critical Theory famously tied the two disciplines together to unravel societal phenomena, and feminist philosophers regularly borrow sociological concepts to understand domination and power asymmetries. Similarly, sociologists often draw on philosophical concepts to sharpen their analyses. In recent years, this dialogue has gained new momentum through the so-called “practice turn” in epistemology and philosophy of science. Contemporary philosophy of science and applied epistemology increasingly incorporate empirical methods originally developed within the social sciences such as interviews and ethnographic studies. But while empirical approaches from sociology are frequently adopted, social-theoretical concepts remain rarely integrated within epistemology and philosophy of science. It is the goal of this workshop to explore the potential of social theory for empirical approaches in philosophy of science and epistemology. What are instances of fruitful applications of social theory to philosophy of science and epistemological scholarship? How does social theory transform when it is resituated in a different disciplinary setting? What are caveats and best practices when using social theory as a philosopher of science/epistemologist?
We are looking for workshop contributions that are focused on but not limited to:
– Examples of using social theory along with empirical methods in philosophy of science and epistemology
– Reflections on methodological and conceptual challenges when transferring social-theoretical concepts into philosophical work.
Workshop contributions will also be considered for publication in a special issue (target journal: Synthese) on social theory in empirical philosophy of science & epistemology.
Send submissions to: sophie.juliane.veigl@univie.ac.at; Riegler@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Timeline:
Submission Deadline: 14 February 2026 Notification of Acceptance: 1 March 2026 Workshop: 17 April 2026 Workshop for SI contributors: 1 October 2026 Deadline for SI submissions: 1 December 2026
