Sign in

Jan Potters

@janpotters.bsky.social
514 followers 401 following 154 posts

Philosophy of Science, History of Physics; Postdoc University of Antwerp (Belgium)

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jan Potters
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A good day for the Ghent HOPOS-tradition (I take the liberty of considering @masssimons.bsky.social as part of that tradition, I don't think he will mind?)
062
Reposted by Jan Potters
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My article arguing that Nathan Cofnas's race realism is rightly labelled as pseudoscience is now also published at @skeptic.org.uk. Honoured to have it up there.
15824
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What can we learn from the history of philosophy of experimentation, you ask? Well, tell me your philosophy of experiment, and I'll show you what you take to be the goal of philosophy of science! Very nice paper by Massimiliano, building on our earlier work in @hoposjournal.bsky.social
073
Reposted by Jan Potters
Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
via Siska De Baerdemaeker: 2 #HPS #philjobs in Philosophy Dept @ Stockholm Uni: 1. #PhilSci w/ a focus on social epistemology, values & science: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... 2. #HistSci or #DigitalHumanities: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Deadline: November 8, 2026.
su.varbi.com
Researcher in Philosophy of Science
The Department of Philosophy at Stockholm University is the largest in Sweden, with vibrant research groups in a wide range of philosophical disciplines. The department has significant strengths in ph
11712
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Zo veel filosofen om uit te kiezen, en dan ga je voor Kuhn als meest overrated, extra-ordinaire claim, ben benieuwd naar je extra-ordinaire bewijsmateriaal ;)
100
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Miss Jay's Shocked Reaction
ALT: Miss Jay's Shocked Reaction
110
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ja, de prent leek me een goede illustratie van je vooruitziendheid in onverdachte tijden!
011
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
bsky.app/profile/jenb...
120
Reposted by Jan Potters
__________ @jenbren.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Simpsons meme

A journalist in a press conference audienxe standing up & asking

me watching everyone suddenly turning on Ed Sheeran:

WHY NOW? WHY NOT THE VERY FIRST TIME YOU EVER HEARD HIS MUSIC?
31972253
Reposted by Jan Potters
Bestor - Belgian Science and Technology Online Resources @bestor2008.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Call for submissions open at Gewina! The Gewina–Descartes–Huygens Thesis Prize recognizes outstanding master’s theses in the history of science and universities. Deadline: 1 November 2026 More information via the link: www.gewina.nl/call-for-sub...
086
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Pre-order done, according to the bookstore's website it shoud be available here (Brussels) on the 8th of October
010
Reposted by Jan Potters
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
@deafspraak.bsky.social Waarom blijven journalisten herhalen dat Cofnas onderzoek doet naar ras en IQ. Stop daar aub mee. Hij schrijft ideologische traktaten over ras op zijn blog, hij doet er geen onderzoek naar.
1449
Reposted by Jan Potters
Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Call for Nominations: 2026 Hanneke Janssen Memorial Prize by Radboud University for best work in History &/or Philosophy of Modern Physics, by a student as part of Masters Thesis Prize: 2000 euros Nominations by a supervisor due by October 5, 2026 Qs & submit to sandra.hendriks@donders.ru.nl #HPS ⚛️
0109
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Bouke de Vries verwees pas nog naar hen in Knack!
110
Reposted by Jan Potters
Simone Schleper 🟥 @moneschleper.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Hello #sts #histsci folks. I am looking for an accessible reading, undergraduate level, that talks about science, trust and authority, maybe the scientific persona, in the post truth, climate crisis, trump2 era. Oreskes 2019 is great, but a bit long… suggestions?
61211
Reposted by Jan Potters
Sander Verhaegh @sanderverhaegh.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
In the 1930s, a group of European philosophers fled fascism and reshaped American philosophy. Why did logical positivism have such an impact on US thought? And why did it play a central role in the culture wars of the 1950s and 1960s? Released today! Logical Positivism: An American History (1/3)
Cover of Logical Positivism: An American History
518654
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
En weer is het de academicus die hier de pertinente vragen op tafel moet werpen
110
Reposted by Jan Potters
Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The world's most notorious custard-pie thrower is dead. What an obituary. He got Bernard-Henri Lévy seven times.
​Known to his army of fans as L’Entarteur or Georges le Gloupier, Godin launched his career as a serial deflator of egos in 1969, when he planted a tarte à la crème on the face of the French novelist Marguerite Duras (“She has a kind of intelligence and cleverness that serves only her own vanity,” he complained), and he went on to “pie” a cast list of celebrities for sins ranging from pomposity to “choosing to function in the service of the capitalist status quo”.The same could not be said of Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France’s “new philosophers,” whose provocative views on sex, frequent appearances on television and penchant for white silk shirts unbuttoned practically to the navel, had made him a cult figure – and one of Godin’s most satisfying victims.

Levy once declared: “I am the most gifted writer of my generation,” and often boasted of his reasonableness and tolerance, but he was forced to endure footage being repeatedly shown on French television of himself, covered in cream, during a visit to the Belgian city of Liège, trying to strangle Godin and shouting: “Get up, or I’ll kick your head in.”Noël Godin was born on September 13 1945 and came to pie-throwing after a rebellious youth in which he scandalised the priests in the confessional by speaking of his “horrible sexual life”, and was thrown out of Liège University after emptying a pot of glue over the head of a law lecturer who had helped write the constitution for the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar.

He found work at Friends of Film, an obscure magazine published by the Belgian Catholic League. It had a tiny readership, which was just as well, as Godin made up most of his articles. In one he claimed that Louis Armstrong had once been a cannibal and had invested in a film called The Vegetables of Good Will in which Claudia Cardinale played a giant endive.

In another he conjured up a fictional blind Thai filmmaker named Vivian Pei, describing her film, The Lotus Flower Will Never Again Grow on the Edge of Your Island, in such convincing terms that an Asian film specialist travelled to Thailand in an effort to track her down.“We’re very careful not to hurt people,’’ he explained. “Well, they are hurt, but always in their amour-propre.”

In 1995 Godin published an autobiography, Cream and Punishment. His other targets over the years included the New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard (who charmed his assailant by hailing the attack as a homage to silent film), the French politician Nicolas Sarkozy, the choreographer Maurice Béjart and the Ryanair chairman Michael O​’Leary. He tended not to pick Belgian victims, he explained, because few would notice if he did.
131363640
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Vergeet ook zijn baanbrekend stofzuiger-onderzoek niet! scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/paq/arti...
scholarlypublishingcollective.org
Should Men Vacuum More?
Abstract. Cross-national surveys show that among heterosexual couples who share a household, women tend to perform more housework than their male partners. Many feminists believe that this must be unj...
100
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Seize those means of transportation!
020
Reposted by Jan Potters
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter. forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
forms.gle
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond to the negative and incorrect framing of Ghent University’s decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. With th...
421493642
Reposted by Jan Potters
Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Q for #histSTM colleagues: I'm out of the loop - is anyone *currently* doing good stuff with Kuhn/Paradigms as a genuinely useful model for exploring *specific* (ideally post-1800) case studies of changing scientific theories? Not just oblig ref but as explicit way to structure story/explanation?
178
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
And there's this very interesting article by Alisa Bokulich and Federica Bocchi about Kuhn's philosophy of measurement and the determination of physical constants (not specifically about paradigm's though): philarchive.org/rec/BOKKTL
philarchive.org
010
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
There's this article by Yafeng Shan in which he uses Kuhn's paradigm-notion to study the development of early genetics: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Kuhn’s “wrong turning” and legacy today - Synthese
Alexander Bird indicates that the significance of Thomas Kuhn in the history of philosophy of science is somehow paradoxical. On the one hand, Kuhn was one of the most influential and important philos...
120
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
One of the editors of the Journal, Francesca Minerva, was also a postdoc in Ghent for a while: research.ugent.be/web/person/f.... I think it was even during her time there that the Journal was founded.
research.ugent.be
Projects of Francesca Minerva
Research Explorer - List of research projects for Francesca Minerva by role. Click on the project tile for more details.
1110
Reposted by Jan Potters
Elif Oezmen @elifoezmen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Ich, wenn jemand ERC Grant sagt
1263
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Haha I can only remember suffering so not that much I think
010
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
PFP passed me on Ventoux a few months ago during training (the week before Roubaix), she was flying then so let's hope so
110
Reposted by Jan Potters
Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
That fifa can make uefa seem to have any principles is quite an achievement.
0103
Reposted by Jan Potters
innes mck @innes.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
but they already made a historically accurate version of the odyssey?
three men, grinning, stand in front of an old timey microphone in a still from O Brother Where Art Thou
393524622
Reposted by Jan Potters
Eoghan Walsh @eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
I am afeaid to say it but it is now incumbent on you all to support Belgium tomorrow.
1205
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
I'll be using this as an excuse when Belgium loses, thanks DJT
020
Reposted by Jan Potters
lilastromech (Mischa) @mischajaye.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The cooling system was installed by the village AC technician, Thermodynamix 😊
6449471403
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Yeah, we are quite hopefull as well. Is it an intro course your teaching? Bachelor or master?
100
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Yeah they are (mostly) philosophy students
110
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Yes, we also score them (albeit only small percentage) on class attendance
100
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
We hope that by doing the tests in class, the chance that they will pass with an AI-generated summary will be significantly reduced. Presentations are graded both on how well they present the material and on how good they can respond to questions of others. Curious to see how it will work
100
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
We are planning a course in which we will carry out small weekly tests on the mandatory reading material. They will also need to present the reading material to each other in small groups. A lot of work for them during the semester, but no exam or final paper to compensate.
100
Reposted by Jan Potters
Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I love this. Unmute.
8387982721
Reposted by Jan Potters
Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Rosencrantz: what time is it? Guildenstern, looking at his watch: t Rosencrantz, later: now what time is it Guildenstern, frowning: now it’s t again. Or t still? Rosencrantz: that can’t be right. It’s got to be t+1 or something eventually Guildenstern: the watch hand just keeps clicking back…
1437
Reposted by Jan Potters
The HOPOS Journal @hoposjournal.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
We are delighted to announce that HOPOS will become a publication of Cambridge University Press @universitypress.cambridge.org as of 2027. All publications starting with vol. 17 will be open access. It is an honor to join the Cambridge family of journals. #HOPOS #HPS #philsky #philosophy #histsci
Blue and red and white announcement that HOPOS will join Cambridge University Press. Follow link in post for more details.
22410
Reposted by Jan Potters
Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Call for papers (<10K words unpublished) for 2026 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics Topic: Newton’s Principia & its reception (300th anniversary of 3rd Ed.) Prize $1,000, workshop, & pub in SHPS Open to grad students & w/in 5 yrs PhD Deadline: September 1, 2026 www.duchateletprize.org #HPS
A painting of Du Châtelet in 18thC dress at her desk with her books & compass. Text: The Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics
14223
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Preprint of a forthcoming paper in HOPOS @hoposjournal.bsky.social on Thomas Kuhn's (unpublished) work on the history of quantum physics
0118
Reposted by Jan Potters
PhilSci-Archive @philsci-archive.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
New on the Archive: Potters, Jan (2027) Sharpening Philosophical Concepts: Thomas Kuhn and the History of Quantum Physics. [Preprint] philsci-archive.pitt.edu/29809
053
Reposted by Jan Potters
Natalie Alana Ashton @natalan.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
happy boards of canada day to all who celebrate
1315
Reposted by Jan Potters
Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences issued a statement on the hiring of Nathan Cofnas /43 www.ugent.be/lw/philosoph...
ugent.be
Positions of the Department on the Appointment of Dr. Nathan Cofnas as Scientific Staff Member
This text sets out the positions of the Department of Philosophy & Moral Sciences (LW01) at Ghent University on the decision to hire Nathan Cofnas as postdoctoral researcher
76317
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Er is ook de reus van Lycien Buysse: www.weekvandebelgischemusea.be/nl-NL/projec...
weekvandebelgischemusea.be
mudel - reus Lucien Buysse | museumPASSmusées
In 2026 is het exact honderd jaar geleden dat Deinzenaar Lucien Buysse de Ronde van Frankrijk won. De Tour van 1926 staat te boek als de zwaarste editie...
000
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
En mini Serge Gainsbourg: m.youtube.com/watch?v=unYu...
m.youtube.com
French Kids Paying Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg (1988)
YouTube video by Back to the Past
010
Reposted by Jan Potters
Society for the History of the Philosophy of Technology (HPT) @hptsociety.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
📢 Call for Abstracts 2nd International Conference on the History of the Philosophy of Technology 📍 Maastricht University 🗓 Oct 26–28, 2026 Theme: National and Cultural Traditions in the Philosophy of Technology 📅 Deadline: May 25, 2026 #philtech #histtech fasos-research.nl/history-of-p...
fasos-research.nl
CfA: 2nd International Conference ‘The History of the Philosophy of Technology’ (Maastricht, October 26-28, 2026) | HoPoT
0109
Jan Potters @janpotters.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
I don't know whether we discussed holes, but in the seminar I followed we discussed the borders of mountains, Deleuze's Différence et Répétition and Max Black's objection to Leibniz's law. Pretty fascinating combination to look back on 😅
120