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Birth of A Philosopher
Ian Hacking was born in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He went on to earn his BA in Mathematics and Physics from the University of British Columbia. Later, he earned his BA, MA and PhD in Moral Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Resource:
Grandy, Karen. "Ian Hacking". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 16 December 2013, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ian-hacking. Accessed 04 February 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFIg0vNKkJc -
What are The Chances?
In his book "The Taming Of Chance" (Hacking, 1990), Ian wrote about the shift from viewing the world as subject to the laws of nature to the realization of a new "normal". By the end of the 19th century, People and consequently, the natural sciences, no longer had their actions determined by the past. This opened the door for "chance" and "probability", deviating from what was "normal".
Resource-
Hacking, Ian. The Taming of Chance. Cambridge University Press, (1990), pp 1-10. Print. -
Memory and Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)
In his book "Rewriting the Soul: Multiple Personality and the science of memory", Ian takes a look back to France from 1874-1886 for the history of memory and mental health. Traumatic memories, it seems, is the precursor of MPD's. Ian wanted to empirically study the soul to understand the effects of memory and causes of MPD.
Resource-
Hacking, Ian. Rewriting the Soul Multiple Personality and the Sciences of Memory . Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, (1999): pp. 11-14. Print -
The Philosophy of Mathematics
In looking back at the "ancient" philosophy of mathematics through Plato and the "enlightenment" philosophy through Kant, Ian discovers that the two are very much interwoven. The ancient view was that something was "out there" and the enlightenment philosophy was that a result must be certain. Both schools of thought emphasized finding the proof.
Resource-
Hacking, Ian. “Why Is There Philosophy of Mathematics AT ALL?” South African Journal of Philosophy 30.1 (2011): 1–15. Web. -
The Styles Project
In "'Language, Truth and Reason' Thirty Years Later" (Hacking, 2012), Ian wanted to lay out the philosophical differences, or "styles" of scientific "knowing" that has historically and continued to exist across the scientific fields, calling this investigation "The Styles Project". He believed that there existed more than one method or truth to scientific inquiry.
Resource-
Sciortino, Luca. “On Ian Hacking’s Notion of Style of Reasoning.” Erkenntnis 82.2 (2017): pp. 243–264. Web.