Ian Hacking (Feb 18, 1936 - Present)

By phil202mp

  • Becoming Logical

    Ian Hacking started his career with a passion for taking abstract concepts of probability and turning them into practical means of statistical understanding. In his first book, Ian lays the foundations for the rest of his life's work by jotting down a sort of road-map explaining how statistical data can be gathered and turned into a probable outcome (Hacking). This first writing was unique in that it went into very complex detail about statistics and probability, where other's had not (Longva).

  • The Development of Probability

    Hacking began a "broad interest in the history of probability" (Longva) with his book, The Emergence of Probability. Within it, he begins to take his first steps in philosophy by asking the tough questions of how probability came to be thought of and developed instead of the traditional way of asking when it was discovered. He explores the back-drop of what influenced scientists during their discovery of probability, and how those factors impacted their theories (Hacking).

  • Intervening

    One of Ian's most notable achievements is on the social structure and how science impacts it. Between his development of probabilities and his philosophy on how they originated, Hacking made a compelling argument in his book, Representing and Intervening, for the humanness of science. It challenged Thomas Kuhn's thesis on the matter, which greatly impacted the humanities of science (Gooding). Ian focused on the "crisis of the rationality of science" (1-18), and applied an antidote.
  • Period: to

    Social Philosophy

    Ian Hacking has continued to write tremendous works, and is making an impact on modern thought from a perspective-based stand point. In a publication in 1995, he philosophizes how multiple personalities can exist, and what it means in the medical and political fields as captured in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I4yULQVbM0. Ian has continued on with his thoughts on probabilities and the humanness of science, publishing books as recently as 2014 (Balzan Prize Foundation).