Prof. Dr. Torsten Wilholt

Torsten Wilholt is a philosopher of science. Most of his recent work focusses on the conditions under which scientific knowledge is generated today, in particular on the epistemological repercussions of these conditions. He joined the faculty at Hannover as Professor of Philosophy and History of the Natural Sciences in 2011.

In the context of SOCRATES, Torsten Wilholt is particularly interested in the tensions that arise from the facts that being given epistemic trust is different from being worthy of it and that pursuing credibility regularly includes reconciling the potentially conflicting goals of being trusted and being trustworthy. He aims to contribute to a philosophical account of scientific credibility that does justice to these tensions and at the same time helps to understand whether and in what sense it is possible for science to reconcile the goal of social legitimacy with a claim to epistemic authority. This will be done within the framework of a philosophy of scientific expertise that acknowledges the phenomenon of epistemic dependence on science and at the same time takes seriously the reciprocal connections between science and (the rest of) society.