Tenure
August 2020 - June 2021

Franklin Jacoby

Postdoctoral Fellow

Franklin’s main research interests lie in the philosophy of science, particularly with how to characterize the nature and scope of scientific knowledge as a historically situated form of inquiry. Other interests include philosophy of language and epistemology, subjects that he believes can inform and enrich our understanding of scientific knowledge, modeling practices, and debates about realism in science.  

Franklin’s work engages with the history of science as well as contemporary science for case studies; he has drawn on diverse fields ranging from the history of chemistry and astronomy to modern physics and biology. While an ICE fellow at Dartmouth, Franklin will explore how origin-of-life studies can best characterize life and distinguish it from the non-living. He is interesting in articulating how we make this distinction and what constraints our existing views of life may place upon our imagining the possible forms life can take.

In summer 2020, Franklin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in the U.K., where he also completed his M.Sc. degree. He has taught visiting courses in philosophy of science and of mind at College of the Atlantic in the U.S., and tutored philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science at the University of Edinburgh.