William T. Lynch (ae8917)

University information

Title: Professor
Unit: History
Department: College of Liberal Arts & Science

Contact information

313-577-2525
Department of History
656 W. Kirby
F/AB, Room 3161
Detroit, 48202

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department: History
Title: Professor
Fax: 313-577-2525
Office:

3161 Faculty/Administration Building

Youtube Videos: https://youtu.be/dx5F_fi-6zI?t=211
Biography:

Ph.D., Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, 1996

Research interest(s)/area of expertise:

Science and Technology Studies

Environmental History

History of Evolutionary Science

Research:
  • The new sciences of cultural evolution
  • The science and politics of chemical and radiological hazards in the twentieth century
  • Dissent and diversity in science
Education – Degrees, Licenses, Certifications: Ph.D., Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, 1996 M.A., Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University, 1993 M.S., Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech, 1989 B.S., Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1987
Awards and grants:

 Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award, 2022

Selected publications:

Minority Report: Dissent and Diversity in Science. Collective Studies in Knowledge and Society series. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021.

“Behind the Screens: Post-truth, Populism, and the Circulation of Elites,” Analyse & Kritik 43 (2), (2021): 367–393.

“Method and Control: Naturalizing Scientific Culture in Bacon’s Novum organum,” Epistemology & Philosophy of Science 58 (3), (2021): 69-77.

“Between Kin Selection and Cultural Relativism: Cultural Evolution and the Origin of Inequality,” Perspectives on Science 27 (2) (2019): 278-315.

“The Domestication of Animals and the Roots of the Anthropocene,” Journal of the History of Biology 52 (1) (2019): 201-217.
“Imre Lakatos and the Inexhaustible Atom: The Hidden Marxist Roots of History and Philosophy of Science,” Epistemology & Philosophy of Science, 55 (3), 2018, 25-34.

“After the Gold Rush: Cleaning Up after Steve Fuller’s Theosis,” Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 48 (5), 2018, 505–523.

"Cultural Evolution and Social Epistemology: A Darwinian Alternative to Steve Fuller’s Theodicy of Science." Social Epistemology, 31 (2), 2017, 224-34.

“Second-Guessing Scientists and Engineers: Post Hoc Criticism and the Reform of Practice in Green Chemistry and Engineering,” Science and Engineering Ethics, 21 (5), 2015, 1217-40.

“Thresholds of Change: Why Didn’t Green Chemistry Happen Sooner,” Technology’s Stories, Society for the History of Science, 3 (1): April 2015, http://www.technologystories.org.

Citation index:

684 citations (Google Scholar)


Irvin D. Reid Honors College

Last semester taught: Fall 2023
Department:

 History

Courses taught by William T. Lynch

Winter Term 2025 (future)

Winter Term 2024

Fall Term 2023

Winter Term 2023

Fall Term 2022

Winter Term 2022

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