Thomas Pradeu

Who am I?

CNRS Senior Researcher/Research Director (Directeur de recherche 1ère classe) (Tenured, full-time research position)

I created in 2014 and I have been ever since the PI of the “Conceptual Biology and Medicine“ team at ImmunoConcept. Since 2020, Maël Lemoine and I are the co-PI of the team.

In 2020-2021, I was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at the University of Stanford, USA.

My book The Limits of the Self: Immunology and Biological Identity (Oxford University Press, 2012) received the Lakatos Award for an outstanding contribution to philosophy of science.

Publications, conferences, CV

► List of publications

► List of recent conferences

► Link to a short CV (May 2022)

My work deals with philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, and conceptual/theoretical biology. My research focuses on philosophy of immunology, microbiology, cancer biology, developmental biology, and physiology, often at the interface between philosophy of biology and philosophy of medicine.

My Research Projects

I am the coordinator of the International Network for Philosophy in Biology and Medicine (PhilInBioMed).

I was recently the PI of the ERC-funded IDEM project (2015-2020).

I work on theoretical and conceptual immunology, cancer (tumor microenvironment, oncoimmunology, cancer & evolution, definition of metastasis, etc.), and the microbiome & symbiosis. From a philosophical point of view, I work on biological individuality, metaphysics of science, and on how philosophical and theoretical thinking contributes to science.

Other research activities

Responsibilities in research

• Associate Editor, Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology (Book series at MIT Press)
• 2017-2022: Associate Editor, Biology & Philosophy.
• Since 2022: Member of the Editorial Board, Biology & Philosophy.
• Since 2022: Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Philosophy of Medicine.
• From 2015 to December 2016: Associate Editor, European Journal for Philosophy of Science (official journal of European Philosophy of Science Association, EPSA).
• Since June 2017: Member of Editorial Board, European Journal for Philosophy of Science (official journal of European Philosophy of Science Association, EPSA).
• 2019-2023: Member of the Scientific Board of CNRS Life Science Department.
• Member of the Site Selection Committee at the International Society for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB).
• Membre du comité de lecture de la revue Les Etudes philosophiques (PUF)
• Membre du comité éditorial de la collection “Sciences : concepts et problèmes” (Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté)
• Membre du CA et du Bureau de la Société de philosophie des sciences (SPS), Vice-président de la SPS en charge des Conférences Duhem.
• Membre de l’équipe de rédaction du Système d’Information en Philosophie des Sciences (SIPS).
• Adhésions à des sociétés savantes : membre de la Société de philosophie des sciences (SPS), de la Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), de l’International Society for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB).

Referee for the following journals in science & in philosophy

• In biology: Biological Reviews; Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; Frontiers in Immunology; Infection, Genetics and Evolution; Médecine-Sciences; Molecular Oncology; Nature Reviews Immunology; PLoS Biology; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS); Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism; Trends in Immunology.
• In philosophy: Biological Theory; Biology and Philosophy; British Journal for the Philosophy of Science; Erkenntnis; Les Etudes philosophiques; European Journal for Philosophy of Science; History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences; Journal of Philosophy; Philosophie; Philosophy of Science; Review of Philosophy and Psychology; Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Synthese.

Referee for the following publishers

Oxford University Press; Springer; Routledge.