The research fields of SPHERE laboratory members intersect between science, philosophy and history.
The specificity of our unit is to study all scientific knowledge and practices (astronomy, biology, chemistry, logic, mathematics, medicine, physics, natural philosophy, epistemology of science, etc.) from both a historical and philosophical point of view, across all periods, from Antiquity to the present day, and in all geographical, cultural and linguistic areas.
To this end, all methods from the humanities and social sciences are thoroughly assessed and applied to the philosophical and scientific content of texts and other documents from scholarly practice. This broadening of the scope of research methodologies is accompanied by a constant concern not to neglect the intrinsic technicality of scientific activities, regardless of where, when and by whom they were produced. As a result, SPHERE's research never stops at the social or institutional history of knowledge alone, but always aims to enlighten scientific and philosophical content by combining conceptual and contextual analysis.
The work conducted at SPHERE is centered on the study of texts, particularly those based on ancient, medieval and modern sources (Chinese, Sanskrit, Sumerian, Akkadian, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, as well as all the vernacular languages of scientific knowledge), which require philological, ecdotic, critical editing, translation and digital humanities work that is the core activity of many of our members.
However, some members express an interest in embodied knowledge, techniques, instruments and the reiteration of experiences.
On the other hand, research carried out in our laboratory on more recent, sometimes very contemporary periods, requires the use of other, more analytical methods or qualitative and/or quantitative investigations.
A certain idea of historical thoroughness has sometimes led to research that is highly localized in space and time, creating artificial barriers between different cultures and eras. One of our shared ambitions is to avoid such compartmentalization, in order to develop tools for a global history of science. In particular, we are convinced that the study of the various circulations of knowledge since Antiquity, across the whole planet, can illuminate more contemporary issues in the history and philosophy of science, as well as in the areas of ethics and politics.
SPHERE laboratory consists of CNRS researchers and teacher-researchers from several organizations (Université Paris Cité, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie).
The unit also welcomes a large number of teacher-researchers from other universities and establishments abroad. This integration into the academic world is essential to the development of our activities, and we are strongly committed to research-based training .
We also aim to embed our activities at the heart of society. In addition to providing expert advice on public policy, we are developing activities in the field of scientific outreach and enhancement, through the organization of exhibitions, participatory research and training seminars. The members of the laboratory are therefore keen to explore all possible partnerships with non-academic entities.
