Acceptance speech: 18th Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in the Humanities

Acceptance speech by Nancy Cartwright, of Durham University, United Kingdom, and the University of California San Diego, United States, who was honored for her “decisive contributions” to the philosophy of science, according to the jury.

Cartwright highlights the need to study science not as an abstract ideal, but as it is actually practiced, taking into account the interaction between theory, experiment, methods and specific contexts. She defends the intrinsic value of the humanities and, in particular, of philosophy, while emphasizing that their practical usefulness depends on collaboration with other fields of knowledge. She also stresses that reliable advances, from medical interventions to social policies, arise from the combination of multiple forms of knowledge and methodologies.