Vera Straetmanns
PhD student working on plant philosophy and its history 🌱 recent paper: "The Lady and the Plants: Two Notions of Teleology in Agnes Arber’s Philosophy of Plants"; read it here: rdcu.be/d5xPI | fan of Tolkien and board games | she/her
- Last November, I gave an online talk at the MINT Lab in Murcia about my dissertation project. You can read about it in this nice blog post: www.um.es/mintlab/inde... Thanks @luciacneco.bsky.social for the invitation and thanks to the group for their interesting questions and comments! 😊🌱 #HPBio
- I am very happy to have been awarded the 4th place in the prize for young researchers of the SPS (Societé de philosophie des sciences) with my paper on Agnes Arber and her understanding of teleology (link.springer.com/article/10.1...)! 🥳 Congrats to Dejan Makovec who won the competition! 👏 #PhDSky
- Congrats also to @augustenahas.bsky.social, @olesyabondarenko.bsky.social and Vladimire Vumatay!
- I'm very much looking forward to @cshambaugh.bsky.social finally explaining once and for all what the f*** dialectical biology is! 😃 #HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
- Next Monday, we welcome @cshambaugh.bsky.social from the University of Oregon in our ROTO Lecture Series who will talk about dialectical biology. Just register via the link and join the talk and discussion at 4pm (CET): rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... #HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
- This week, we celebrate Democracy Week in the GA building of @ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Come around, if you're on campus! We've put together a really great program: uni.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/sites/uni.ru... Let's stand together against any queer- and democracy-hostile tendencies! 🏳️🌈
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsLGBTQ+ Journal Club is turning 1! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈To celebrate, here's a bit about what we've been up to over the past year: a thread of interesting papers in queer biology (1/n) ⬇️🧵
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsApply to join a team of wonderful colleagues at Philosophy at TU Dresden. I am advertising a 2-year PostDoc position in philosophy of science/philosophy of physics as part of the DFG project 'Progress through Principles', deadline 03.11.2025. Details: tinyurl.com/493dffby #philsci #philsky
- Even on a grey and rainy day in October (or especially then?), the botanical garden at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de is just magical 🤩🍂
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsA big thanks to @celsoneto.bsky.social who gave an inspiring talk on race reification in human genomics research yesterday! Thank you also to everyone who joined the talk and the great discussion afterwards! #HPBio #PhilSci #PhilMed
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsPostdoc Opportunity - Interested in plant scaling, quantitative botany, or theoretical plant biology? join our group to explore how plant form, function & scaling principles connect across levels of organization www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-postdoctoral-fellowships-in-plant-biology🧪🌾🌐
- I'm very much looking forward to the BPC conference tomorrow and on Friday at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de! Everyone is welcome to attend and you can also watch the stream on zoom. I will give a talk at 4pm about early 20th century concepts of plant agency (featuring Arber, Ungerer and Francé). 🌿
- We are organising the 1st Basic Principles of Cognition conference at RUB, Germany, 9-10 October 2025. Save the date! #MinimalCognition #BasalCognition #CognitiveScience #CogSci #Philosophy #Mind #Life #Organism #Evolution basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com #EPSA25 #ESPP #GAP12 #KogWiss
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsNach drei anregenden Tagen ist die Jahrestagung #gwmt2025 schon wieder vorbei. Wir danken dem lokalen Organisationsteam für die tolle Vorbereitung! Allen Teilnehmenden eine gute und sichere Heimreise und wir sehen uns 2026 in Prag!
- Happy to be in Dresden for my 3rd conference this year: the annual meeting of the German Society for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. Looking forward to learning a lot about animal history after already talking about plant history at the FoGeL meeting yesterday. 🦉🌳 #PhDSky #HistSci
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsI am quite excited to share a new preprint on the prospects for a 'metaphilosophy of science'—a second-order inquiry into the concepts, assumptions, aims, and methods that underpin philosophy of science itself. 👇📃 philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26661/ 1/3 #philsci #philsky #HPS #HPbio #metaphilosophy
- We have some really great talks lined up for this semester 🤩
- New semester, new lecture series 🎉Starting next month, we welcome amazing scholars to give online talks in the history and philosophy of life sciences. Find all dates and registration links here: rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... We look forward to seeing you there 🤗 #PhilSci #HistSci #HPBio
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsWe are organising the 1st Basic Principles of Cognition conference at RUB, Germany, 9-10 October 2025. Save the date! #MinimalCognition #BasalCognition #CognitiveScience #CogSci #Philosophy #Mind #Life #Organism #Evolution basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com #EPSA25 #ESPP #GAP12 #KogWiss
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsWe’re taking a short mid-season break, but we’ll be back next week with more great conversations! In the meantime, why not catch up on some of our earlier episodes? They’re well worth a listen. www.hpsunimelb.org/the-hps-podc... #HPS #philsci #histsci #sts
- Reposted by Vera Straetmanns
- #EPSA2025 was a really great experience! Thank you to @epsaphilsci.bsky.social and all the local organizers for creating this beautiful event! Inspiring talks, friendly people, interesting posters and dinner in a church - what else could you ask for?! 😀 #PhDSky #PhilSci
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsWishing a very #Goethe birthday to this guy. (Engraving by James Posselwhite)
- Gave my talk today at the @epsaphilsci.bsky.social meeting, speaking about plant agency in Agnes Arber, Emil Ungerer and Raoul Francé. 🌳🤓 Thank you to everyone who attended, it was a really great session and an engaged audience! 🤩 #PhDSky #HistSci #PhilSci
- Happy to be at the meeting of @epsaphilsci.bsky.social in Groningen! Already had a great day yesterday visiting the amazing botanical garden, having a great Poké-Bowl for dinner and chilling in my hostel bunk bed 😃 #PhDSky #PhilSci
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsThe Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University is Hiring! We are searching for a Director of the Oregon State University Herbarium and applications are welcomed at the ranks of assistant, associate, or full professor.
- Rereading Rudi Schmid's paper on Agnes Arber from 2001 (academic.oup.com/aob/article-...) and appreciating all the hours of work he must have put into this meticulously researched piece! So valuable!!
- Reposted by Vera Straetmanns🔎 We are looking for new associate editors to join our Biological Flora team!🌷 🌲Do you have expert knowledge of one or more aspects of diverse species of vascular plants either in Britain and Ireland or in other regions globally?🌺 👉 More info: buff.ly/rmzadTG
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsThe NMNH Department of Botany is looking for a Museum Specialist. Please spread the word!
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsAs requested - A Starter Pack of PIs in Biology (or related fields) who are recruiting PHD STUDENTS! If you would like to be added, feel free to ask! go.bsky.app/Bf4DRFmat://did:plc:hsnbex4tim4ajhv3dmgr4x5a/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lub2nmqyzd2n
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsI’m deeply inspired after attending my first ISHPSSB in Porto. I was excited by the diversity of problems and the openness of the community. I felt truly impressed and grateful for the responses to my work (on varieties of organicism and the metaphysics of phylogenetic systematics). Until next time!
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsScientists! @skypeascientist.bsky.social matches scientists with classrooms, libraries, & more for virtual Q&As! It's easy and fun! We are looking for 750 more volunteers by 8/15 If you're down to chat with 1-5 classrooms this semester, sign up here www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html
- Reposted by Vera Straetmanns
If you missed that great Cognizing life conference in Tubingen organized by Christoph Hueck two weeks ago, here are the videos of the presentations. Talks by Denis Walsh, Joan Steigerwald, Dan Nicholson and many others.  www.clc2025.de/videos - Back in the office after returning from Porto yesterday. I had a blast at #ISHPSSB2025! Thanks for all the great talks, the amazing community and a special thanks to everyone who came to my talk on the morning after the conference dinner to listen to me talking about the history of plant agency! 🥰🌳
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsThe Palácio da Bolso! I think this is the most opulent venue for a conference dinner I have ever been to! Thank you @mstrechtalmeida.bsky.social & rest of local organizing committee for putting together this fabulous conference, spectacular venues, & for being such wonderful hosts! 🙏💕🇵🇹#ISHPSSB2025
- Amazing session this afternoon at #ISHPSSB2025 about "Reimagining gardens"! 🌷🌳 Go check out the project pollinator.art by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg - it's really cool!
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsThis week @universitypress.cambridge.org has granted free access to all titles in the collection of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, edited by Grant Ramsey. There are many options to choose from! Happy reading! 📕👇 www.cambridge.org/core/publica... #philsci #HPbio #evosky #ISHPSSB2025
- Looking forward to the "Cognizing Life Conference 2025", 16.-19. July! With talks by @djnicholson.bsky.social, @dalianassar.bsky.social, @gregoryrupik.bsky.social, @philippehune.bsky.social and many more! You can participate online, all info here: www.clc2025.de #HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsWhat can slime moulds teach us about biological memory? Quite a bit, it turns out. Matthew Sims (@philosobio.bsky.social) dives into this question in a wonderfully engaging piece for @aeon.co. Give it a read—before it slips your mind! 👇 aeon.co/essays/what-... #HPS #philsky #HPbio #evobio #neurosky
- Great session with @alejandrofabregastejeda.com today! 😊
- 🤗A big thanks to @alejandrofabregastejeda.com for giving helpful advices on "How to network (at conferences)?" at the @epsaphilsci.bsky.social Junior Scholar series. It was great how you reminded all of us that conferences are about real human connections and not only career! 🧑🤝🧑
- Reposted by Vera Straetmannsadd yours!
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsHere we go! Queer Approaches to Tolkien: Essays on the Many Paths to Middle-earth, edited by Robin Reid, Chris Vaccaro, and Steve Yandell, is once again available for pre-order with a brand new cover 😁 The image for which is from Shutterstock with no AI 💜 mcfarlandbooks.com/product/quee...
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsOTD in 1875, Charles Darwin’s Insectivorous Plants was published. These plants show “extreme sensitiveness,” more even than the human body, as well as “the power of transmitting various impulses from one part of the leaf to another,” all despite lacking “any nervous system.” 🐋🌱🧪 #HistSTM #EvoBio
- Last talk of our Lecture Series for this semester today!
- We are very happy to welcome Havi Carel (University of Bristol) next Monday for the last talk in our ROTO Lecture Series. Havi will speak about #EpistemicInjustice in Health Care. Just register via this link to participate 👉 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... #PhilSci #PhilMed
- This looks great!! 😍
- It is Insect Week, which seems like a good time to mention a forthcoming book about an important entomologist's art & art-historical significance: Maria Sibylla Merian by Catherine Powell-Warren www.lundhumphries.com/products/mar... @lhartbooks.bsky.social & Getty Pubs, Sept 1, 2025 #womenartists
- guilty of that one! 😂🙈
- Looking forward to Dan's talk about Agnes Arber next Monday! 😍
- Next week, we welcome Daniel Whistler (University of London) in our ROTO Lecture Series. Dan will speak about Agnes Arber and her thoughts on the dangers of morphological method. Just register here to participate 👉 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... #HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci
- 🌱 Call for Contributions – FoGeL 2025: Plant-based 🌿 📍 Dresden | 🗓️ Sept 23, 2025 One day before the annual meeting of the @gwmt.bsky.social, we're looking at #plants in the history of the life sciences Submit your idea by June 15 to vera.straetmanns[at]rub.de - in German or English. #HistSci #HPBio
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsIt's that time of year! If you are a new PhD student in philosophy starting this fall, please let me know to add you to the starter pack! Alternatively, add the starter pack to get some fresh perspectives. :-)at://did:plc:aaxaex5srhtqf7c6rndwjvoo/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lcbkmvx77g2o
- 🌱 Call for Contributions – FoGeL 2025: Plant-based 🌿 📍 Dresden | 🗓️ Sept 23, 2025 One day before the annual meeting of the @gwmt.bsky.social, we're looking at #plants in the history of the life sciences Submit your idea by June 15 to vera.straetmanns[at]rub.de - in German or English. #HistSci #HPBio
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsA big thanks to @elisj.bsky.social who gave a very interesting talk about baselines in ecology (and other biological fields!) in our Lecture Series yesterday! 🪸 Thank you also to everyone who joined the talk and the great discussion afterwards! 🤓 #HPBio #PhilSci
- Such great talks at the "Thinking with Plants & Fungi" conference yesterday! Of course, I was especially looking forward to @jacobjerickson.bsky.social's talk about Agnes Arber and I wasn't disappointed! 😊 Looking forward to days 2 and 3! 🌻🍄 cswr.hds.harvard.edu/research-pro... #HPBio #PhilSci
- My first paper is published!🤩 In it, I analyze how 20th century plant morphologist Agnes Arber understood teleology in plants.🪴 Spoiler: I think that she had two different notions of teleology and only liked one of them. Read more here: rdcu.be/d5xPI or in the following thread! 🧵 (1/5) 🌱🐋 #HistSci
- My argument in a nutshell: When Arber mentions teleology, she mostly seems to equate it with adaptational explanations and appears cautious/skeptical towards them. But in her 1950 book, she argues for teleology and says that we need it in biology. This shows: she had two notions of teleology. (2/5)
- I call them formal & final teleology, connecting them to the Aristotelian causes. Final t.: structures develop because they fulfil functions; adaptation is due to environmental influences. Formal t.: an organism's essence directs its development; form is the expression of inner potentialities. (3/5)
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View full threadIn the last part, I show why I think that Arber was ahead of her time in some regards and what morphology and philosophy of biology could learn from her special standpoint. Also, there is a lot about the life and work of this amazing woman in section two 😊 Find the paper here: rdcu.be/d5xPI (5/5)
- Reposted by Vera Straetmanns📣Apply now for the HPS+Logic M.A. at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de! The program includes courses on science and its history, logic and topics on culture, ethics & technology. Find all info here: www.hpsplus.org Application deadline for the summer term: - 15 January (Non-EU students) - 15 March (EU students)
- Great workshop last week in Bochum - the first one I co-organized 😎 Such great talks and all of them about plants!! 😍🌿 Also happy about my talk on early plant psychologists - something I will keep on working in the future. #PhDSky #HPBio #HistSci
- We had such a great time at our workshop last Thursday and Friday! How great to host amazing speakers like @fabribald.bsky.social, @segundo-ortin.bsky.social (sadly only digitally), @philosobio.bsky.social and @abigailnd.bsky.social, as well as several others (not yet present on Bluesky)! 🤩 #HPBio
- Reposted by Vera StraetmannsLooking to connect Bluesky's legion of philosophy PhD students. I've gotten a start based on my followers, please let me know if I should add you! (Apologies if I've missed a mutual here...)at://did:plc:aaxaex5srhtqf7c6rndwjvoo/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lcbkmvx77g2o
- Had a great first day at the annual HSS meeting yesterday. Looking forward to many more interesting talks and a great time in Mérida 🙂🌴
- We had a great session yesterday at the annual meeting of the @historyscience.bsky.social about Plants and Power! ROTO members Jan Baedke and @yavannakemi.bsky.social both gave talks alongside @rbsuchoa.bsky.social, Betty Smocotivis and Andrew Goss. #HistSci #HPBio
- First HPS book chapter that I have been involved in is out now 😊🤩
- A lot of cool talks this semester 😍
- We are very happy to share the line-up for our ROTO lecture series in this upcoming winter semester. We are very much looking forward to the exciting talks! They all take place on zoom. You can register via this link👇 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture... #HPbio #HistSci #PhilSci
- On my way back from Vienna after 4 days of talks, discussions and meeting great people at #EASPLS. I can really recommend it to any PhD in #HPBio! Thanks to @leonardobich.bsky.social, Matteo Mossio and Lucie Laplane for organizing! Also great to spend time with ROTO guests Mariano and Joan 😊 #PhDSky
- Reposted by Vera Straetmanns
