The new profile “philosophy in science and engineering” allows for innovation in research methodology, insofar as philosophical analysis can take into account the context of origin and, conversely, philosophical considerations can flow directly into technically oriented research work. This collaboration allows for case studies of an unusual type, where observation (of the modelers) during the modeling process is taking place together with joint reflection.

The professorship is associated both with the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering.

Johannes Lenhard holds the Heisenberg professorship “Philosophy in Science and Engineering” at RPTU Kaiserslautern since 4/2024. He has received his doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Frankfurt (1998), long before he wrote his habilitation thesis in philosophy at Bielefeld University (2012). The up to now last stay abroad was a visiting professorship in philosophy at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, 2018/19. From 2020 up to 2023, he enjoyed his work as a senior philosophy researcher at the Laboratory of Engineering Thermodynamics, RPTU, Kaiserslautern.
How does using the computer change the methodology and epistemology of the sciences? How does computational modeling transform the use of mathematical tools? Lenhard’s research tackles these questions in a way that speaks to philosophers, historians, and scientists alike.