About

History of the Centre

The LSE Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences (CPNSS) was announced in August of 1990 with John Worrall as its first director, joined by a steering committee that included Nancy Cartwright, Mary Morgan, and Colin Howson.

The Centre took physical shape when it moved into the Lakatos building in 1992, following the donation of the building by Spiro Latsis, in honour of LSE’s Imre Lakatos. Since then, CPNSS has become a leading intellectual centre for cutting-edge research on the theory of the natural and social sciences and is the main research wing of LSE’s Department of Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method.

It has hosted large research projects on a wide array of topics in the natural and social sciences: from the foundations of physics and computational modelling in science, to the design of universal healthcare and the principles of evidence-based policymaking.

The current Director is Dr Lewis Ross. Previous Directors include: Nancy Cartwright (1993-2001 and 2006-2008), Stephan Hartmann (2004-2006), Rom Harré (2009-2011), Roman Frigg (2011-2020), and Bryan Roberts (2020-2024).

Mission Statement

The LSE Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences (CPNSS) is the research wing of LSE’s Department of Philosophy, Logic & Scientific Method. Our mission is to support rigorous and impactful research on philosophical, foundational, and methodological issues in the natural and social sciences. Alongside our commitment to supporting pure research, we are equally committed to disseminating this research for the benefit of the public and to influence public policy.

We interpret this mission widely and our research ranges over foundational questions in physics and biology, to the moral, legal and economic principles that inform the most pressing political issues. This means that we are committed to hosting a wide range of experts in CPNSS: philosophers of science, economists, biologists, legal scholars, and moral philosophers—to name just a few! What unifies our research is a commitment to intellectual rigour and doing philosophy in a way continuous with, and aiming to advance, the natural and social sciences.

We pursue this mission by carefully using our resources to create an environment conducive to high-quality research, to bring leading scholars together, and to host free and accessible public events. This includes providing an intellectual home for talented postdoctoral and faculty researchers, supporting scholarships, hosting an active visitor programme, our diverse weekly seminars, supporting ambitious applications for funded research, and organising large public events and lectures—free and open to all, from London’s vibrant intellectual community to those who join us online from around the world.