Howard Sankey is Professor of Philosophy and Deputy Head of School in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. He commenced employment at the University in 1992 as a Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and was promoted to full Professor in 2021. Prior to this, Sankey studied philosophy at the University of Otago and earned his PhD in philosophy of science from the University of Melbourne in 1989. He arrived at Melbourne as a postgraduate student in 1982 and was associated with the Department of History and Philosophy of Science until 1989. Earlier, he held a position in Philosophy at the University of Otago from February to November 1981.

Sankey's academic interests focus on the overlap between epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of science. His research encompasses scientific realism, incommensurability of scientific theories, epistemic relativism, rationality in science, theory comparison, scientific change, and epistemic objectivity. He has authored and co-authored numerous influential works, including 'Theories of Scientific Method: An Introduction' with Robert Nola (Routledge, 2014), 'The Incommensurability Thesis' (Routledge, 2019), 'Kuhn's Changing Concept of Incommensurability' (British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 1993), 'Scientific Realism and the Rationality of Science' (Routledge, 2016), 'Rationality, Relativism and Incommensurability' (Routledge, 2018), 'Taxonomic Incommensurability' (International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 1998), 'Incommensurability: The Current State of Play' (Theoria, 1997), 'Scientific Realism: An Elaboration and a Defence' (2004), 'After Popper, Kuhn, and Feyerabend: Recent Issues in Theories of Scientific Method' with Robert Nola (2000), and 'Witchcraft, Relativism and the Problem of the Criterion' (Erkenntnis, 2010). These publications have shaped debates in philosophy of science. Sankey was elected to the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences in 2019 in recognition of his contributions. He teaches courses such as Science, Reason and Reality (PHIL20001), Knowledge and Reality (PHIL30016), and Topics in Contemporary Epistemology (PHIL40018). Additional research includes topics in animal minds, natural kinds, and induction.

Professional Email: chs@unimelb.edu.au