Philosopher of biology and medicine to give Erik C. Banks Memorial Lecture in Philosophy at Wright State

Anya Plutynski, professor of philosophy at Washington University, will give a lecture on “Talking ‘Cures’ in the Context of Mental Health: A Better Model for Mental Health Care than Somatic Medicine,” on March 12 at Wright State.

Anya Plutynski, Ph.D., a historian, philosopher of biology and medicine, and professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis, will discuss psychotherapy treatment methods that operate through linguistic action and interaction during the 2024 Erik C. Banks Memorial Lecture in Philosophy at Wright State University.

Plutynski will present her lecture, “Talking ‘Cures’ in the Context of Mental Health: A Better Model for Mental Health Care than Somatic Medicine,” on Tuesday, March 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Student Union Discovery Room (163) on the Dayton Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Plutynski’s most recent book, “Explaining Cancer: Finding Order in Disorder” won the 2021 Lakatos Prize from the London School of Economics. She has also written on the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology and genetics, the role of modeling in science and scientific explanation.

She maintains research interests in biomedical research ethics as they relate to oncology, cancer genomics and risk communication. Her current research is on the history of the cancer genome atlas project and the development of precision oncology.

“We’re very excited to host Dr. Plutynski, whose groundbreaking research on understanding and communicating about cancer and its various treatment options has received international recognition in both the philosophy and medical communities,” said Valerie Stoker, Ph.D., professor of religion at Wright State. “Her more recent research focuses on mental health care and how we know what we know about it. This is important work. Given Wright State’s strong medical and psychology programs, I’m hoping Dr. Plutynski’s talk draws a large, interdisciplinary audience.”

Plutynski is the coeditor of two anthologies, “A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology” (2007) and “The Routledge Handbook to Philosophy and Biodiversity” (2016).

She earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Plutynski’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Honors Program, the School of Humanities and Cultural Studies and the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State.

The Erik C. Banks Memorial Lecture in Philosophy honors Banks, who was a member of the Wright State faculty from 2006 to 2017.

During his tenure at Wright State, Banks made a major impact on both the university and the history and philosophy of science. He was a creative and dedicated teacher who taught demanding critical thinking and logic courses and developed such innovative interdisciplinary classes as the Philosophy of Physics, which he taught with a faculty member from the Department of Physics, and Ancient Science, taught with a faculty member in the Classics Program.

Banks was also the author of numerous journal articles and two books, “Ernst Mach’s World Elements: A Study in Natural Philosophy” (2003) and “The Realistic Empiricism of Mach, James and Russell: Neutral Monism, Reconceived” (2014).

Following Banks’ death in 2017, his family endowed the lecture series as a lasting tribute to his memory.