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Dr. Tamar Schneider

Contact Info

The Open University of Israel 1 University Road, P. O. Box 808, Raanana 4353701

Areas of Interest
  • Philosophy of Science (esp. biology, ecology, values), Science and Technology Studies
  • Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy of Medicine, History and Philosophy of Science.

Dr. Tamar Schneider is a philosopher of science working on the notion of individuality in relation to its close and intimate microbial milieu, as they appear in ecology, evolution, and medicine. Her work is guided by the heuristics of mutuality of interactions and its unique role in constructing knowledge of systems and processes in biology. 

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2020
University of California, Davis
Ph.D.
Philosophy with designated emphasis in Science and Technology Studies
2015
Tel Aviv University, Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv, Israel
M.A., magna cum laude
2005
Seminar Hakibbutzim College, Israel
B.Ed., History and secondary school education
2021 – Present
Lecturer at The 'Biological Thought' M.A. program for advanced studies  Department of Natural Sciences
The Open University of Israel
2022 - Present
Adjunct Lecturer at Humanities and Art, Technion
2022 - Present
Adjunct Lecturer at  Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann Institute 
2020 – 2022
Post-doctoral fellowship
Cohn Institute, Tel Aviv University
2018 – 2020
Adjunct Professor
Philosophy Department, University of Dayton, Ohio
2015 – 2018
Associate Instructor and Teaching Assistant, 
University of California, Davis
2020-2022
Postdoctoral fellowship at the Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and ideas at Tel Aviv University, Israel 
2018
Honorable Mention: Award for Excellence, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Pacific Division.
2017
Doctoral Travel Grant, UC Davis Graduate Studies ($1500)
2017
Summer Travel and Research Award, Institute for Social Sciences, UC Davis.
2016
Graduate Scholar Fellowship, UC Davis
2010-2012
Scholarship for outstanding graduate students, Tel Aviv University

Dissertation title: No Holobiont Is an Island: Rethinking Individuality in Nature (June, 11th 2020) 
Committee: Roberta Millstein (chair), James Griesemer, Helen Longino, Zoe Drayson, and Jonathan Eisen
Thesis title: Symbiosis, development, and tolerance – towards a new approach to the immune system 
Advisor: Ehud Lamm

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Schneider, T. (2023). The Microbiome Function in the Host Organism - a medical puzzle or an
essential ecological environment. Biological Theory

Schneider, T. (2022). Different Meaning in Different Sizes: Ecology in size scales. Philosophy of Science, https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2022.48

Schneider T. (2021). The Holobiont Self: understanding immunity in context. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 43:99, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-021-00454-y

Schneider T. (2021). Interactions within the Holobiont: On the Holobiont’s Interactions of its Microorganisms. Philosophy, Theory, and Practice of Biology, 13:5, https://doi.org/10.3998/ptpbio.16039257.0013.005

Schneider T. (2020). Microbial activities depending on background conditions. Biology and Philosophy, 35: 23, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-020-9740-9

Schneider T. (2020). Can We Talk About Feminist Epistemic Values Beyond Gender? Lessons from the Gut Microbiome. Biological Theory, 15(1), 25-38, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-019-00335-5

Graduate Seminar on the philosophy of Microbiology as part of the M.A. in Biological Thought

With Veigl S.J. A Dengerous Self: the story of epistemic novelty. Symposium: Philosophy of Immunology. International Society of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Toronto, 2023 

“Bacteriology between Chemical Interactions and Pathogenic Individuals” Symposium on Feminist Philosophy of Biology Beyond Gender, at the Philosophy of Science and Practice (PSPS), Ghent, Belgium 2022, and The British Society of Philosophy of Science (BSPS), Exeter, 2022

“Different meaning in different sizes: ecology in size scale” Symposium: Stability concept in ecology and their practical implications. Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), Baltimore, 2021 

“Ecosystem Function, Dysfunction, and the Concept of Disease” Symposium: Function and
Health in Ecology. International Society of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Oslo, 2019.

“Thinking about the Immune System through Interactions and heterogeneity”
Symposium: The Intersection Between Science and Philosophy. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Pacific division, Cal Pomona 2018  

“Interactions within the Holobiont: on the holobiont’s interactions of its microorganisms.” Symposium: Holobionts: New Challenges in Philosophy of Biology, American Philosophical Association (APA) Central Division, Chicago 2018.

 “Feminist Values in Service of the Holobiont: how background and constitutive values in science shape the production of knowledge in the case of the gut bacteria.” Symposium Minorities and Philosophy (MAP): New Directions in Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), Atlanta 2016.

“Microbial interactions from autonomy to interdependence” The Annual Conference of the Israeli Society for the History Philosophy, and Sociology of Science (ISHPS), Tel Aviv, Israel 2022

“Different meaning in different sizes: ecology in size scales.” The European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA), Turin, Italy (online) 2021

“Ecological community of holobionts: ecology in size scales,” International Society of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Virtual at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 2021

“Different meaning in different sizes: ecology in size scales.” New Israeli Philosophical Association (NIPA), Ra'anana, Israel 2021

“The Holobiont-Self: an ontological heterogeneity perspective on the immune-self.” Poster Session, Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), Seattle, USA 2018

“The Holobiont in its Environment Through the Lenses of Bacterial Interactions in Ecology and Evolution.” International Society of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Sao Paulo, Brazil 2017.

 “Immune tolerance as a developmental process: innate immune system and gut bacteria interactions.” International Society of History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB), Montpellier, France 2013.

“The ontological aspects of microbial individuality” Talk at Bio & Geo Microbial Interactions Group meeting, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, 2022

“Ecology of Holobionts: the organism and its microbial environment” Presented at the History and Philosophy of Science faculty study group at the Technion, 2021

“The Immune Self: a stable boundary or a tentative outline?” Presented at the ROTO Lecture Series (The Return of the Organism in the Biosciences: Theoretical, Historical and Social Dimensions), via Zoom, March 2021

“The Microbiome Function in the Host Organism - a medical puzzle or an essential ecological environment” Presented at the Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas 2020

“Interactions within the Holobiont: on the holobiont’s interactions of its microorganisms.” The Interdisciplinary Workshop on Holobionts, Bordeaux, 2017.

list of classes: 
Philosophy of Science Spring 2022 
Philosophy of Microbiology Graduate Seminar 2021-22, Spring 2022 
Introduction to Philosophy Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019 
Medical Ethics Fall 2019 
Practical Logic Fall 2018 
Introduction to Philosophy of Science Summer 2016, 2017

Teaching Assistant
Introduction to philosophy of Science Spring 2018 
Introduction to Cognitive Science Spring 2017 
Scientific Reasoning Winter 2017 
Introduction to Philosophy of Biology Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Winter 2018 
Introduction to Philosophy Fall 2015