Since the times of Socrates, philosophy has a long tradition of engagement with society. In the past,
philosophical ideas have deeply shaped our culture and society, and philosophy has been the cradle of modern
science. But what can be the role of philosophy today? Can philosophical knowledge help us in addressing the
most pressing societal challenges of our time, from climate change to new pandemics to sustainable
development? Can philosophers fruitfully collaborate with the sciences in that direction? The project Phil-Impact
aims to answering these questions by an innovative interdisciplinary approach that couples philosophical
investigation with quantitative and qualitative methods from digital humanities, bibliometrics, and sociology.
The project will focus in particular on the philosophy of science, a flourishing field that is increasingly engaging
both into collaboration with the sciences and socially-engaged field work. In the first phase, the most advanced
bibliometric techniques will be used to build a multi-level atlas of philosophy of science that can map the
institutional, social, and epistemic layers of the field. Starting from the atlas, in the second phase, the impact of
philosophy of science will be assessed in two directions: on the sciences, using citation flows and keywords
analysis, and on society, analyzing the presence of philosophy of science in policy documents and in the
generalist press. The quantitative picture will be supplied by the views of philosophers of science on the impact
of their discipline, which will be collected by interviewing key experts individuated through the atlas. Lastly,
suitable policies for fostering the scientific and societal impact of philosophy of science will be developed by
integrating the quantitative and qualitative evidence collected. In this way, Phil-Impact aims to offer to the
scientific community and policy makers the best tools for maximizing the impact of philosophical knowledge on
society.