Anne Fagot-Largeault

Former student of the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles (1957–1961) in the literary field, Anne Fagot-Largeault decided to pursue philosophy, obtaining a certificate in general and physical mathematics and an agrégation in philosophy in 1961. Became a philosophy teacher at the girls' high school in Douai (Hauts-de-France) for four years, then at the Hélène Boucher high school in Paris for one year. She was called by Professor Gilbert Simondon to become his assistant at the Sorbonne (1966–1967), she was also seconded to Stanford University (1967–1971) where she studied philosophy of science (Ph.D. Logic and philosophy of science, Stanford University, USA) in 1971. At the University of Paris 12-Val de Marne Anne Fagot-Largeault is an assistant (1971–1972), assistant professor (1972–1980) and lecturer (1984–1987). She received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Paris 12-Val de Marne, her doctorate in psychiatry in 1978 and her doctorate in literature and human sciences from the University of Paris Ouest - Nanterre La Défense in 1986.[3]

Anne Fagot-Largeault was a professor at the University of Paris 10 (Nanterre La Défense, 1987–1995) and an associate professor at Laval University (Québec, Canada, 1993–1995). Professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (1995–2000), UFR in philosophy, with a parallel hospital activity. She was a member of the Institut universitaire de France.[4] In February–March 1998 she was visiting professor at the Free University of Brussels (Chaïm Perelman Chair). At the University of Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne), she was Director of the IHPST (Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology), and head of the DEA in History and Philosophy of Science.[5]

Anne Fagot-Largeault was a professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of Philosophy of Biological and Medical Sciences from 2000 to 2009. Since then, she has been an honorary professor at this institution.

She was elected correspondent on May 3, 1999, and then member on November 12, 2002 at the French Academy of sciences of the Institut de France, section: Human Biology and Medical Sciences.

Since 1979 Anne Fagot-Largeault has been an attached doctor (1979–1984), then an attached specialist (1984–2003) at Henri Mondor Hospital in Créteil.

Anne Fagot-Largeault's work focuses on themes in the history and philosophy of life sciences, approached from a theoretical (epistemology, biological ontology) or practical (ethics) perspective. They followed three main directions:

• diagnostic reasoning, inductive logic, statistics and probabilities, heuristic procedures;
• investigation of causal links, evidence of causality, teleological explanation, causal explanation;
• ethics and knowledge, clinical research methodology, ethics of bio-medical investigation, biological epistemology, bio-medical anthropology.

His research on the logic of medical reasoning and the nature of causal explanations originated in relation to Stanford University's program in logic and philosophy of science, and was developed through fruitful contacts with clinical and epidemiological research. Its moral reflection has been enriched and tested by the experience of various Data and Safety Monitoring Committees (overseeing clinical trials in AIDS or cancer patients) and by participation (1990–1998) in the work of the National Consultative Ethics Committee for Life and Health Sciences.[6]

Anne Fagot-Largeault is a founding member of the International Network of Women Philosophers[7] sponsored by UNESCO and created on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day on 8 March 2007.

• Prize of the Association Confrontations psychiatriques (1985) and Prize of the Dagnan-Bouveret Foundation of the Academy of Sciences (1985) for his book: L'homme bioéthique. Pour une déontologie de la recherche sur le vivant (Maloine, 1985).
• Grammaticakis Neuman Prize from the French Academy of sciences (1995)
• Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (1997)
• Officier of the Légion d'Honneur (2005)
• Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur (2014)
• Officier of the Ordre National du Mérite (2001)
• Commandeur of the Ordre National du Mérite (2010)
• Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters of the Catholic University of Louvain[8] at the initiative of the members of the Institut supérieur de philosophie (2014)
• Honorary doctorate in philosophy from Laval University (2016)[9]