Ian Hacking — The Philosopher of Making Up People and the Reality of Practice (1936–2023)

Ian Hacking was a philosopher who refused to argue about reality in the abstract. Where others debated whether scientific entities “really exist,” Hacking asked a more grounded question: what do we do with them? His work bridges analytic philosophy, history of science, and social theory, showing how scientific classifications, experiments, and institutions shape not only knowledge, but the kinds of people we can become.

From Physics to Philosophy

Born in Vancouver and educated in Canada and England, Hacking was trained first as a physicist. This early immersion in laboratory science left a permanent mark on his philosophy.

Unlike many philosophers of science who approached science through theory alone, Hacking focused on experiment, instruments, and intervention. Science, he argued, is not merely about representing the world — it is about actively manipulating it.

“Experimentation has a life of its own.”

Entity Realism — If You Can Spray Them, They’re Real

Hacking is famous for defending entity realism. Rather than arguing that scientific theories are true, he argued that certain entities are real because scientists can use them to produce effects.

If electrons can be sprayed, bent, counted, and used to manipulate other phenomena, then worrying about whether electrons are “mere constructs” misses the point. Reality shows itself in successful intervention.

Truth, in this sense, is tied to practice rather than metaphysical guarantees.

“If you can spray them, then they are real.”

The Historical Turn — Styles of Reasoning

Hacking believed that philosophy of science must be historical. Scientific rationality is not timeless; it develops through distinct styles of reasoning — statistics, laboratory experimentation, classification, mathematical modeling.

Each style brings into existence new kinds of objects, facts, and truths. Once established, a style becomes self-validating: it defines what counts as evidence, explanation, and even error.

Reason, therefore, has a history.

“Styles of reasoning introduce new possibilities of truth.”

Making Up People

Hacking’s most influential idea lies outside traditional philosophy of science. He argued that classifications in the human sciences do not merely describe people — they help create them.

Categories such as “multiple personality disorder,” “child abuse victim,” or “learning disabled” alter how individuals understand themselves and how institutions treat them. People react to classifications, changing their behavior, which in turn reshapes the classification itself.

Hacking called this the looping effect. Human kinds are interactive, unlike electrons or quarks.

“We make up kinds of people, and people then live in them.”

Against Simple Social Construction

Although often associated with social constructionism, Hacking resisted its simplistic forms. He did not argue that everything is “just constructed” or unreal.

Instead, he asked precise questions: What exactly is constructed? By whom? When? With what consequences?

This careful approach preserved realism about the natural world while recognizing the deep contingency of human categories and institutions.

Ethics, Care, and Intellectual Humility

In his later work, Hacking turned toward questions of ethics, psychiatry, and care. He emphasized the moral responsibility that comes with naming, diagnosing, and classifying people.

Knowledge, he insisted, is never innocent. How we describe the world affects how people live in it.

His style was marked by humility: skepticism toward grand theory, respect for practice, and attention to unintended consequences.

Legacy — Philosophy with Its Hands Dirty

Ian Hacking transformed philosophy of science by pulling it out of abstract debates and into laboratories, hospitals, and bureaucracies. He showed that truth is not only argued — it is made, tested, and lived.

His work remains essential for anyone trying to understand how knowledge, power, and human identity intertwine — not in theory alone, but in the practices that quietly shape everyday life.

“Philosophy works best when it attends to what people actually do.”