Koffi Maglo
Ph.D., 1998, University of Burgundy, France


Department of Philosophy
University of Cincinnati
P. O. Box 210374
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0374

Areas of Specialization

Koffi Maglo came to the UC in 2005 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he was a Visiting Assistant Professor for two years (2003-5). Previously, he was a postdoc at Virginia Tech. Maglo earned the MA and PhD degrees from the University of Burgundy in France and the BA degree from the University of Lomé in Togo. His interests include history of physics from Newton to Laplace, modern philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of genomics, bioethics, African philosophy and Africana ethical, social and political issues.

Maglo has published primarily on the conceptual and mathematical treatment of force in Newton’s Principia, on the emergence of so-called Newtonian mechanics and its implications for contemporary analytic philosophy of science and on positivism in recent French philosophy of science. He is currently writing an essay on 18th century science for the journal Perspectives on Science. He is also preparing two book chapters on the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert in connection respectively with Newton's science and with the scientific achievement of Madame du Châtelet.

Maglo focuses also on issues pertaining to the population stratification concept in biology and health sciences, and teaches courses in bioethics as well. He is currently finishing a piece on the ethics of using the concept of race in science and medicine while planning a conference on 'Race in the Age of Genomic Medicine: The Science and its Application' for April 2007.

Selected Publications

"Force, Mathematics and Physics in Newton’s Principia: A new Approach to Enduring Issues", Science in Context, forthcoming.

"The Reception of Newton's Gravitational Theory by Huygens, Varignon, and Maupertuis: How Normal Science May be Revolutionary", Perspectives on Science 11 (2003): 135-169.

"Bachelard et la négation positiviste de l’imagination scientifique,” in Actualité et postérité de Gaston Bachelard, Presses Universitaires de France, 1997.

Maglo has given numerous talks on Newton, Africana social and political issues, and philosophy of genomics in the US, Japan, France, Italy and Germany.