Hello, I’m Kelle
A philosopher and historian of science who specializes in the history and philosophy of biology and complex systems science.
I am an assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School of Complex Adaptive Systems.
I am also a consulting bioethicist at the Native BioData Consortium.
Join My New Course!
Foundational Papers in Complexity
CAS 494/598, Spring 2026, Tempe Campus
Complex systems science is a powerful young discipline that discovers patterns and processes common to physical, biological, social, and technological systems. The intellectual roots of complexity science are as diverse as the phenomena it investigates. Class will discuss papers from The Santa Fe Institute’s Foundational Papers in Complexity volumes. A surprising number of scientists who authored essays in these volumes work at Arizona State University, and at least three of these authors have agreed to come to class in Spring 2026 to discuss their essay with us.
I’m featured in an article about historians and philosophers of science at Arizona State University
Join My New Course!
I Tell a Story for the SciChronicles Podcast
Pedro Márquez-Zacarías, my former officemate at the Santa Fe Institute, created a series of postdoc interviews. Here’s mine!
I’m giving a talk titled, Data as Relations: A Philosophical Framework for Indigenous Biobanking, at the 2024 U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Governance Summit.
“Rugged Individualism in the Cretaceous: What George Gaylord Simpson’s Fiction Reveals about His Philosophy of Evolution”
A short essay about why scientists writing science fiction is good and interesting
I was an invited keynote speaker at “Limits of the Living: Reading Life as Bio-technology”
SFI Press Release about my paper “Multiscale Modeling in Neuroethology: The Significance of the Mesoscale”
SFI Press Release about my paper “The Cognitive Map Debate in Insects: A Historical Perspective on What Is at Stake”
The Philosophy of Science Association Interviews Kelle Dhein
“The Horrifying Problem of Meaning”
A short article about why the philosophical problem of meaning is so unsettling.
“The Through Line Connecting the Juvenile Delinquent With the Academic I Am Today”
I was invited to tell a personal story at the 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting. It was later picked up by Public Health NOW, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Newsletter.
The Native BioData Consortium
I show up in this short collection of interviews introducing the NBDC. This video was originally shown at the American Society of Human Genomics 2022 meeting.
“SFI Welcomes Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Kelle Dhein”
Marc Sanders Foundation Philosophy in the Media Fellowship Announces Inaugural 2021–2022 Fellows
&HPS Interviews Kelle Dhein
As part of its author interview series, Integrated History and Philosophy of Science recorded a video interview with Kelle about his work during the summer of 2021.
“Center for Biology and Society PhD Graduate Earns Several Awards and Looks Forward to His Academic Future”
“The Center for Biology & Society’s Student Spotlight Series: Kelle Dhein”
“Kelle Dhein Receives Ford Foundation Fellowship”
