A Nice Derangement of Epistemes: Post-positivism in the Study of Science from Quine to LatourSince the 1950s, many philosophers of science have attacked positivism—the theory that scientific knowledge is grounded in objective reality. Reconstructing the history of these critiques, John H. Zammito argues that while so-called postpositivist theories of science are very often invoked, they actually provide little support for fashionable postmodern approaches to science studies. Zammito shows how problems that Quine and Kuhn saw in the philosophy of the natural sciences inspired a turn to the philosophy of language for resolution. This linguistic turn led to claims that science needs to be situated in both historical and social contexts, but the claims of recent "science studies" only deepened the philosophical quandary. In essence, Zammito argues that none of the problems with positivism provides the slightest justification for denigrating empirical inquiry and scientific practice, delivering quite a blow to the "discipline" postmodern science studies. Filling a gap in scholarship to date, A Nice Derangement of Epistemes will appeal to historians, philosophers, philosophers of science, and the broader scientific community. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 From Positivism to Postpositivism | 6 |
Quine and Postpostivism in the Philosophy of Science | 15 |
3 Living in Different Worlds? Kuhns Misadventures with Incommensurability | 52 |
4 Doing Kuhn One Better? The Failed Marriage of History and Philosophy of Science | 90 |
The Strong Program and the Social Construction of Science | 123 |
Social Constructivism and the Turn to Microsociological Studies | 151 |
Other editions - View all
A Nice Derangement of Epistemes: Post-positivism in the Study of Science ... John H. Zammito No preview available - 2004 |
A Nice Derangement of Epistemes: Post-positivism in the Study of Science ... John H. Zammito No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
argued argument Barry Barnes beliefs Bruno Latour Callon Cambridge causal Chicago citing claim Collins conception construction context critical critique cultural David Bloor Davidson discourse Duhem Duhem-Quine thesis empirical empiricism ence epistemology essay feminism feminist Feyerabend Giere Gross and Levitt Haraway historians historicism History and Philosophy history of science holism human Ian Hacking Ibid idea Imre Lakatos incommensurability indeterminacy of translation inquiry insisted interpretation Kitcher Knorr-Cetina Kuhn Kuhn's Lakatos language Laudan linguistic logical Longino McMullin methodological Mulkay natural science naturalized epistemology normative notion object observation ontological paradigm Philosophy of Science Pickering Popper positivism post-positivism postmodernism problem question Quine Quine's radical rationality reflexivity relativism Rorty Roth science studies scientific knowledge scientific practice scientists sentences Shapin and Schaffer Social Studies sociologists Sociology of Knowledge sociology of science sociology of scientific Sokal Hoax Steven Strong Program Structure Studies of Science theoretical theory Thomas Kuhn tion truth underdetermination University Press Woolgar
References to this book
Scandalous Knowledge: Science, Truth and the Human Barbara Herrnstein Smith No preview available - 2005 |