At Last: A Useful Overview of the Social SciencesTheodore M.  Porter;, Dorothy  Ross (Editors). The Modern Social Sciences. (Cambridge History of Science, 7.) xxvii + 734 pp., notes, index. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. $125 (cloth).

Isis ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamilton Cravens
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Fallible or inerrant? A belated review of the ‘constructivist's bible’ Jan Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science. Cambridge History of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. xiv+236. ISBN 0-521-44913-8. £15.95 (paperback).

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Eddy
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Wars ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Canonical Text

When Jan Golinski's Making Natural Knowledge was published in 1998 it was generally applauded for its ecumenical stance between the empirical ‘art’ of historians and the theoretical focus of the social sciences. Indeed, such a middling position was a unique approach to be taken in wake of the ‘science wars’ and this, in combination with the book's clear organization and (for the most part) forthright prose, quickly earned it a place upon HPS, STS and SSK postgraduate reading lists. Now, five years since its first edition was published (hardback, 1998), the work has become a standard introduction to historically minded scholars interested in the constructivist programme. In fact, it has been called the ‘constructivist's bible’ in many a conference corridor. Since the book has attained such a status (and since it has not been reviewed in the BJHS), it is perhaps worth reflecting on whether or not such canonical text (to use a biblical analogy) is fallible or inerrant – especially in relation to its content and pedagogical efficacy.

From political economy to sociology: Francis Galton and the social-scientific origins of eugenics

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRIS RENWICK
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Biological Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Francis Galton ◽  
Social Scientific

AbstractHaving coined the word ‘eugenics’ and inspired leading biologists and statisticians of the early twentieth century, Francis Galton is often studied for his contributions to modern statistical biology. However, whilst documenting this part of his work, historians have frequently neglected crucial aspects of what motivated Galton to establish his eugenics research programme. Arguing that his work was shaped more by social than by biological science, this paper addresses these oversights by tracing the development of Galton's programme, from its roots in a debate about political economy to his appeals for it to be taken up by sociologists. In so doing, the paper not only returns Galton's ideas to their original context but also provides a reason to reflect on the place of the social sciences in history-of-science scholarship.

Local Ideas and Global Networks

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-84
Author(s):  
James Livesey
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
University Science ◽  
Scientific Ideas

This chapter talks about the aftermath of the collapse in authority of positivist models where scholars became highly sensitized to the implication of strategies of inquiry and interpretation with strategies of control. Even in areas of the social sciences that did not commit to discourse as a master category, the suspicion that the claim to a form of truth, or knowledge, entirely distinct from power, was in fact nothing more than a mystification that had explosive consequences. The history of science in its many forms has been transformed. In turn, the challenge to an easy universalism in the sciences has been foundational to the emergence of global intellectual history. The philosophical and methodological challenges of even the most mediated and subtle kinds of constructivism create dual fundamentalist temptations, toward a self-refuting reductivism or an overstated idealism. The “strong program,” associated with the Edinburgh University Science Studies Unit, pursued a wholehearted sociology of science and argued that the truth-value of particular scientific ideas was itself social in origin, thus collapsing the discovery/validation dichotomy.

scholarly journals Erratum

1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-329 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social History ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Philip Pettit ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interpretation Studies

ERRATUM. The brief notice which appears in vol. 10, no. 3 (p. 491) should be headed CHRISTOPHER HOOKWAY and PHILIP PETTIT (eds.), Action & interpretation: Studies in the philosophy of the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, 1980. Paperback.The notice for the Klar et al. book is as follows: Contains a number of good short studies, including, of special interest here, a valuable and cogent paper, “How languages die: A social history of unstable bilingualism among the Eastern Porno” by S. McLendon, 137–50. Language in Society regrets the error.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document