Explication Work for Science and Philosophy

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Schickore
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Historical Accuracy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Professional History

Abstract This article disentangles the various assumptions and expectations tied to case studies, to testing philosophy through cases, and to historical adequacy. Several notions of historical adequacy are distinguished: 1) adequacy to the standards of professional history of science, 2) historical accuracy, i.e. capturing the historical record, 3) relevance of historical episodes to the epistemic interests of philosophers of science, and 4) withstanding tests by historical cases. I argue that philosophers’ preoccupation with historical adequacy is misplaced if we understand “historical adequacy” as adequacy to professional history of science, capturing the historical record, a path to philosophical discovery, or as a test. In the last part of the article, I identify two important roles for philosophically informed studies of science: case studies of current issues can do explication work for the sciences. Tracing the history of philosophical reflections in past science can do explication work in the service of philosophy. Both kinds of endeavors are worthwhile but have very different goals and should not be conflated.

scholarly journals Using History as Evidence in Philosophy of Science: A Methodological Critique

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
History Of

Abstract This article offers a critical review of past attempts and possible methods to test philosophical models of science against evidence from history of science. Drawing on methodological debates in social science, I distinguish between quantitative and qualitative approaches. I show that both have their uses in history and philosophy of science, but that many writers in this domain have misunderstood and misapplied these approaches, and especially the method of case studies. To test scientific realism, for example, quantitative methods are more effective than case studies. I suggest that greater methodological clarity would enable the project of integrated history and philosophy of science to make renewed progress.

scholarly journals REFORMATION AND THE DISTRUST OF THE PROJECTOR IN THE HARTLIB CIRCLE

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
KOJI YAMAMOTO
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Shared Experience ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of

ABSTRACTCase-studies of the circle of Samuel Hartlib, one of the most prolific groups of reformers in post-Reformation Europe, are flourishing. The uncovering of rich details has, however, made it difficult to draw a meaningful generalization about the circle's bewilderingly wide range of activities. Focusing on the circle's promotion of ‘useful knowledge’, this article offers an analytical framework for building a new synthesis. The eclectic and seemingly chaotic pursuit of useful knowledge emerged, it will be shown, as differing responses to, and interpretations of, pervasive distrust and the pursuit of reformation. The article thus explores how loosely-shared experience shaped the circle's ambivalent practices of collaboration and exclusion. The study thereby contributes not only to studies of the Hartlib circle, but also to the historiography of post-Reformation culture and burgeoning studies of trust and credibility in the history of science and technology.

„Gentlemen in, Genuine Knowledge out“? Zum Status wissenschaftlicher Normen für die Erkenntnissicherung

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Huber
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Engineering ◽  
Transgenic Mice ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Genuine Knowledge

ZusammenfassungCase studies in the history of science and technology have shown that scientific norms, so called standards, contribute significantly to the evolution of scientific practices. They arise predominantly, but not exclusively, on the basis of interactions with instruments of measurement and other technical devices. As regards experimental practices standards are mandatory preparatory procedures in a variety of designs, including the inbreeding and genetic engineering of experimental organisms (e.g. transgenic mice). I claim that scientific norms not only regulate mere technical preconditions of research but also guide experimental practices, for example with regard to the stabilisation and validation of phenomena. Against this background, the paper introduces different kinds of scientific norms and elaborates on the question if they are means to epistemic ends (e.g. stability).

scholarly journals Policy Research: Some Reflections on Theory and Practice

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-372
Author(s):  
Rosemary Hollis
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Policy Sector ◽  
History Of ◽  
Professional History

This essay reflects on the enterprise of policy research, considering its audience and purpose in a climate of political inaction. The author draws upon an extensive professional history of working in the policy sector in the uk and reflecting about its remit from an academic vantage point. Drawing upon the case studies featured in this issue on Syria’s refugee crisis, the author poses fundamental questions about the limits of policy research by reflecting the methods employed in policy research and the institutional and political climate in which such research is undertaken.

Aurora, Nemesis and Clio

1993 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. R. Christie
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Potential Problem ◽  
Historiography Of Science ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science Community ◽  
Professional History

This essay offers some preliminary and general considerations of big picture historiography of science, attempting an introductory specification of the topic by means of narratological analysis. It takes no strong, substantive position either pro or contra big pictures themselves, preferring an approach which is more diagnostic and heuristic in nature. After considering what may be meant by a term such as ‘big picture’ and its cognates, it interrogates the kind of desire which could lie behind the wish expressed by the conference title ‘Getting the Big Picture’: namely, that a big picture may be worth getting. It proceeds by way of a limited enquiry into what seems to be felt as a relative absence of big picture works in contemporary historiography, criticizing one very general historicocultural thesis which accounts for such an absence, advancing instead evolving features of the professional history of science community over the last thirty years as reasons for this relative absence. Concludingly, it turns the issues raised thus far on their head, in some measure at least. In trying for a more precise specification of the contemporary historiographical formation, we will discover eventually a situation not so much of relative absence of big pictures, rather one where there exists both frame and title for the picture, together with some distinguished painters' names; but where the canvas is only minimally marked, a partial and shadowy sketch, stylistically disjoined. Although this sounds paradoxical, a concrete paradox is not intended. The existence of frame and title enclosing mainly empty canvas indicates only the limitations of the pictorial metaphor for describing complex and developing sets of historiographical practice. What is instanced concludingly is less a theoretical paradox than an intelligible sequence and form of development which issues in a potential problem of practice.

What’s Forgotten About The Structure of Scientific Revolutions?

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-339
Author(s):  
Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
History Of

Abstract Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a classic, and it is certainly not forgotten. However, an essential aspect about it has been neglected. That is, Kuhn’s Structure is a book in philosophy of history in the sense that Structure attempts gives an account of historical events, focuses on the whole of the history of science and stipulates a structure of the history of science to explain historical events. Kuhn’s book and its contribution to the debates about the progress of science and the contingency and inevitability of the history of science shows why and how philosophy of history is relevant for the history and philosophy of science. Its successful integration of historical and philosophical aspects in one account makes it worthwhile reading also for philosophers of history in the twentieth-first century. In particular, it raises the question whether the historical record can justify philosophical views and comprehensive syntheses of the past.

History of Science, Black-Boxing Style

Black Boxes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 136-161
Author(s):  
Marco J. Nathan
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Founding Father ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
History Of

This chapter revisits the earlier case studies from the perspective of the present analysis of black boxes. By breaking down these episodes into the three main steps outlined in Chapter 5, one is able to see how it was possible for Darwin to provide a simple and elegant explanation of such a complex, overarching explanandum: distributions of organisms and traits across the globe. It also explains why Mendel is rightfully considered the founding father of genetics, despite having virtually no understanding of what genes are, how they work, and even if they existed from a physiological perspective. Furthermore, if Darwin and Mendel are praised for skillfully setting the mechanisms of inheritance and variation aside, and keeping them out of their explanations, why is Skinner criticized for providing essentially the same treatment of mental states? Finally, the analysis sheds light on the contemporary dispute over the goals and methodology of economics.

The Ties That Bind

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Capp
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Sibling Relationships ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Stuart England ◽  
The Relationship

This book explores an important and neglected dimension of the history of the family in Elizabethan and Stuart England. It demonstrates the importance of sibling relationships, across all levels of society, and investigates their nature both in childhood and throughout adult life. While close bonds and bitter rivalries between siblings have always existed, many aspects of the relationship reflect the particular circumstances and values of the period and place. How far did parents favour the firstborn, and sons over daughters? How did this influence relationships between children? The practice of primogeniture, widespread among the gentry and middling sort, raised the important issue of reciprocal rights and responsibilities between heirs and siblings. Contemporaries largely agreed on ideals, but in practice primogeniture proved highly contentious. Disgruntled younger brothers feature prominently in both contemporary drama and the historical record. The high levels of mortality and remarriage led to many families containing half-siblings or step-siblings, creating further problems of adjustment for both adults and children. The Reformation also created new problems of religious discord, which sometimes divided parents from children and siblings from each other. All these issues are explored thematically in Part 1. Part II investigates them further through a series of vivid sibling case studies, drawing on autobiographical evidence and letters. Familiar figures such as Samuel Pepys appear in a new light, while other chapters explore the intense emotional lives of Dorothy Osborne and her brother; and the families of a Lancashire tradesman, a Plymouth surgeon, and a Somerset excise collector.

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