Challenger through the Eyes of Feyerabend

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Theory Choice ◽  
Raw Data ◽  
Paul Feyerabend

Paul Feyerabend elucidated the role of prior adherence to scientific theory in shaping subsequent perceptions of data. Thus one's theory choice shapes data, rather than data shaping theory, as is traditionally held. Feyerabend's philosophy also downplays the role of raw data, emphasizing instead debate among competing theories. This iconoclastic philosophy yields important new insights into the Challenger disaster, insights consonant with yet distinct from those of social constructionism. We learn from it the salience of meaning rather than raw data; the powerful role of prior conceptualizations in shaping the data of experience; and the surprising need for debate and pluralism for the wholesome pursuit of science and technology.

Contributions of Contemporary Political Science to an Understanding of the Common Good

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Matthew Carnes
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Politics And Government ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
Nature And Society

The transformation of political science in recent decades opens the door for a new but so far poorly cultivated examination of the common good. Four significant “turns” characterize the modern study of politics and government. Each is rooted in the discipline’s increased emphasis on empirical rigor, with its attendant scientific theory-building, measurement, and hypothesis testing. Together, these new orientations allow political science to enrich our understanding of causality, our basic definitions of the common good, and our view of human nature and society. In particular, the chapter suggests that traditional descriptions of the common good in Catholic theology have been overly irenic and not sufficiently appreciative of the role of contention in daily life, on both a national and international scale.

There Are No Such Things As Theories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven French
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Musical Works ◽  
The One ◽  
Realism Debate

What is a scientific theory? Is it a set of propositions? Or a family of models? Or is it some kind of abstract artefact? These options are examined in the context of a comparison between theories and artworks. On the one hand, theories are said to be like certain kinds of paintings, in that they play a representational role; on the other, they are compared to musical works, insofar as they can be multiply presented. I shall argue that such comparisons should be treated with care and that all of the above options face problems. Instead, I suggest, we should adopt a form of eliminativism towards theories, in the sense that a theory should not be regarded as any thing. Nevertheless, we can still talk about them and attribute certain qualities to them, where that talk is understood to be made true by certain practices. This shift to practices as truth-makers for theory talk then has certain implications for how we regard theories in the realism debate and in the context of the nature and role of representation in science.

scholarly journals Realism and the Epistemic Objectivity of Science

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Howard Sankey
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Theory Choice ◽  
Relative Significance

Abstract The paper presents a realist account of the epistemic objectivity of science. Epistemic objectivity is distinguished from ontological objectivity and the objectivity of truth. As background, T.S. Kuhn’s idea that scientific theory-choice is based on shared scientific values with a role for both objective and subjective factors is discussed. Kuhn’s values are epistemologically ungrounded, hence provide a minimal sense of objectivity. A robust account of epistemic objectivity on which methodological norms are reliable means of arriving at the truth is presented. The problem remains that deliberative judgement is required to determine the relevance and relative significance of a range of methodological norms. A role is sketched for cognitive virtues which may be exercised in the course of the deliberative judgement.

NBIC-Convergence and Technoethics

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Grebenshchikova
Keyword(s):  
Technology Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Applied Ethics ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Biomedical Field ◽  
Ict Ethics

Technoethics is a new, but rapidly developing field of ethical reflection of technoscience. It can claim to unite the various ethical projections of the science and technology development in a common approach. One of the starting points of understanding this role of technoethics may be NBIC-convergence. The ethical dimensions of the NBIC-projects is represented in these sub-areas of applied ethics as a nanoethics, bioethics, neuroethics and ICT ethics. In this article particular attention is paid to the biomedical field, which is a prime example of innovative high technology, as well as the interaction of different types of ethics.

China’s Science and Technology Progress through the Lens of Patenting

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-112
Author(s):  
Gary H. Jefferson ◽  
Renai Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Advantage ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Patent Quality ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
International Sector ◽  
Role Of The Government

This chapter assesses China’s science and technology (S&T) progress through the lens of the patenting literature in the context of China. In particular, after presenting an overview of China’s patent production over the past twenty-five years, it investigates the following questions: What accounts for China’s patent surge? What are the implications of the surge for patent quality? Does the nature of the patenting reveal China’s S&T direction and comparative advantage? How has the international sector affected China’s patent production? What has been the role of the government—the central, provincial, and local governments—in shaping patent production? And finally, how heterogeneous is China’s regional patent production; are patenting capabilities diffusing across China?

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Otabek Allayarov ◽  
◽  
Hasan Yarbaev
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Of Information

The articledescribes thatit is impossible the development of society without the development of science, in this senseour state pay attention to in the field of science in the context of science and social-political reform, spiritual renewalasin all countries of the world. Scientifically and practically defined the role of information technology in the development of science and technology, as well as the creation of effective mechanisms for stimulating research and innovation, the introduction of science and innovation achievements. Moreover, the role and significance of information technology in the development of scientific research in the field of technologywas stated

‘Not Science but PR’: GM Food and the Makings of a Considered Sociology

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Murcott
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology ◽  
Scientific Production ◽  
Gm Food ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Sociology Of Food

This article sketches a sociology in the making that arises out of the case of GM food in Britain in 1999. It is presented with a view to moving, collaboratively, towards its further study. A ‘considered sociology’ is not original. It requires treating as an integral and enduring part of the field of investigation the historical and social characterisation of that same field. An evaluation of the sociology of food indicates that field's limitations for the examination of GM food, with one key exception. The article moves on to propose the need for (a) an as yet underinvestigated field of the industrialisation of food together with the role of science and technology within it, and (b) an examination of the industrialised (social) scientific production of ‘the consumer’. These may then serve as a basis for examining the manner in which public coverage of GM food could be characterised not as a matter of science but of a PR and is now publicly construed as a debate, ‘pro’ and ‘anti’.

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