The chapter presents the early years and the subsequent developments of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK), starting from the School of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Strong Programme advanced by David Bloor, introducing its four tenets: symmetry, impartiality, causality, and reflexivity. After presenting the main works done in Laboratory Studies, it extensively presents the Bath School and its focus on scientific controversies and tacit knowledge. In particular, it discusses in depth Harry Collins’ concept of “experimenter’s regress” and Trevor Pinch’s “externality of observation”, presenting the empirical work these concepts are based on. The chapter then clarifies the specific form of relativism (methodological relativism) adopted by the Bath School, pointing out its differences from epistemological relativism, and finally discusses the issue of reflexivity as addressed with SSK.
Extensionalism and intensionalism in the realist-SSK 'debate'
