Hybrid Knowledge and the Historiography of Science

Originating in the field of biology, the concept of the hybrid has proved to be influential and effective in historical studies, too. Until now, however, the idea of hybrid knowledge has not been fully explored in the historiography of pre-modern science. This article examines the history of pre-Copernican astronomy and focuses on three case studies—Alexandria in the second century CE; Baghdad in the ninth century; and Constantinople in the fourteenth century—in which hybridization played a crucial role in the development of astronomical knowledge and in philosophical controversies about the status of astronomy and astrology in scholarly and/or institutional settings. By establishing a comparative framework, this analysis of hybrid knowledge highlights different facets of hybridization and shows how processes of hybridization shaped scientific controversies.

The structure of scientific controversies: Thomas Kuhn’s social epistemology

Changes of theories are major events in science. Two main types of questions may be asked about them: i) how do scientists choose new theories?, and ii) how is consensus formed? Generally, philosophers do not distinguish these two questions. Kuhn, on the contrary, offers very different answers to each of these questions. Theory-choice, on the one hand, is explained through the application of epistemic criteria, such as accuracy and consistency; nonetheless, because these values do not prescribe a single choice, consensus formation, on the other hand, is explained through a series of socio-epistemic mechanisms, namely: scientific pedagogy, diffusion and production of knowledge within the community (the “wave motion”), and restructuring of the scientific field. These mechanisms are the basis of Kuhn’s social epistemology, in that they are not restricted to sociology nor epistemology, encompassing both social interactions and epistemic evaluations of theories. Keywords: Thomas Kuhn, consensus formation, social epistemology.

Classificatory disputes and scientific controversies: society, nature, and culture in the Anthropocene

In general, the idea of Anthropocene refers to the set of socio-historical, ecological, economic, and technological transformations responsible for configuring a new stage of regulation and evolution of the planetary geological system. From its original proposition in the 2000s, this notion gained increasing repercussion, mobilizing different positions in multiple fields of scientific knowledge. This article aims to develop a critical analysis of some of the main concepts found in such debates, from the mobilization of three fundamental analytical categories: the concepts of Society, Nature, and Culture. In methodological terms, this is a literature review article based on qualitative and non-systematic bibliographic research. The analysis undertaken here indicates how the different approaches mobilized by the driving idea of Anthropocene result in theoretical movements that redefine the relationships between agency, structure, and social change in the historical context of modern industrial societies.

Securitising Covid-19? The Politics of Global Health and the Limits of the Copenhagen School

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked controversies over health security strategies adopted in different countries. The urge to curb the spread of the virus has supported policies to restrict mobility and to build up state surveillance, which might induce authoritarian forms of government. In this context, the Copenhagen School has offered an analytical repertoire that informs many analyses in the fields of critical security studies and global health. Accordingly, the securitisation of COVID-19 might be necessary to deal with the crisis, but it risks unfolding discriminatory practices and undemocratic regimes, with potentially enduring effects. In this article, we look into controversies over pandemic-control strategies to discuss the political and analytical limitations of securitisation theory. On the one hand, we demonstrate that the focus on moments of rupture and exception conceals security practices that unfold in ongoing institutional disputes and over the construction of legitimate knowledge about public health. On the other hand, we point out that securitisation theory hinders a genealogy of modern apparatuses of control and neglects violent forms of government which are manifested not in major disruptive acts, but in the everyday dynamics of unequal societies. We conclude by suggesting that an analysis of the bureaucratic disputes and scientific controversies that constitute health security knowledges and practices enables critical approaches to engage with the multiple – and, at times, mundane – processes in which (in)security is produced, circulated, and contested.

Individuals, Communities, and Groups in Thomas Kuhn’s Model of Scientific Development

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn resorts to concepts from several disciplines in order to describe the general patterns of scientific development. This blend of disciplines can be explained in part by Kuhn's intellectual path, from physics to history and then to philosophy of science; but it also points to a deeper methodological problem, which is the question of what is the real unity of analysis in his model of science. The primary intention of this article is, thus, to give a solution to this difficulty. The answer, I believe, rests on identifying three fundamental units present in Kuhn's theory of scientific development. They are, respectively, the individual, responsible for producing evidence, spreading information, and choosing theories; the community, a set of scientists investigating a series of phenomena; and the groups, individuals with similar behavior but with looser institutional or social ties — a usually neglected category in Kuhnian literature, but equally fundamental for the final outcome of scientific debates. After investigating these categories in detail, I propose a way of integrating them into a general model for explaining the resolution of scientific controversies. Finally, I try to resolve the apparent conflict among disciplinary vocabularies by offering an account of the function of sociological, psychological, and epistemological concepts for describing controversies, and some of the methodologies appropriate for each of these tasks.

Paradigms and Four Levels of Scientific Controversies

A paradigm transition or change is essential in the development of science. During the transition, there are intense debates and controversies among scientists. In this paper, we attempt to analyze controversies in four levels and also three types of researchers.

Publics, Scientists and the State: Mapping the Global Human Genome Editing Controversy

Literature on scientific controversies has inadequately attended to the impact of globalization and, more specifically, the emergence of China as a leader in scientific research. To bridge this gap in the literature, this article develops a theoretical framework to analyse global scientific controversies surrounding research in China. The framework highlights the existence of four overlapping discursive arenas: China's national public sphere and national expert sphere, the transnational public sphere and the transnational expert sphere. It then examines the struggles over inclusion/exclusion and publicity within these spheres as well as the within- and across-sphere effects of such struggles. Empirically, the article analyses the human genome editing controversy surrounding research conducted by scientists in China between 2015 and 2019. It shows how elite scientists negotiated expert–public relationships within and across the national and transnational expert spheres, how unexpected disruption at the nexus of the four spheres disrupted expert–public relationships as envisioned by elite experts, and how the Chinese state intervened to redraw the boundary between openness and secrecy at both national and transnational levels.

Efeitos de sentido sobre transgênicos produzidos a partir da transformação nas condições de produção de leitura

Resumo: Reflexões relativas à Ciência e à Tecnologia têm se pautado no entorno de questões socialmente relevantes. Assim, além de colocar como fundamental um olhar para as relações entre tais eixos e a Sociedade, no presente trabalho, demonstramos como uma atividade baseada na leitura e na escrita no Ensino de Ciências, que visa autonomia e tomada de decisões, pode gerar outras compreensões por licenciandos em Ciências Biológicas. Analisamos os efeitos de sentido produzidos após ocorrer mudanças nas condições de produção de leitura, por meio do contato desses sujeitos com tipos textuais diversos. Nosso intuito foi compreender como se dão os seus posicionamentos frente as controvérsias científicas, mais especificamente no que se refere aos alimentos transgênicos. Para tal finalidade, analisamos produções textuais dissertativas, e observamos a ocorrência de mudanças nas condições de produção influenciaram a produção de sentidos dos licenciandos de/sobre transgenia, bem como em relação às controvérsias e questões sociopolíticas concernentes.Palavras-chave: CTS; Controvérsias Científicas; Análise de Discurso; Transgênicos. Meaning effects on transgenics produced from transformation in reading production conditions Abstract: Reflections on Science and Technology have been based on socially relevant issues. In addition to placing as crucial a look at the relationships between those axes and the Society, in the present work, we demonstrate how an activity based on reading and writing in Science Teaching, which aims at autonomy and decision making, can generate other understandings by undergraduate science Biological students. We analyze the meaning effects produced after changes in the conditions of reading production, through the contact of these subjects with different textual types. Our aim was to understand how their positions take place in the face of scientific controversies, more specifically with regard to transgenic foods. Analyzing textual dissertation productions, we observed that changes in production conditions influenced the production of senses of the undergraduate students on/about transgenics, as well as in relation to the controversies and socio-political issues involved.Keywords: STS; Scientific Controversies; Discourse Analysis; Transgenics.

The power of philosophy, the philosophy of power

Selfless search for truth does not only make sense of philosophy and science, but also involves participating in a competition between rival theories and hypotheses. Truth is not an ultimate criterion in this process, especially after Michel Foucault revealed its inclinations towards violence. Questioning the position of truth opens the door to different criteria, among them - power. Using the argument of power in philosophical disputes and scientific controversies has a long tradition and nowadays with the unprecedented development of technology it has been offered new tools. Majcherek Janusz A. Sia filozofii, filozofia siy // Argument. 2020. Vol. 1(10). Pp. 11-25.