Scientific Controversies

A Socio-Historical Perspective on the Advancement of Science

Inbunden, Engelska, 2015

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In Scientific Controversies, Dominque Raynaud shows how organized debates in the sciences help us establish or verify our knowledge of the world. If debates focus on form, scientific controversies are akin to public debates that can be understood within the framework of theories of conflict. If they focus on content, then such controversies have to do with a specific activity and address the nature of science itself. Understanding the major focus of a scientific controversy is a first step toward understanding these debates and assessing their merits.Controversies of unique socio-historic context, disciplines, and characteristics are examined: Pasteur's germ theory and Pouchet's theory of spontaneous generation; vitalism advocated at Montpellier versus experimental medicine in Paris; the science of optics about the propagation of visual rays; the origins of relativism (the Duhem-Quine problem). Touching on the work of Boudon, Popper, and others, Raynaud puts forward an incrementalist theory about the advancement of science through scientific controversies.The debates Raynaud has selected share in common their pivotal importance to the history of the sciences. By understanding the role of controversy, we better understand the functioning of science and the stakes of the contemporary scientific debates.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2015-04-30
Mått152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt589 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor320
FörlagTaylor & Francis Inc
ISBN9781412855716

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Dominique Raynaud is a sociologist and science historian at the Universite de Grenoble, France. He is the author of several books, including Sociology and Its Scientific Vocation and Optics and the Rise of Perspective. Mario Bunge is professor in the philosophy department at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and holds sixteen honorary doctorates and four honorary professorships. His works include Treatise on Basic Philosophy, Philosophy of Psychology, Scientific Materialism, Social Science under Debate, and Philosophy of Science.

Introduction; 1: Relativism and Rationalism: A Metacontroversy; 2: The Controversy between Pasteur and Pouchet: An Essay on the Principle of Accumulated Asymmetries; 3: The Vitalism–Organicism Controversy between Paris and Montpellier: An Essay on the Social Determination of Knowledge; 4: Intromission versus Extramission in Oxford: An Essay on the Norms of Rationality; 5: Al-Samarqand?’s Native Theory of Controversies: An Essay on the Negotiation of Truth 1; 6: The SSK in the Name of Prestigious Ancestors: Duhem, Quine and Wittgenstein; Conclusion

"Raynaud (Univ. de Grenoble, France) shows the importance of organized debates around scientific controversies that help confirm our knowledge about the world... Raynaud persuasively shows that understanding the role of controversy helps our understanding of the function of science and the importance of contemporary scientific debates. Raynaud offers a sober voice and clear commitment to pursuing scientific truths via scientific methods, as opposed to the politicization of science seen in the controversies surrounding Galileo and the Inquisition, and Stalinism and genetics. For Raynaud, science expresses more than the zeitgeist of an epoch; rather, science is focused on revealing truth... Highly recommended." - D.B. Levy, Choice Magazine