Postmodernism and Its Problems with Science∗
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Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 4 (2018), 386-407 DOI:10.17351/ests2018.228 Challenging Power, Constructing Boundaries, and Confronting Anxieties: Michael Kattirtzi Talks with Andrew Stirling MICHAEL KATTIRTZI1 UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH ANDREW STIRLING2 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX Abstract In this interview, Andy Stirling talks to Michael Kattirtzi about what initially drew him to Science and Technology Studies, his account of the impact of the Science Wars on the field, and why it matters that STS researchers do not shy away from challenging incumbents. Through a series of thoughtful reflections on his encounters with STS researchers, Stirling arrives at the conclusion that we should not expect the field to reconcile tensions that are more deeply rooted in society. Nonetheless, he hopes that in the future STS researchers will be more open and admitting of a plurality of epistemic perspectives within the field and avoid overly constraining it––all the while as he continues to demonstrate the value of appreciating such epistemic pluralism to policy- makers and stakeholders. A reflection by Michael Kattirtzi follows the interview. Keywords interview; Andy Stirling; epistemic diversity; normative commitments; disciplines; reflexivity First Encounters MK Let’s start with your own involvement with Science and Technology Studies, and your own sort of background––I know you remember your time in Edinburgh fondly. AS It was a formative experience for me––one of the most galvanizing of my intellectual life. Actually also my personal life, because it was in the Science Studies Unit (SSU) that I met my partner, Topsy Jewell (who was studying science studies with zoology). But I only had a small exposure to the SSU compared to other people you’ll be interviewing, because I was just an undergraduate. -
Reply by Jean Bricmont and Alan Sokal
Reply to Turnbull Krips Dusek and Fuller For Metascience Jean Bricmont Institut de Physique Theorique Universite Catholique de Louvain chemin du Cyclotron B LouvainlaNeuve BELGIUM Internet BRICMONTFYMAUCLACBE Telephone Fax Alan Sokal Department of Physics New York University Washington Place New York NY USA Internet SOKALNYUEDU Telephone Fax February Biographical Note Jean Bricmont is professor of theoretical physics at the University of Louvain Belgium Alan Sokal is professor of physics at New York University Introduction 1 In the preface to the second edition of Intel lectual Impostures we wrote that the criticisms of our b o ok can b e divided roughly into four types A very few reviewers discuss what we wrote and try to refute it Other commentators raise ob jections often p erfectly valid ones to ideas that are not in fact ours and that we may have expressly rejected in the b o ok while attributing them to us implicitly or explicitly Yet a third group of critics pretend to discuss our b o ok while actually doing something completely dierent for example attacking our p ersonalities our alleged motivations for writing the b o ok or the failings of scientists in general And nally some reviewers agree with us but think that we do not go far enough I I p xv The comments by Turnbull and Dusek fall squarely into the second and third cat egories apart from o ccasional brief excursions into category while Krips and Fuller oer a mixture of the rst and second categories It would b e a hop eless task to address al l the issues -
GS Salon the Science Wars
GS Salon: After the Science Wars Will DeWitt (UW Genome Sciences), October 4, 2018 The standard account of science Keywords: enlightenment rationality, empiricism, objectivity Objective facts about the world exist, and as theories and experiments are refined science converges toward them. ● There’s always a place at the edge of our knowledge, where what’s beyond is unimaginable, and that edge, of course, moves. – Leon Lederman ●Quantum mechanics supplanted classical mechanics because it explains more (atomic) phenomena, but still agrees with it exactly in the “correspondence limit” of macroscopic experiments. ●The discovery of DNA clarified the molecular basis of heredity, and allowed quantitative methods to sharpen the study of evolution. Objectivity: inquiry into nature unadulterated by personal perspectives, conflicting interests, or societal position. Scientific facts are publically available/verifiable Falsification, hypothetico-deductive logic ● It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong. – Feynman ●Example, Pasteur/Tyndall disproof of spontaneous generation: Hypothesis: micro-organisms are generated by the air. Implication: in sterilization/fermentation experiments with swan-neck flasks, it shouldn’t matter if the neck is oriented downward. Observation: cultures don't grow with neck oriented down. Conclusion: reject spontaneous generation. Classically problematic aspects of science Hume’s problem of induction: on what grounds is inductive inference -
8. Scientism and Scientificity in the Rage for Accountability
PATTI LATHER 8. SCIENTISM AND SCIENTIFICITY IN THE RAGE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY This essay plunges into old and difficult questions regarding the scientificity of science as a set of protocols of calculation where the policy, economy and practice of science change historically. My effort is to find a way to shift the terms of the debate away from rather tired epistemological contests and toward something useful in the very political contest over scientific research in education that is our situation today. Here we face demands of governmental efforts to hold experimental design up as the “gold standard” for educational research (Lather, 2004a,b; Lather and Moss, 2005). This essay addresses the science possible after the questioning of the grounds of science by refusing to concede science to the scientism that is so much afoot in the “repositivization” at work in global neoliberalism. It proceeds via an archaeology of the term “scientism” as a way to clear the ground for a look at the less used but arguably more important term of scientificity. I conclude with some thoughts on the implications for qualitative research in education in a time that might be termed the “rage for accountability.” I use Foucault and his concept of counter-science to set the stage. THIS CLOUDY DISTRIBUTION: SCIENCES OF UNCERTAINTY In The Order of Things, Foucault (1970) advises that, rather than looking for a coherent definitional field, we attend to the overlapping, contradictory, and conflictual definitional forces that don’t oversimplify our pursuit of a counter- science. Rather than the “physics envy” that characterizes the parade of behaviorism, cognitivism, structuralism, and neopositivism, he posits a social science that takes values and power seriously.1 Against the objectivist strands with their failure to successfully study human activity in a way modeled after the assumedly cumulative, predictive, and stable natural or “exact” sciences, Foucault locates the human sciences in the interstices of the mathematizable and the philosophical. -
Double Hermeneutics and Citation in Philosophy, Asphodel and Alan Rickman, Bruno Latour and the ‘Science Wars Babette Babich Fordham University, [email protected]
Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Philosophy Collections Summer 2017 Are They Good? Are They Bad? Double Hermeneutics and Citation in Philosophy, Asphodel and Alan Rickman, Bruno Latour and the ‘Science Wars Babette Babich Fordham University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_babich Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, Epistemology Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, and the Philosophy of Science Commons Recommended Citation Babich, Babette, "Are They Good? Are They aB d? Double Hermeneutics and Citation in Philosophy, Asphodel and Alan Rickman, Bruno Latour and the ‘Science Wars" (2017). Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections. 78. https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_babich/78 This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Babette Babich Are They Good? Are They Bad? Double Hermeneutics and Citation in Philosophy, Asphodel and Alan Rickman, Bruno Latour and the ‘Science Wars’ 1. Redoubling Ginev’s Double Hermeneutics I have had the privilege of knowing Dimitri Ginev for several years. The late physicist and philosopher, Patrick Aidan Heelan was one of the first to tell me about the brilliance of Ginev’s work since their own encounter at the -
How the New Atheists Are Reminding the Humanities of Their Place and Purpose in Society
University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2018 The emperor's new clothes: how the new atheists are reminding the humanities of their place and purpose in society. David Ira Buckner University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Buckner, David Ira, "The emperor's new clothes: how the new atheists are reminding the humanities of their place and purpose in society." (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3112. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/3112 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES: HOW THE NEW ATHEISTS ARE REMINDING THE HUMANITIES OF THEIR PLACE AND PURPOSE IN SOCIETY By David Ira Buckner B.S., East Tennessee State University, 2006 M.A., East Tennessee State University, 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy -
The Drama of Bioterror: Paranoia and the Rhetoric of Defense
THE DRAMA OF BIOTERROR: PARANOIA AND THE RHETORIC OF DEFENSE By George Huston Gittinger BA, Tulane University, 2002 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2011 MA, University of Pittsburgh, 2013 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication University of Pittsburgh 2014 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by George Huston Gittinger It was defended on November 15, 2014 Dr. Heather Douglas, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy Dr. Olga Kuchinskaya, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Dr. Gordon Mitchell, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Dr. John Poulakos, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Dissertation Director: Dr. John Lyne, Professor, Department of Communication ii Copyright © by George Huston Gittinger 2014 iii THE DRAMA OF BIOTERROR: PARANOIA AND THE RHETORIC OF DEFENSE George Huston Gittinger, Ph. D. University of Pittsburgh, 2014 This study provides an account of how a rhetoric of bioterrorism developed and investigates its consequences. Currently, two competing ways of talking about bioterror, the skeptical and the paranoid, have been obscured because biosecurity researchers infrequently consider how particular historical and imagined events come to be defined as examples of bioterrorism. These rhetorical styles and their associated attitudes responded to a recurring problem in the history of biothreats – that there is rarely enough evidence to give clear accounts of the presence and origin of particular threats. As a result, conjectures become part of a unified history of bioterror, washing out the actual complexity of describing these rare events. -
WHO HAS WON the SCIENCE WARS? Darko POLŠEK Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb UDK: 001.9 Izvorni Znanstveni Rad Primljeno: 29
WHO HAS WON THE SCIENCE WARS? Darko POLŠEK Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb UDK: 001.9 Izvorni znanstveni rad Primljeno: 29. 5. 2008. Bogdanov affair in astrophysics is strikingly similar to Sokal’s in "cultural studies". This paper discusses similarities between Sokal and Bogdanov affairs, especially the outrageous methods and behaviour of brothers Bogdanov, and concludes that the latter affair has shown that natural sciences and natural scientists are not beyond reproach, beyond criteria of cogency, validity and criticism, as was once suggested by Sokal’s affair. This has a broader morale: Since "high science" is understood by fewer scholars, such science is sometimes more prone to outrageous hypothesis which would not be tolerated in the more common ones. Therefore, there has to be at least a symmetry in critical approach to scientific claims: neither the type of science, nor the fame of scientists should provide a guarantee of proper conduct and scientific methodology. The paper discusses various meanings of symmetry in scientific approach to science, and discussing "trust" and "distrust" in science suggests a description of the s.c. "circle of credibility". Keywords: Bogdanov affair, Sokal affair, symmetry of criticism, circle of credibility Darko Polšek, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Department of Anthropology, I. Lučića 3, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia. E-mail: dpolsek @ffzg.hr The goal of the paper 1 is to describe the state of the art in the social studies of science. By enlisting problems with scientific fraud of various kinds, it tries to answer the question about the importance of relativism as a standard commitment in the social studies of science (SSS), to assess the weight and long term consequences of the previous affairs in SSS, most noto - 1023 riously the Sokal's affair, and it tries to answer the question: DRU[. -
RSA14 Schedule Overview Marriott Rivercenter – San Antonio, TX May 22-26, 2014
RSA14 Schedule Overview Marriott Rivercenter – San Antonio, TX May 22-26, 2014 Thursday May 22 8:00-5:00 ARST Preconference 8:00-5:00 ASHR Symposium (Session 1) 8:00-5:00 RSA Career Retreat Friday May 23 8:00-11:00 RSA Board Meeting 8:00-11:00 ASHR Symposium (Session 2) 9:30-12:15 RSA Seminar in cooperation with ISHR (Session 1) (sponsored by Northwestern University) 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session A 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session B 12:45-2:00 Concurrent Session C 2:15-4:45 Undergraduate Research Workshops (sponsored by Brigham Young University) 2:15-3:30 Concurrent Session D 3:45-5:00 Concurrent Session E 5:15-6:30 Keynote Address (co-sponsored by University of Denver and Taylor & Francis) 6:30-8:30 Opening Reception (sponsored by Trinity University) Saturday May 24 8:00-9:15 Concurrent Session F 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session G 11:00-2:00 Research Network (sponsored by Penn State University Press) 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session H 12:45-2:00 Concurrent Session I 2:15-4:45 RSA Seminar in cooperation with ISHR (Session 2) (sponsored by Northwestern University) 2:15-3:30 Concurrent Session J 3:45-5:00 Concurrent Session K 5:15-6:30 In Conversation Panels 6:30-8:00 Reception (sponsored by University of Kentucky) Sunday May 25 8:00-9:15 Concurrent Session L 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session M 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session N 12:30-2:30 RSA Luncheon (sponsored by: The University of Texas, Austin - Department of Communication Studies & Moody College of Communication) 2:45-4:00 Concurrent Session O 4:15-6:15 RSA SuperSessions 6:30-8:30 RSA Graduate -
En Ric V Id Al
Enric Vidal DOS VOCES POR LA CIENCIA Y LA RAZÓN CONVERSACIÓN CON JEAN BRICMONT Y RICHARD DAWKINS Susanna Ligero «¿Sabes quién es Giovanni Pico della Mirandola?» me la carrera del propio Dawkins, que a partir de entonces pregunta Jean Bricmont ya con la conversación bien se convertiría en referencia indiscutible tanto del mundo avanzada, y a continuación me hace un resumen rápi- de la biología como de la divulgación. damente: «Fue un autor italiano del Renacimiento. Se Docente en la Universidad de Oxford durante más supone que escribió sobre todas las cosas sabidas y cog- de quince años, en 1995 la trayectoria de Dawkins fue noscibles, sobre las no cognoscibles, y también de otro reconocida con su nombramiento como Profesor Char- tipo. O algo así.» Le he preguntado qué áreas de la in- les Simonyi de la Cátedra de la Comprensión Pública de vestigación científica sigue con más interés y medio en la Ciencia de esa misma universidad. No obstante, hoy broma, medio en serio, admite verse un poco reflejado muchos lo conocen por su cruzada incansable contra la en el filósofo italiano: «Tiendo a ser así: me interesan religión, llevada a término con un nivel de intensidad que muchas cosas, pero no sigo nada en detalle.» le ha comportado no pocas críticas, incluso dentro de la La ironía detrás de De omnibus rebus et de quibus- propia comunidad científica. Sin embargo, uno de los ejes dam aliis (“Sobre todas las cosas y también otras”), título de la campaña de Dawkins contra el pensamiento reli- de una de las obras de Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, gioso es precisamente demostrar cómo la ciencia ya pro- sin duda le sienta bien a Jean Bric- porciona a la humanidad suficientes mont (Bruselas, 1952), profesor de elementos dignos de asombro sin Física de la Universidad Católica «LA CIENCIA ES necesidad de recorrer al misticismo: de Lovaina (UCL) y escéptico por «La ciencia es maravillosa, es poé- autodefinición. -
Science Wars 1St Edition Kindle
SCIENCE WARS 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Anthony Walsh | 9781351491860 | | | | | Science Wars 1st edition PDF Book Accessed 15 may Sort: Best Match. Fabulous First Editions from the s. Facebook Twitter. TomS HA. The losers are left in the dust. Why does this all mean? Judges Guild. If the initial print run - known as the 'first printing' or 'first impression'- sells out and the publisher decides to produce a subsequent printing with the same typeset, books from that second print run can be described as a first edition, second printing. They took place principally in the United States in the s in the academic and mainstream press. Social conditions and attitudes affect how strongly one attempts to resist falsification for the core of a program, but the program has an objective status based on its relative explanatory power. The authors insist that the "science critics" misunderstood the theoretical approaches they criticized, given their "caricature, misreading, and condescension, [rather] than argument". Action Films. The antidemocratic right often accuses the new science studies of relativism, but it is wrong about just what it is to which the new science studies "relativizes" sciences. History of football. For "educated classes" whose own status depends on the same appeals to objectivity, rationality, expertise, and progressiveness on which science's legitimacy depends, science discourses can be mobilized to encourage people to think in politically seductive ways about any and all social issues. This publisher chose not to include the year that it was printed. Any number can play. Good Times. Star Wars. Wild Card. Booksellers will often describe these later first editions as a 'first edition thus' or just 'first thus'. -
The Science Wars and the Future of the American Academic Profession
1 The Science Wars and the Future of the American Academic Profession Unedited version of article published in: Daedalus, 1997, 126 (4), 201-20. It is all too easy to be perplexed about the state of health of academia in the United States. On the one hand, observers proclaim this "the golden age of the American university,"1 and it would be hard to disagree based on any sort of objective measure, such as the competition for admission to selective insitutions, or the net influx of foreign students. Subjectively, the positive public image of the American university also seems to be holding.2 At the same time, a steady stream of jeremiads fills the shelves at bookstores and libraries, lamenting the catastrophic failure of American higher education to carry out its intended functions. These portray American colleges and universities as places where students go to have their minds closed and their spirits killed by tenured radicals engaged in a giant professorial scam.3 It's difficult to read such books without feeling we're doing something wrong. The status of the natural sciences is similarly confusing. Measures based on student demand are no less positive than in other disciplines. Predictions that by now we would not be producing enough scientists to replace the increasing numbers of retirees from academic positions show no signs of coming true. American scientific research continues to lead the world in most fields, by any objective or subjective measure. While a good deal of scientific research goes on outside universities (in contrast to the majority of scholarly work in other disciplines), surely this leadership is due in very large part to the academic component.4 Nonetheless, academic scientists sense that all is not well.