Jim Clark wrote: > > First, it was not primarily historians of science who were anti-science (see > more below), although historians like Kuhn were much misused by the critics > of science. Kuhn was quite explicit in his writings that he did NOT see his > ideas as incompatible with the standard view of science (i.e., search for > truth, objectivity, use of evidence, ...). He did NOT see his views as > supporting the relativism that was central to the unfounded attacks on > science by others. > >
It is important not to confuse historians of science and sociologists of science when discussing this matter. Although they briefly thought they were doing similar things, it eventually became clear that they were engaged in rather different projects. Lorraine Daston has recently written explicitly on this matter in an article which is now being much discussed among both groups: (2009) "Science Studies and the History of Science," /Critical Inquiry, 35/, 798-813. It is also important not to make definitive statements about what "Kuhn believed." Kuhn's beliefs migrated quite a way from where he began over the years. In one famous paper, he later said that he thought science was just another form of hermeneutics. > Rather than the science wars being over, I believe a more accurate > characterization is that Snow's Two Cultures are even more sharply delineated > today than in the past, although the fault line would not fall sharply > between the Sciences and the Humanities (probably did not in his day either), > but rather between most sciences (some social sciences appear to have gone > over to the Dark Side ... sorry my son is into Star Wars right now) and a > good chunk but not all of the humanities. > > I hope I am wrong and Chris is right! > > Far from thinking that you're wrong about this, I think that the problem Snow identified has intensified greatly over the years. Far form there being "two cultures" (of academic thought) there are a dozen or more. They divide both what we used to call the humanities and what we used to call the sciences. The rift between the "natural" and the "social" sciences is only the most obvious. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
