The  Sociological  Turn  in  the  Philosophy  of  Science Cover Image

Sociologický obrat vo filozofii vedy
The Sociological Turn in the Philosophy of Science

Author(s): Miroslav Karaba
Subject(s): Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Social Theory
Published by: Teologická fakulta Trnavskej univerzity
Keywords: sociology of science; “strong programme”; laboratory ethnography; D. Bloor; B. Latour;

Summary/Abstract: One of the most important controversies within community of scholars who study the evolution of scientific progress has concerned the role of sociological factors in the development of scientific thought. However, an idea of the social determination of scientific progress, which more or less has already come with the authorities of the classical stream of the modern philosophy of science (Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, Feyerabend etc.) results in the empirical analysis of the internal structure of scientific community. The question is what influence social factors (economical, institutional, the determination of values) have on the rate of scientific progress and the methodology of science. The aim of this paper is to focus on the sociological turn in the philosophy of science represented by “strong programme”, finitism and laboratory ethnography. As the result of presented paper is a statement that “strong programme” is implausible because reference to social pressures may explain why certain types of theories were entertained or excluded, but reference to such pressures is unlikely to provide a complete causal account of the formation of a specific scientific theory.

  • Issue Year: 2/2011
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 45-57
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Slovak