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Science as Social Existence

Heidegger and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge

by Jeff Kochan

Science as Social Existence

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Book Description

In this bold and original study, Jeff Kochan constructively combines the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) with Martin Heidegger's early existential conception of science. Kochan shows convincingly that these apparently quite different approaches to science are, in fact, largely compatible, even mutually reinforcing.

By combining Heidegger with SSK, Kochan argues, we can explicate, elaborate, and empirically ground Heidegger's philosophy of science in a way that makes it more accessible and useful for social scientists and historians of science. Likewise, incorporating Heideggerian phenomenology into SSK renders SKK a more robust and attractive methodology for use by scholars in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Kochan's ground-breaking reinterpretation of Heidegger also enables STS scholars to sustain a principled analytical focus on scientific subjectivity, without running afoul of the orthodox subject-object distinction they often reject.

Science as Social Existence is the first book of its kind, unfurling its argument through a range of topics relevant to contemporary STS research. These include the epistemology and metaphysics of scientific practice, as well as the methods of explanation appropriate to social scientific and historical studies of science. Science as Social Existence puts concentrated emphasis on the compatibility of Heidegger's existential conception of science with the historical sociology of scientific knowledge, pursuing this combination at both macro- and micro-historical levels.

Beautifully written and accessible, Science as Social Existence puts new and powerful tools into the hands of sociologists and historians of science, cultural theorists of science, Heidegger scholars, and pluralist philosophers of science.

This open book is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY). You can download Science as Social Existence ebook for free in PDF format (4.2 MB).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, Phenomenology,and the Problem of the External World
Chapter 2
A Minimal Realism for Science Studies
Chapter 3
Finitude, Humility, and the Bloor-Latour Debate
Chapter 4
Things, Thinking, and the Social Foundations of Logic
Chapter 5
Mathēsis and the Emergence of Early-Modern Science
Chapter 6
Mathematics, Experiment, and the Ends of Scientific Practice
Chapter 7
Conclusion: Subjects, Systems, and Other Unfinished Business
Appendix
 

Book Details

Title
Science as Social Existence
Subject
Philosophy
Publisher
Open Book Publishers
Published
2017
Pages
446
Edition
1
Language
English
ISBN13
9781783744107
ISBN10
1783744103
ISBN13 Digital
9781783744121
ISBN10 Digital
178374412X
PDF Size
4.2 MB
License
CC BY

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