In and About the World

Philosophical Studies of Science and Technology

By Hans Radder

Subjects: Philosophy Of Science
Series: SUNY series in Science, Technology, and Society
Paperback : 9780791430507, 225 pages, August 1996
Hardcover : 9780791430491, 225 pages, August 1996

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Table of contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Introduction: Realization and Nonlocality in Science and Technology

Chapter 2 Reproduction and Nonlocality in Experimental Science

2. 1 Introduction

2. 2 The Realization and Description of Reproducible Experiments

2. 3 Reproduction in Experimental Practice

2. 4 Normativity, Stability, and Nonlocality

2. 5 The Experimenters' Regress

2. 6 Data versus Phenomena?

2. 7 Experimental Science and Its Social Legitimation

Chapter 3 Heuristics, Correspondence, and Nonlocality in Theoretical Science

3. 1 Introduction: Intertheoretical Correspondence as a Nonlocal Pattern

3. 2 The Generalized Correspondence Principle

3. 3 The Correspondence Principle and the Rise of Quantum Mechanics, 1913–1925

3. 4 Correspondence in Modern Quantum Theory

3. 5 Evaluation of the Generalized Correspondence Principle

3. 6 Correspondence and Heuristics

3. 7 Philosophical Conclusions

Chapter 4 Science, Realization, and Reality

4. 1 Change and Work

4. 2 Meeting the Kuhnian Challenge: A Referentially Realist Epistemology for Experimental Science

4. 3 Meeting the Bachelardian Challenge: An Ontology of Persistently Real Potentialities and Historically Contingent Realizations

4. 4 Realizing Types and Ranges of Reproducibility

4. 5 The Abstraction (plus Interpretation and Realization) of Nonlocals

4. 6 Between Transcendental Realism and Constructivism

4. 7 Experimentation versus Observation?

Chapter 5 Normative Reflexions on Constructivist Approaches to Science and Technology

5. 1 Introduction

5. 2 Normativity in Constructivism

5. 3 Reflexivity in Constructivism

5. 4 Locality

5. 5 Ontological, Epistemological, and Methodological Relativism

5. 6 The Actor-Network Theory

5. 7 Conclusion: Analytical, Critical, and Constructive Reflexivity

Chapter 6 Experiment, Technology, and the Intrinsic Connection between Knowledge and Power

6. 1 Introduction

6. 2 The Production and Maintenance of Closed Systems

6. 3 The Relation between Experimentation and Technological Production

6. 4 The Effects of "Effect Thinking"

6. 5 The Intrinsic Connection between Knowledge and Power

Chapter 7 The Appropriate Realization of Technology: The Case of Agricultural Biotechnology

7. 1 Introduction

7. 2 The Potentialities and Actualities of Agricultural Biotechnology and Its Ethics

7. 3 Realizing Technology

7. 4 Realizing Appropriate Technology

7. 5 Realizing Appropriate Agricultural Biotechnology

7. 6 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Philosophy: In and about the World

8. 1 Introduction

8. 2 Philosophy as Theoretical

8. 3 Philosoophy as Normative

8. 4 Philosophy as Reflexive

Notes

References

Index

Description

Offers a new approach to a number of central issues concerning the theoretical interpretation and normative evaluation of contemporary science and technology.

Hans Radder is in the Philosophy Department at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has also written The Material Realization of Science.

Reviews

"Radder is a rising Dutch philosopher who is ploughing a distinctive path between philosophy of science and technology and its sociological counterpart--normally a Scylla and Charybdis that few would attempt to navigate between. This is a concise and powerful exposition of his moderate realist philosophy of science, complete with a case study illustrating the concrete policy implications of that philosophy--in the case of evaluating the 'appropriateness' of a technology in a third-world setting. "--Steve Fuller, University of Durham, author of Social Epistemology

"It effectively brings together a body of work that has something important to say about the understanding of science and technology in society. The author is working within a community of discourse (what might be called the Dutch school of science and technology studies) that is both important in its own right and is having increasing influence in the Anglo-American science and technology studies community--a community that includes historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science and technology. So I like the fact that this book brings a new voice from this important scholarly community more fully onto the table of discussion in the U. S.

"The substance of what Radder specifically has to say is also important. Radder's attempt to steer a middle course between radical constructivist relativism and normative judgment, the development of the concept of nonlocality as a counter to the challenges against science as universal, and his appreciation of work done in appropriate technology, are all insightful and useful contributions to scholarly attempts to understand science and technology. " -- Carl Mitcham, Pennsylvania State University, author of Thinking Through Technology: The Path Between Engineering and Philosophy