A Nice Derangement of Epistemes: Post-positivism in the Study of Science from Quine to Latour - Softcover

Zammito, John H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226978621 ISBN 13: 9780226978628

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2004

Synopsis

Reconstructing the critiques of positivism, John H. Zammito argues that positivist theories of science provide very little support for fashionable postmodern approaches to science studies.

About this title

Review:

"Zammito systematically examines the philosophical movements of postpositivism (such as the linguistic turn, postmodernism, poststructuralism, and deconstructionism) with the aim of demonstrating that the extravagances of these movements resulted in the undermining of empirical scientific inquiry, natural as well as social. . . . Zammito's analyses are thorough and well documented."-Choice

"This incorrigibly sensible, almost fanatically judicious history and critique of the philosophy and sociology of science . . . is a godsend to anyone who cares about these significant questions: What were the key issues in the academic practice of ''science studies'' during this epoch? Why did so many of the participants get so angry with one another? . . . Where has this often contentious fifty-year episode left us in the way of sound ideas about science?" -- David A. Hollinger "Journal of Modern History"

“Philosophers of science, science-studies practitioners, and science educators will find Zammito’s quasi-history of the post-positivist nature-of-science debates useful and formidable and sufficiently balanced to satisfy most if not all political and epistemological tastes.”—Steven Turner, "Science Education"
--Steven Turner "Science Education "

“Zammito is admirably evenhanded, arguing always with nuance and never with a bludgeon. His book can almost be read as a cautious defense of social and cultural studies of science, although his was moved to write it, he explains, by his distress at the postmodern abandonment of the ideal of truth.”—Theodore M. Porter, "American Historical Review"
--Theodore M. Porter "American Historical Review "

“Zammito sets out to trace the story of the development of anti-empiricist philosophy, that is, philosophy and sociology that deny that there can be decisive, objective, empirical evidence for any scientific claim. . . . His book is, in the end, a cautionary tale about academic standards, defending history, philosophy, and sociology of science. Some have gone too far, Zammito claims and we must return to what he calls ‘moderate historicism.’ ”—David J. Stump, "Isis"
--David J. Stump "Isis "

"Zammito is admirably evenhanded, arguing always with nuance and never with a bludgeon. His book can almost be read as a cautious defense of social and cultural studies of science, although his was moved to write it, he explains, by his distress at the postmodern abandonment of the ideal of truth."

--Theodore M. Porter "American Historical Review "

Philosophers of science, science-studies practitioners, and science educators will find Zammito s quasi-history of the post-positivist nature-of-science debates useful and formidable and sufficiently balanced to satisfy most if not all political and epistemological tastes.
--Steven Turner "Science Education ""

Zammito is admirably evenhanded, arguing always with nuance and never with a bludgeon. His book can almost be read as a cautious defense of social and cultural studies of science, although his was moved to write it, he explains, by his distress at the postmodern abandonment of the ideal of truth.
--Theodore M. Porter "American Historical Review ""

Zammito sets out to trace the story of the development of anti-empiricist philosophy, that is, philosophy and sociology that deny that there can be decisive, objective, empirical evidence for any scientific claim. . . . His book is, in the end, a cautionary tale about academic standards, defending history, philosophy, and sociology of science. Some have gone too far, Zammito claims and we must return to what he calls moderate historicism.
--David J. Stump "Isis ""

"Philosophers of science, science-studies practitioners, and science educators will find Zammito's quasi-history of the post-positivist nature-of-science debates useful and formidable and sufficiently balanced to satisfy most if not all political and epistemological tastes."
--Steven Turner "Science Education "

About the Author:

John H. Zammito is the John Antony Weir Professor of History at Rice University. He is the author, most recently, of Kant, Herder, and the Birth of Anthropology and of The Genesis of Kant's Critique of Judgment, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0226978621
• ISBN 13: 9780226978628
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 400