Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science (Cambridge Studies in the History of Science) - Softcover

Golinski, Jan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521449138 ISBN 13: 9780521449137

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

In Making Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science, Jan Golinski reviews recent writing on the history of science and shows how it has been dramatically reshaped by a new understanding of science itself. In the last few years, scientific knowledge has come to be seen as a product of human culture, an approach that has challenged the tradition of the history of science as a story of steady and autonomous progress. New topics have emerged in historical research, including: the identity of the scientist, the importance of the laboratory, the role of language and instruments, and the connections with other realms of culture and society. Golinski has written a sympathetic but critical survey of this exciting field of research, at a level that can be appreciated by students or anyone else who wants an introduction to contemporary thinking in the development of the sciences.

About this title

Review

'... this book provide[s] a clear and illuminating brief account of this very recent tradition of the 'sociology of scientific knowledge'.' John Henry, Nature

Book Description

This book reviews recent writing on the history of science and shows how it has been dramatically reshaped by a new understanding of science itself. In the last few years, scientific knowledge has come to be seen as a product of human culture. This new approach has challenged the tradition of the history of science as a story of steady and autonomous progress.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521449138
• ISBN 13: 9780521449137
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250