Knowledge and the World

by Carrier, Martin; Roggenhofer, Johannes; Kuppers, Gunter; Blanchard, Philippe; Dragoman, Daniela

• ISBN13: 9783540210092
• ISBN10: 3540210091
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-30
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

The fundamental question of whether, or in what sense, science informs us about the real world has pervaded the history of thought since antiquity. Is what science tells us about the world determined unambiguously by facts, or does the content of any scientific theory in some way depend on the human condition? "Sokal's hoax" attacked the mere seriousness of post-modern views of science and shifted this controversial debate to a new level, which very quickly came to be known as "Science Wars"."Knowledge and the World" examines and reviews the broad range of philosophical positions on this issue, extending from realism to relativism, to expound the epistemic merit of t science, and to tackle the central question: in what sense can science justifiably claim to provide a truthful portrait of reality? Challenges beyond the Science Wars are taken up by contributions of scientists, sociologists and philosophers of science, which connect perspectives of a wide variety of disciplines (including biology and cultural studies). This book addresses everyone interested in the philosophy and history of science, and in particular in the interplay between the social and natural sciences.

Table of Contents

Introduction
By the Editors	1	(16)
Defense of a Modest Scientific Realism
Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont
Comments by Stanley Barry Barnes and Felix Mühlhölzer	17	(38)
Scientific Realism: An Elaboration and a Defence
Howard Sankey
Comments by Trevor Pinch	55	(26)
Scientific Objectivity with a Human Face Four Reflections from a Pragmatist Point of View
Holm Tetens
Comments by Howard Sankey and Sergio Albeverio	81	(24)
On Social Constructivist Accounts of the Natural Sciences
Stanley Barry Barnes
Comments by Wolfgang Krohn and Alan Sokal	105	(32)
Experimental Success and the Revelation of Reality: The Miracle Argument for Scientific Realism
Martin Carrier	137	(26)
True is What is Considered True-What is Considered True is True
Günter Küppers	163	(8)
Realism and Biological Knowledge
Jean Gayon	171	(20)
Objective Facts, Subjective Experiences, and Neuronal Constructs
Holk Cruse	191	(20)
Evidence, Logic and Moral Authority Experience and the Erosion of Certainties in Illiterate and Literate Societies
Georg Elwert	211	(26)
Some Remarks on the Hard Core of Soft Sciences
Maurice Godelier	237	(10)
The Mote and the Beam Who's Blind to Whom
Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond	247	(18)
Neither Modernist Nor Postmodernist-A Third Way
Mara Beller
Comments by Jean Bricmont and Jay Rosenberg	265
From Science Wars to Science Worries: Some Reflections on the Scientific Conquest of Reality
Johannes Roggenhofer	293	(14)
Science Wars? Historical, Social and Epistemological Aspects of the "Sokal-Debate"
Jochen Hoock	307	(16)
Subject Index	323	(4)
Acknowledgements	327