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The Rational and the Social
James Robert BrownLog in to track your reading progress.
Overview
This work critically examines the approach to science of Bloor, Barnes and other "strong program" sociologists who advocate a "science of science" or "finitism." It takes a similarly critical look at anthropologists in the lab such as Collins, Latour, and Woolgar.Indeed, The Rational and the Social tries to determine the ways in which social forces and rational theory choice interact with one another; it then offers a strategy for dealing with the social, resulting in the improvement of science.
Editorials
Booknews
Gracefully argued contribution to the debate about how scientific statements come into being, and what consequently is their status and meaning, the central question being "To what extent, and how, do social circumstances shape the evolution and purported content of science?" The author (who is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto) describes and finds defective both Bloor's (sociological) "science of science" and Barnes' "finitism", and proposes to "relocate" the role of social circumstance, to promote a relatively common-sensical rationalism. Notes, detailed bibliography and index. (NW) Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
January 12, 1989
Publisher
London : Routledge, 1989.
Pages
176
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780415029056