Abstract
Responding to criticisms made by Siegel of Kuhn’s views on incommensurability, I argue that “multicultural science” is possible. More exactly, values derived from different cultures underlie the salience of questions (e.g., about seeds) that arise when phenomena are considered explicitly as objects of human experience and social value, and that are open to empirical address but side-lined in mainstream modern scientific inquiry. Attention to such values thus points to the potential importance of identifying alternative approaches to systematic empirical inquiry that may involve interesting developments of approaches deployed in gaining “traditional” knowledge, e.g., in agriculture — as we see when we contrast mainstream approaches to agricultural research (those, e.g., that use biotechnological methods) with practically incompatible competing agroecological approaches.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Altieri, M. (1987). Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agricultures. Boulder: Westview Press.
Altieri, M. (1990). “Why Study Traditional Agriculture?” In C. Carroll, J. Vandemeer and P. Rosset, eds., Agroecology, pp. 551–564, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Altieri, M. (1999). “The Ecological Role of Biodiversity in Agroecosystems.” Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 74: 19–31.
Altieri, M., P. Rosset and C. Nicholls. (1997). “Biological Control and Agricultural Modernization: Towards Resolution of Some Contradictions.” Agriculture and Human Values 14: 27–58.
Anderson, E. (1995). “Knowledge, Human Interests, and Objectivity in Feminist Epistemology.” Philosophical Topics 23: 27–58.
Carrier, M. (this volume). “Changing Laws and Shifting Concepts: On the Nature and Impact of Incommensurability.” pp. 65–90.
Doppelt, J. (this volume). “Incommensurabilty and the Normative Foundations of Scientific Knowledge.” pp. 159–179.
Feyerabend, P. (1981). Problems of Empiricism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feyerabend, P. (1993). Against Method. 3rd edition. London: Verso.
Feyerabend, P. (1999). Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hoyningen-Huene, P. (1993). Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions: Thomas S. Kuhn’s Philosophy of Science, trans. A. Levine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kloppenburg, J. Jr. (1987). “The Plant Germplasm Controversy.” Bioscience 37: 190–198.
Kloppenburg, J. Jr. (1991). “Social Theory and the De/Reconstruction of Agricultural Science: Local Knowledge for an Alternative Agriculture.” Rural Sociology 56: 519–548.
Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuhn, T. (1977). “Objectivity, Value Judgment and Theory Choice.” In Kuhn, The Essential Tension. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lacey, H. (1990). “Interpretation and Theory in the Natural and the Human Sciences: Comments on Kuhn and Taylor.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 20: 197–212.
Lacey, H. (1999a). Is Science Value Free? Values and Scientific Understanding. London: Routledge. [Referred to throughout the text as “SVF”]
Lacey, H. (1999b). “On Cognitive and Social Values: A Reply to My Critics.” Science and Education 8: 89–103.
Lacey, H. (1999c). “Science and Values — 2.” Manuscrito 22: 165–203.
Lacey, H. (1999d). “Philosophically Reconstructing Kuhn.” Metascience 8: 188–192.
Lacey, H. (forthcoming) “The Ways in Which the Sciences Are and Are Not Value Free.” In P. Gardenfors, K. Kijania-Placet and J. Wolenski, eds., Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Lewontin, R. (1998). “The Maturing of Capitalist Agriculture: Farmer As Proletarian.” Monthly Review 50: 72–84.
Lewontin, R. and J. Berlan. (1990). “The Political Economy of Agricultural Research: The Case of Hybrid Corn.” In C. Carroll, J. Vandemeer and P. Rosset, eds., Agroecology, pp. 613–628, New York: McGraw-Hill.
McMullin, E. (1999). “Materialist Categories?” Science and Education 8: 36–41.
Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1999). Genetically Modified Crops: The Social and Ethical Issues. London: The Nuffield Foundation.
Rouse, J. (1987). Knowledge and Power: Towards a Political Philosophy of Science. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Sankey, H. (1997). Rationality, Relativism and Incommensurability. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Siegel, H. (this volume). “Incommensurability, Rationality and Relativism. In Science, Culture and Science Education.” pp. 207–224.
Shapere, D. (this volume). “Reasons, Radical Change and Incommensurability in Science.” pp. 181–206.
Shiva, V. (1991). The Violence of the Green Revolution. London: Zed.
Smith, J. (1996). Biotechnology. 3rd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tilman, D. (1998). “The Greening of the Green Revolution.” Nature 396: 211–212.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lacey, H. (2001). Incommensurability and “Multicultural Science”. In: Hoyningen-Huene, P., Sankey, H. (eds) Incommensurability and Related Matters. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 216. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9680-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9680-0_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5709-9
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9680-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive