Continuity and Discontinuity in the Definition of a Disciplinary Field: The Case of XXth Century Physics
Chapter
Abstract
It is by now an almost trivial statement that the growth of scientific knowledge is not a cumulative linear process. I wish, however, to argue in favour of a less conventional claim: namely that a sharp line cannot be drawn dividing the rational reconstruction of reality allegedly performed by science by means of purely logical procedures firmly grounded on factual data, from other kinds of belief based on individual or collective experiences leaving more or less room for subjective factors.
Keywords
Physics Community Scientific Revolution Empirical Adequacy Rational Reconstruction Logical Category
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
- 1.Bateson, G., ‘The logical categories of learning and communication’ in: Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chandler, 1972.Google Scholar
- 2.Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J. and Jackson, D., ‘The pragmatic of human communication’. W. W. Norton, New York, 1967.Google Scholar
- 3.Popper, K., ‘The Tree of Knowledge’ in: Objective Knowledge, Oxford University Press, London, 1972.Google Scholar
- 4.Popper, K., ‘Clouds and Clocks’, op. cit.Google Scholar
- 5.Kuhn, T., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, 1962.Google Scholar
- 6.Gilbert, G. N., Mulkay, M., Social Studies in Science 12 (1982) 383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 7.Ageno, M., Le radici della biologia, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1986.Google Scholar
- 8.Heims, S., John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, MIT Press, 1981.Google Scholar
- 9.Jammer, M., The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, Wiley, New York, 1974.Google Scholar
- 10.Kuhn, T., Black Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity, Oxford Univ. Press, London, 1978.Google Scholar
- 11.Casati, G., and Ford, J. (eds.), Stochastic Behaviour in Classical and Quantum Hamiltonian Systems. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1979.Google Scholar
Copyright information
© Kluwer Academic Publishers 1989