Objectivity in Science: New Perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science Book 310)

This Highly Multidisciplinary Collection Discusses An Increasingly Important Topic Among Scholars In Science And Technology Studies: Objectivity In Science. It Features Eleven Essays On Scientific Objectivity From A Variety Of Perspectives, Including Philosophy Of Science, History Of Science, And Feminist Philosophy. Topics Addressed In The Book Include The Nature And Value Of Scientific Objectivity, The History Of Objectivity, And Objectivity In Scientific Journals And Communities. Taken Individually, The Essays Supply New Methodological Tools For Theorizing What Is Valuable In The Pursuit Of Objective Knowledge And For Investigating Its History. The Essays Offer Many Starting Points, While Suggesting New Avenues Of Research. Taken Collectively, The Essays Exemplify The Very Virtues Of Objectivity That They Theorize—in Reading Them Together, The Reader Can Sense Various Anxieties About The Dangerously Subjective In Our Age And Locate Commonalities Of Concern As Well As Differences Of Approach. As A Result, The Volume Offers An Expansive Vision Of A Research Community Seeking A Communal Understanding Of Its Own Methods And Its Own Epistemic Anxieties, Struggling To Enunciate The Key Problems Of Knowledge Of Our Time And Offer Insight Into How To Overcome Them. 1. Introduction : Objectivity In Science / Jonathan Y. Tsou, Alan Richardson, And Flavia Padovani -- Part I. Positions On Objectivity In Contemporary Science And Technology Studies. 2. Let's Not Talk About Objectivity / Ian Hacking ; 3. Objectivity For Sciences From Below / Sandra Harding ; 4. The Journalist, The Scientist, And Objectivity / Peter Galison -- Part Ii. Objectivity As A Topic In Historical Epistemology. 5. The Ethos Of Critique In German Idealism / Joan Steigerwald ; 6. The Physiology Of The Sense Organs And Early Neo-kantian Conceptions Of Objectivity : Helmholtz, Lange, Liebmann / Scott Edgar ; 7. Seeing And Hearing : Charcot, Freud And The Objectivity Of Hysteria / Paolo Savoia ; 8. Objectivities In Print / Alex Csiszar -- Part Iii. Securing Objectivity In Scientific Communities. 9. Objectivity, Intellectual Virtue, And Community / Moira Howes ; 10. A Plurality Of Pluralisms : Collaborative Practice In Archaeology / Alison Wylie ; 11. The View From Here And There : Objectivity And The Rhetoric Of Breast Cancer / Judy Z. Segal. Flavia Padovani, Alan Richardson, Jonathan Y. Tsou, Editors. Includes Bibliographical References. Contents 6 1 Introduction: Objectivity in Science 8 1.1 The Essays 14 References 19 Part I Positions on Objectivity in Contemporary Science and Technology Studies 23 2 Let's Not Talk About Objectivity 24 2.1 Title: Let's Not Talk About Objectivity 25 2.2 The Trajectory of Objectivity, as an Idea, Is the Triumph of Bumbling Public Good Sense Over Great but Bad European Philosophy (Descartes, Kant) 26 2.2.1 (a) The Philosophers 26 2.2.2 (b) Bumbling Good Sense 27 2.3 The Public in Question Is Primarily That of Querulous Western Democracies as They Entered the Age of Technocracy, and It Did a Good If Unplanned Job of Dealing with Novelty 29 2.4 It Is Often Hard to Be Objective in the Face of a Real-Life Debate, but There Is No Problem About Objectivity Itself—Except What Is Foisted on It By Highbrow Idealization and Misguided Polemics 29 2.5 The Adjective “Objective” Does the Work for the Abstract Noun, but in a Negative Way: In Any Single Situation, One or More of the Host of Ways to Fail to Be Objective Is What Matters 29 2.6 Objectivity Is Not a Virtue: It Is the Proclaimed Absence of This or That Vice 31 2.7 When Public Virtues Compete—Evidence-Based Versus Clinical Medicine, for Example—We Need to Think Harder, Not More Objectively 31 2.8 When Objectivity Is Declared to Be the Cardinal Virtue of Science, It at Once Gets Bashed (Rightly) — 32 2.9 When Objectivity Is Declared to Be the Cardinal Virtue of Science It at Once Gets Bashed—Or Else [I Continued] Abused (Deservedly), as in “NAOS: The National Association for Objectivity in Science” 33 2.10 So Let's Get Down to Work on Cases, Not Generalities 34 2.11 A Test Case 34 References 38 3 Objectivity for Sciences from Below 39 3.1 Sources of Controversy 41 3.2 The Logic of Standpoint Epistemology and Strong Objectivity 44 3.3 Alignments with Social Studies of Science and Technology 46 3.3.1 Objectivity Has a History 46 3.3.2 Sciences and Their Societies Are Co-produced or Co-constituted 47 3.3.3 Expanding Expertise 48 3.3.4 Intervening in Nature Can Be a Criterion of Good (and “Real”) Science 49 3.3.5 Nature Is Disordered, Modern Western Sciences Are Disunified and Plural 50 3.3.6 Modernity/Tradition Contrast Misleading 51 3.4 Criticisms and Challenges 51 3.4.1 Does the Strong Objectivity Program Introduce Politics into Otherwise Value-Neutral Sciences? 52 3.4.2 Does the Strong Objectivity Program Advance an “Identity Politics” Claiming Privileged Knowledge for Oppressed Peoples? 52 3.4.3 Don't the Natural Sciences Already Have Adequate Safeguards Against Social Biases? Can Strong Objectivity Be Relevant to Them? 52 3.4.4 Is Strong Objectivity Too Modern? Is It Too Postmodern? 53 3.4.5 Does Strong Objectivity Embrace or Fall into Relativism? 53 3.4.6 Is Strong Objectivity Too Western? Is It Too White? 54 3.5 A New Harmonizing of Multiple Sciences? 55 References 56 4 The Journalist, the Scientist, and Objectivity 60 4.1 Facts and Objectivity 60 4.2 Journalistic Objectivity 63 4.3 The Manipulated Image 71 4.4 Conclusion 76 References 77 Part II Objectivity as a Topic in Historical Epistemology 79 5 The Ethos of Critique in German Idealism 80 5.1 Kant's Critical Project: Critique as an Epistemic Virtue 82 5.2 Meta-critical Projects: After Kant 90 References 99 6 The Physiology of the Sense Organs and Early Neo-Kantian Conceptions of Objectivity: Helmholtz, Lange, Liebmann 101 6.1 Introduction 101 6.2 A Materialist Conception of Objectivity: Ludwig Büchner 104 6.3 Müller's Doctrine and Objectivity: Hermann von Helmholtz 105 6.4 Helmholtz and the Subjectivity of Spatial Representation 108 6.5 Objectivity for Humanity: F.A. Lange 111 6.6 Nature as a Phenomenon of Consciousness: Otto Liebmann 115 6.7 The Laws of the Actual: Helmholtz's Mature Conception of Objectivity 119 6.8 Conclusion 120 References 122 7 Seeing and Hearing: Charcot, Freud and the Objectivityof Hysteria 123 7.1 Introduction 123 7.2 Seeing Hysteria: Charcot 125 7.3 Hearing Hysteria: Freud 134 7.4 Conclusion 139 References 142 8 Objectivities in Print 145 8.1 Objectivity as Group Trait 146 8.2 Print and Objective Judgment 150 8.3 Print and the Coordination of Knowers 157 8.4 Conclusion 163 References 165 Part III Securing Objectivity in Scientific Communities 170 9 Objectivity, Intellectual Virtue, and Community 171 9.1 Introduction 171 9.2 Objectivity as Intellectual Virtue 172 9.3 Community Intellectual Virtue: Objectivity and Epistemic Trustworthiness 178 9.4 Objections 182 9.5 Conclusion 184 References 185 10 A Plurality of Pluralisms: Collaborative Practice in Archaeology 187 10.1 Demands for Accountability: Consent, Consultation, Reciprocity 190 10.2 Beyond Syncretic Pluralism 193 10.3 Dynamic Pluralism 196 10.4 Implications for Archaeology 200 References 206 11 The View from Here and There: Objectivity and the Rhetoric of Breast Cancer 209 References 222 Front Matter....Pages i-vi Introduction: Objectivity in Science....Pages 1-15 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Let’s Not Talk About Objectivity....Pages 19-33 Objectivity for Sciences from Below....Pages 35-55 The Journalist, the Scientist, and Objectivity....Pages 57-75 Front Matter....Pages 77-77 The Ethos of Critique in German Idealism....Pages 79-99 The Physiology of the Sense Organs and Early Neo-Kantian Conceptions of Objectivity: Helmholtz, Lange, Liebmann....Pages 101-122 Seeing and Hearing: Charcot, Freud and the Objectivity of Hysteria....Pages 123-144 Objectivities in Print....Pages 145-169 Front Matter....Pages 171-171 Objectivity, Intellectual Virtue, and Community....Pages 173-188 A Plurality of Pluralisms: Collaborative Practice in Archaeology....Pages 189-210 The View from Here and There: Objectivity and the Rhetoric of Breast Cancer....Pages 211-226