Scientific Perspectivism

Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. But historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have long argued that scientific claims reflect the particular historical, cultural, and social context in which those claims were made. The nature of scientific knowledge is not absolute because it is influenced by the practice and perspective of human agents. Scientific Perspectivism argues that the acts of observing and theorizing are both perspectival, and this nature makes scientific knowledge contingent, as Thomas Kuhn theorized forty years ago. Using the example of color vision in humans to illustrate how his theory of “perspectivism” works, Ronald N. Giere argues that colors do not actually exist in objects; rather, color is the result of an interaction between aspects of the world and the human visual system. Giere extends this argument into a general interpretation of human perception and, more controversially, to scientific observation, conjecturing that the output of scientific instruments is perspectival. Furthermore, complex scientific principles—such as Maxwell’s equations describing the behavior of both the electric and magnetic fields—make no claims about the world, but models based on those principles can be used to make claims about specific aspects of the world. Offering a solution to the most contentious debate in the philosophy of science over the past thirty years, Scientific Perspectivism will be of interest to anyone involved in the study of science. (20070511)

Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. But historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have long argued that scientific claims reflect the particular historical, cultural, and social context in which those claims were made. The nature of scientific knowledge is not absolute because it is influenced by the practice and perspective of human agents. Scientific Perspectivism argues that the acts of observing and theorizing are both perspectival, and this nature makes scientific knowledge contingent, as Thomas Kuhn theorized forty years ago.

 

Using the example of color vision in humans to illustrate how his theory of “perspectivism” works, Ronald N. Giere argues that colors do not actually exist in objects; rather, color is the result of an interaction between aspects of the world and the human visual system. Giere extends this argument into a general interpretation of human perception and, more controversially, to scientific observation, conjecturing that the output of scientific instruments is perspectival. Furthermore, complex scientific principles—such as Maxwell’s equations describing the behavior of both the electric and magnetic fields—make no claims about the world, but models based on those principles can be used to make claims about specific aspects of the world.

Offering a solution to the most contentious debate in the philosophy of science over the past thirty years, Scientific Perspectivism will be of interest to anyone involved in the study of science.

Quarterly Review of Biology

"A wonderful volume: insightful, compact, and readable."—Evan Selilnger, Quarterly Review of Biology

— Evan Selinger

CONTENTS......Page 6 List of Illustrations......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 What Is the Problem?......Page 12 Objective Realism......Page 15 Constructivism......Page 17 Naturalism......Page 22 Perspectivism......Page 24 Retrospect......Page 26 Basic Color Science......Page 28 Color Subjectivism......Page 34 Color Objectivism......Page 36 Comparative Color Vision......Page 38 Color Perspectivism......Page 42 The Philosophy of Color......Page 47 A Final Question......Page 51 Introduction......Page 52 Astronomy in Color......Page 53 Deep Space from the Perspective of the Hubble Telescope......Page 54 The Milky Way in Gamma Ray Perspectives......Page 56 Conclusions within Perspectives......Page 59 Imaging the Brain......Page 60 Instrumental Perspectives......Page 67 Representing......Page 70 Theories......Page 71 Laws of Nature......Page 88 Fitness......Page 90 Maps......Page 91 Truth within a Perspective......Page 100 Perspectives and Paradigms......Page 101 Scientific Kinds......Page 103 Perspectival Realism......Page 107 The Contingency Thesis Revisited......Page 112 Distributed Cognition......Page 115 Scientific Observationas Distributed Cognition......Page 118 Models as Parts of Distributed Cognitive Systems......Page 119 Computation in Scientific Distributed Cognitive Systems......Page 126 Agency in Scientific Distributed Cognitive Systems......Page 127 Why Distributed Cognition?......Page 133 Distributed Cognition and Perspectival Knowledge......Page 135 Notes......Page 136 References......Page 156 Index......Page 166 "Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. But historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have long argued that scientific claims reflect the particular historical, cultural, and social context in which those claims were made. The nature of scientific knowledge is not absolute because it is influenced by the practice and perspective of human agents. Scientific Perspectivism argues that the acts of observing and theorizing are both perspectival, and this nature makes scientific knowledge contingent, as Thomas Kuhn theorized forty years ago.Using the example of color vision in humans to illustrate how his theory of “perspectivism” works, Ronald N. Giere argues that colors do not actually exist in objects; rather, color is the result of an interaction between aspects of the world and the human visual system. Giere extends this argument into a general interpretation of human perception and, more controversially, to scientific observation, conjecturing that the output of scientific instruments is perspectival. Furthermore, complex scientific principles—such as Maxwell’s equations describing the behavior of both the electric and magnetic fields—make no claims about the world, but models based on those principles can be used to make claims about specific aspects of the world."--Page 4 de la couverture Ch.1. Introduction Ch.2. Lighting Principles Ch.3. Lighting Calculations Ch.4. Daylighting Ch.5. Acoustics Ch.6. The Thermal Environment Ch.7. Thermal Calculations Ch.8. Historic Review Ch.9. ECS Design Intentions Ch.10. Environmental Control Systems Ch.11. Plumbing Ch.12. Electricity Ch.13. Fire Protection and Agress Ch.14. Elevators and Escalators. Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. This title argues that the acts of observing and theorizing are both matters of perspective - which makes scientific knowledge contingent. It also states that colors do not actually exist in objects.