The Context of Constitution: Beyond the Edge of Epistemological Justification (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science Book 247)

Whether philosophy of science is crucially tied down to epistemological justification is a significant topic of current debates. This book sets out an extensive argument against the foundationalist theories of justification. In developing a project of a hermeneutic context of constitution, it advocates new life for philosophy of science. At the present, there seems to be no middle ground between analytic approaches to scientific knowledge and hermeneutic conceptions of scientific research. The author brings together aspects of an ontology of the interpretative constitution of research objects and a holistic picture of science’s cognitive structures. Yet the book is by no means an attempt to reconcile holistic epistemology and hermeneutic phenomenology. The context of constitution goes beyond both enterprises. Spelling out this context leads to the view of "cognitive existentialism" by means of which the author takes a fresh look at key issues in theory of scientific practices, hermeneutics of research traditions, taxonomy of the types of scientific inquiry, and phenomenology of proto-normativity. The book is conceived of as a contribution to a wide range of problems concerning the post-Gadamerian extension of philosophical hermeneutics beyond the scope of the traditional humanistic culture. CONTENTS......Page 6 PREFACE......Page 8 a. The Hermeneutic Task of Re-Reading Kuhn......Page 11 b. Providing a Rationale for a Hermeneutic Reformulation of Normal Science......Page 19 c. Against Externalism, and the Farewell to Normative Epistemology......Page 24 d. On the Phenomenological Background of Cognitive Existentialism......Page 36 e. Beyond the Context-Distinction......Page 38 f. The Post-Epistemological Dimension of the Context of Constitution......Page 42 a. Introduction......Page 45 b. Philosophical Hermeneutics and Hermeneutics of Scientific Research......Page 53 c. Heidegger's Ideas for the Constitutional Analysis of Scientific Research......Page 60 d. Postwar Ideas for a Hermeneutic Phenomenology of Science......Page 65 e. Against Cognitive Essentialism and the Possibility of a Cognitive Existentialism......Page 85 a. Normal Science, Practice Theory, and Kuhn’s Historicism......Page 102 b. Framework-Reading Versus Tradition-Bound-Reading of Normal Science......Page 119 c. Community's Consensus and Situated Transcendence......Page 133 a. Introductory Note......Page 141 b. Hermeneutic Fore-Structure, Cognitive Structure, and Research Everydayness......Page 143 c. Pre-Narrativity of Normal Scientific Research......Page 153 d. A Passage to Macro-Hermeneutics of Modern Science......Page 161 e. Thematizing Projects and Types of Scientific Research......Page 166 f. Non-Reductionist Unity and Non-Relativist Disunity of Science......Page 188 a. A Historical Note......Page 199 b. Between Wittgenstein and Heidegger......Page 200 c. The First Step: Normal Science's Normativity in Terms of Holistic Epistemology......Page 206 d. The Second Step: Towards a Hermeneutic Theory of Proto-Normativity......Page 212 NOTES......Page 224 B......Page 246 C......Page 248 D......Page 249 F......Page 250 G......Page 251 H......Page 253 K......Page 255 L......Page 257 M......Page 258 P......Page 259 S......Page 260 V......Page 262 Z......Page 263 C......Page 264 H......Page 265 M......Page 266 S......Page 267 Z......Page 268 This Study Brings Together Ideas Developed Over Many Years In Various Lectures In An Endeavour To Clarify The Concept Of Hermeneutic Fore-structure Of Scientific Research. The Starting Point Of My Investigations Was The Outline Of An Interp- Tative Approach To The Constitution Of Science’s Cognitive Content. In The Late 1970s I Was Preoccupied With A Question That Nowadays Should Be Formulated As Follows: Is It Possible To Claim A Validity Of The Hermeneutic View Of The “situatedness In A Tradition” Also For The Natural Sciences? I Was Convinced That The Negative Answer Implies A Self-defeating Position. It States That In Order To Champion The (cultural) Universality Of Hermeneutics, One Has To Profess The Non-hermeneutic Nature Of The Natural Sciences. Paradoxically Enough, This A- Wer Presupposes A Sharp Dividing Line (between Dialogical Experience And Monological Research) In Culture In Order To Stress The Universality Of Hermeneutics. Long Before The Period Of Perestroika In My Corner, I Learned From Joseph Kockelmans, Patrick Heelan, And Theodore Kisiel How The Universalization Of Hermeneutics Can Include The Natural Sciences Without Ignoring Their Cognitive Specificity. Somewhat Later, In The Aftermath Of The Discussions Over The “finalization Of Science”, I Began To Confront The View That It Would Be A Kind Of Trivializing The Struggle For A Philosophical Hermeneutics If The Theory-observation Nexus Is Treated As A Specific Hermeneutic Circle. No Doubt, The View Is Correct. I Was, However, Dissatisfied With The Way Of Arguing For It. Ideas For The Situatedtranscendence Of Scientific Research -- Reformulating The Concept Of “normal Science” In The Framework Of Hermeneutic Phenomenology -- Hermeneutic Phenomenology Of Scientific Research -- The Normativity Of Normal Science: Hermeneutic Contextualism And Proto-normativity. By Dimitri Ginev. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book sets out an extensive argument against the foundationalist theories of justification, and advocates new life for philosophy of science. The author brings together aspects of an ontology of the interpretative constitution of research objects and a holistic picture of science’s cognitive structures. The book is a contribution to a wide range of discussion concerning the post-Gadamerian extension of philosophical hermeneutics beyond the scope of the traditional humanistic culture. Review: "Whether philosophy of science is crucially tied down to epistemological justification is a significant topic of current debates. This book sets out an extensive argument against the foundational theories of justification. The book is conceived of as a contribution to a wide range of problems concerning the post-Gadamerian extension of philosophical hermeneutics beyond the scope of the traditional humanistic culture."--BOOK JACKET Whether philosophy of science is crucially tied down to epistemological justification is a significant topic of contemporary debates. This book sets out an argument against the foundationalist theories of justification. In developing a project of a hermeneutic context of constitution, it advocates new life for philosophy of science