Positioning the History of Science PDF
Preview Positioning the History of Science
Positioning the History of Science BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editors ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University JÜRGEN RENN, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University of Athens Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRÜNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY†, (Editor 1960–1997) VOLUME 248 POSITIONING THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE Edited by Kostas Gavroglu, UniversityofAthens, Greece and Jürgen Renn MaxPlanckInstitutefortheHistoryofScience, Germany AC.I.P.CataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. ISBN-101-4020-5419-X(HB) ISBN-101-4020-5420-3(e-book) ISBN-13978-1-4020-5419-8(HB) ISBN-13978-1-4020-5420-4(e-book) PublishedbySpringer, P.O.Box17,3300AADordrecht,TheNetherlands. www.springer.com Printedonacid-freepaper AllRightsReserved ©2007Springer Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming, recordingorotherwise,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthePublisher,withtheexceptionnl ofanymaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeingenteredandexecuted onacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework. TABLE OF CONTENTS Positioning the History of Science Kostas Gavroglu and Jürgen Renn 1 Big History? Babak Ashrafi 7 Suggestions for the Study of Science Stephen G. Brush 13 Will Einstein Still be the Super-Hero of Physics History in 2050? Tian Yu Cao 27 For a History of Knowledge Olivier Darrigol 33 Working in Parallel, Working Together Lorraine Daston 35 Challenges in Writing About Twentieth Century East Asian Physicists Dong-Won Kim (Jhu) 39 Why Should Scientists Become Historians? Raphael Falk and Ruma Falk 43 From the Social to the Moral to the Spiritual: The Postmodern Exaltation of the History of Science Paul Forman 49 Between Science and History Evelyn Fox Keller 57 The Search for Autonomy in History of Science Yves Gingras 61 Without Parallels?: Averting a Schweberian Dystopia Michael D. Gordin 65 The Intellectual Strengths of Pluralism and Diversity Loren Graham 69 On Connoisseurship John L. Heilbron 73 v vi TableofContents Concerning Energy Steve Joshua Heims 77 Reflections on a Discipline Erwin N. Hiebert 87 The Woman in Einstein’s Shadow Gerald Holton 95 The Mutual Embrace: Institutions and Epistemology David Kaiser 99 History, Science, and History of Science Helge Kragh 105 Parallel Lives and The History of Science Mary Jo Nye 109 Discarding Dichotomies, Creating Community: Sam Schweber and Darwin Studies Diane B. Paul and John Beatty 113 Public Participation and Industrial Technoscience Today: The difficult question of accountability Dominique Pestre 119 The Character of Truth Joan Richards 135 Schweber, Physicist, Historian and Moral Example José M. Sánchez-Ron 139 What’s New in Science? Terry Shinn 143 On the Road Skúli Sigurdsson 149 Plutarchian Versus Socratic Scientific Biography Thomas Söderqvist 159 Problems Not Disciplines John Stachel 163 Physicist-Historians Roger H. Stuewer 169 Letting the Scientists Back In Stephen J. Weininger 173 TableofContents vii Science As History M. Norton Wise 177 Postscript Sam Schweber 185 KOSTAS GAVROGLU AND JÜRGEN RENN POSITIONING THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE The present volume, compiled in honor of an outstanding historian of science, physicist and exceptional human being, Sam Schweber, is unique in assembling a broad spectrum of positions on the history of science by some of its leading representatives. Readers will find it illuminating to learn how prominent authors judgethecurrentstatusandthefutureperspectivesoftheirfield.Studentswillfind thisvolumehelpfulasaguideinafragmentedfieldthatcontinuestobedominated by idiosyncratic expertise and still lacks a methodical canon. The essays were writteninresponsetoourinvitationtoexplicatetheviewsoftheauthorsconcerning the state of the history of science today and the issues we felt are related to its future. Although not all of the scholars whom we asked to write have contributed an essay, this volume can nevertheless be considered as a rather comprehensive survey of the present state of the history of science. All of the papers collected here reflect in one way or another the strong influence Sam Schweber has exerted duringthepastdecadesinhisgentlewayonthehistoryofscienceaswellasonthe lives of many of its protagonists worldwide. All who have had the opportunity of encounteringhimhavebenefitedfromhisadvice,benevolenceandfriendship.Sam Schweber’s intellectual taste, his passion for knowledge and his erudition are all encompassing. It therefore seemed fitting to honor him with a collection of essays of comparable breadth; nothing less would suffice. The history of science, like any other established academic discipline, is subject to tensions that are well reflected in the papers presented here. Whether these functionasadrivingforceforitsfuturedevelopmentorrisktearingitasundermay bejudgeddifferentlybydifferentreaders,andwillinanycaseremainatopictobe debatedamonghistoriansofscience.Principalamongthesetensionsisthatbetween historyandscience.Bothscientistandhistorian,SamSchweberhasexperiencedthis tension,evenembodieditandhasshownusthroughhislife’sworkhowtoresolve it in a productive way. This tension, so essential for anyone entering the history ofscience,whichencompassesdifferentinterests,culturalvalues,historiographical perspectives and methods, is touched upon in many of the essays. Another tension is that between the focus on content and on context, responsible for much of the acrimonypresentlyprevailinginourfield.Shouldahistorianofscienceconcentrate on what makes science a human enterprise, that is pomp, power, passion and circumstance,orratheronwhatmakesscienceuniqueamongallhumanenterprises, that is, its historically situated quest for knowledge? Once again, in his work, Sam has shown ways to successfully transform this tension into a medium of deep K.GavrogluandJ.Renn(eds.),PositioningtheHistoryofScience,1–5. ©2007Springer. 2 KostasGavrogluandJürgenRenn historical insights. Yet, that tension is still with us and continues to shape current intellectual debates and institutional struggles. No wonder then that the issues surrounding this particular tension are a prevailing topic of many of the papers included in this volume. Other tensions are perhaps less prominent but no less vital, for instance that between collaborative ventures in the history of science and individualintellectualpursuitsorbetweenamoremethodologically-orientedhistory of science and an approach governed by personal taste and connoisseurship, or thatbetweenahistoryofsciencefocusedontheEuropeanandAmericantraditions and a global history of knowledge covering also non-European traditions. These tensions as well as several others are also reflected in the views of the authors. The essays in this volume address some of the major questions presently concerning the community of historians of science, such as the question as to how sciencehasgonethroughdramatictransformationsinrecentdecadesandwhatthis change means for doing history, or the question of how history of science as an interdisciplinarydisciplinehaschanged.Forinstance,havesomeofthethemesthat weresoprominentintheresearchagendasofhistoriansofscienceintherelatively recent past actually become themes without a future? What has been the outcome forhistoriansofscienceofmorethantwodecadesofhistoriographicalcontroversies with, at times, strong philosophical and ideological contentions? What possible syntheses are we envisaging for the not so distant future? And, most importantly, towhatextenthavetherangeandcontentofquestionstobeexaminedwithin,say, the coming decade, been re-defined by these controversies? Historians of science were always very sensitive and aware of the changes happening in science and the essays in this volume reflect this awareness. Some of them explicitly address the question of whether we are facing the emergence of a new paradigm of science. Several ways of characterizing such a new paradigm are being explored: the end of reductionism, the expanding role of techno-science and industrialized science comprising a tendency towards the privatization and commercialization of knowledge, the changing role of the sciences in the structure of universities, but also the emergence of a new epistemology of processes of learning and evaluation and the increasing role of historical explanations in the natural sciences. Naturally, the changes in science mentioned above constitute major challenges forthehistoryofsciencedemandingnewwaysofdealingwithitshistoricalobjects. Even the sheer smallness of the number of historians of science when set into relation to the vastness of scientific activities represents such a challenge. Also, in an age of industrialized science, moral reflections as they have been part of some of the best scholarly work in the history of science including that of Sam Schweber, can no longer be causes championed by individual scientists, whatever their prestige. Whole communities of scientists are obliged to become aware of the wider consequences of their work and of the very character of what it is they are producing. At the same time, this need for awareness represents an important challenge for the community of historians of science, and can be addressed only
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