The Kaleidoscope of Science: The Israel Colloquium: Studies in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science Volume 1

251 Pages·1985·4.718 MB·English

by  Stephan Körner (auth.), Edna Ullmann-Margalit (eds.)

THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF SCIENCE
BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
EDITED BY ROBERT S. COHEN AND MARX W. WARTOFSKY
VOLUME 94
THE KALEIDOSCOPE
OF SCIENCE
The Israel Colloquium: Studies in
History, Philosophy, and Sociology ofS cience
Volume 1
Edited by
EDNA ULLMANN-MARGALIT
D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY
A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMICPUBUSHERSGROUP
DORDRECHT I BOSTON I LANCASTER I TOKYO
library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Kaleidoscope of science.
(Boston studies in the philosophy of science; 94)
Includes index.
1. Science-Philosophy. 2. Science-History.
I. Ullmann-Margalit, Edna. II. Series.
Q174.B67 vol. 94 001'.01s (501] 85-28167
(QI75]
ISBN-13: 978-90-277-2159-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-5496-0
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-5496-0
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company,
P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland.
Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada
by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A.
In all other countries, sold and distributed
by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group,
P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland.
Prepared in cooperation with Mrs. Esther Shashar, executive editor,
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.
All Rights Reserved
© 1986 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986
No part of the material protected by this copyrigh t notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner
THE ISRAEL COLLOQUIUM: STUDIES IN
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND
SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE
The Governing Board The Advisory Committee
Yehuda Elkana Joseph Ben-David
Michael Heyd Solly Cohen
Asa Kasher Aryeh Dworetzky
Jacob Eckstein
Varon Ezrahi
Coordinator
Michael Feldman
Edna Ullmann-Margalit
Seymour Fox
Saul Friedlander
Advisory Editorial Board Amos Funkenstein
Robert S. Cohen Max Jammer
Boston University Shneior Lifson
Yuval Ne'eman
Shlomo Pines
Yehuda Elkana
Moshe Prywes
Tel-Aviv University and
Shmuel Sambursky
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
David Samuel
Ben-Ami Scharfstein
Gerald Holton Ozer Schild
Harvard University Mark Steiner
Ezra Talmor
Zvi Yavetz
The Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science
was established in the academic year 1981-82. It offers, annually, a series of
public lectures, alternately in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. It is sponsored and
directed jointly by three bodies: The Center for the History and Philosophy
of Science, Technology, and Medicine of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem;
The Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas of Tel-Aviv
University; and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. It has an advisory board
representing all the institutions of higher learning in Israel; also, it collaborates
with R. S. Cohen and M. Wartofsky of the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy
of Science.
EDITORIAL NOTE
On the Proceedings of the Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and
Sociology of Science:
In recent years it has become evident that, in addition to serious and com
petent disciplinary work on the specifics of the History of Science, the Philos
ophy of Science and the Sociology of Science, there is now a growing need to
develop a problem-oriented approach which no longer distinguishes between
these three specialties in a cut and dried way. Since the time has come for such
an approach, the institutional tools should be provided.
A way to do so would be to write - and to encourage others to write - almost
19th century style, problem-oriented overviews and to devote journals and
workshops to that as a systematic approach. Another way is more eclectic,
namely to organize colloquia and to publish good papers stemming from
these, without attempting to organize the papers under the separate rubrics
of History or Philosophy or Sociology of Science; and moreover to consider it
natural that any fundamental issue of the foundations of the sciences, or their
place in a culture and the way they are institutionalized in the societal web, is
still our concern, no matter whether we are a professional scientist, historian or
philosopher who deals with the problem.
The Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science at Boston University,
which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, represented this approach under
the general umbrella of Philosophy of Science. The Israel Colloquium, which
is now in its fifth year, started as an offspring of the Boston Colloquium with
the advice and encouragement of the founders and organizers of the Boston
Colloquium, and has chosen explicitly to devote itself to History, Philosophy
and Sociology of ... : actually it should have been of Science, Technology and
Medicine, except the name would have been too cumbersome. Or, perhaps it
could have been called simply: A Colloquium devoted to the Historical Sociology
of Scientific Knowledge.
Like the parent institution, situated in the intellectual Mecca of Boston, the
Israel Colloquium is at the crossroads of various kinds of contradictory attitudes,
polarized worldviews and a multitude of intellectual trends which brings
vii
viii EDITORIAL NOTE
scholars from many nations - alas not yet from all-to visit Israel and to conduct
a dialogue on their topic of interest.
In the academic year 85/86 the Israel Colloquium has started its fifth annual
lecture series, and it has been gathering momentum and recognition with the
scientific community. The first contract for publication of its selected pro
ceedings was signed with Dr. Simon Silverman, the founder and moving spirit
of the Humanities Press, a man who did so very much since 1945 to promote our
field in the United States and recently also in Israel with publications and direct
donations. After his sudden death in 1984, which we mourn deeply, the
Humanities Press underwent changes and the Israel Colloquium volumes
appropriately found a home with the D. Reidel Publishing Co., among the
Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science where books from the Boston
Colloquium have appeared from its beginning.
We hope that this new series of scholarly books will prove a worthwhile
contribution to the study of Science as a Cultural System.
September 1985
ROBERT S. COHEN
Boston University
YEHUDA ELKANA
Tel-A viv University
MARX W. WARTOFSKY
Baruch College, City University of New York
Contents
Editorial Note vii
Preface Xl
STEPHAN KORNER, Bristol and Yale Universities
On the Empirical Application of Mathematics
and Some of its Philosophical Aspects
HAIM GAIFMAN, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
On the Empirical Application of Mathematics:
A Comment 13
HILARY PUTNAM, Harvard University
Meaning and Our Mental Life 17
EDDY M. ZEMACH, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Meaning and Our Mental Life: A Comment 33
AMOS FUNKENSTEIN, Tel-Avb University and
The University of California in Los Angeles
The Persecution of Absolutes: On the Kantian
and Neo-Kantian Theories of Science 39
NATHAN ROTEN STREICH, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Origin and Spontaneity: A Comment 65
AMOS TVERSKY, Stanford University
Cognitive Illusions in Judgment and Choice 75
A VISHAI MARGA LIT, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Past of an Illusion: A Comment 89
BERNARD D. DAVIS, Harvard University
Molecular Genetics and the Falsifiability of Evolution 95
x CONTENTS
YADIN DUDAI, The Weizmann Institute of Science
On Experimental Approaches and Evolution:
A Comment III
DAVID KOHN, William Paterson College of New Jersey
Darwin's Principle of Divergence as Internal Dialogue 117
SILVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University
On Darwin's Principle of Divergence: A Comment 133
HENRI ATLAN, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Molecular versus Biological Evolution and Programming 137
ROGER H. STUEWER, University of Minnesota
Gamow's Theory of Alpha-Decay 147
HARRY J. LIPKIN, The Weizmann Institute of Science
On Gamow's Theory of Alpha-Decay: A Comment 187
MARTIN J. S. RUDWICK, Trinity College, Cambridge
The Group Construction of Scientific Knowledge:
Gentlemen-Specialists and the Devonian Controversy 193
SILVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University
On the Devonian Controversy: A Comment 219
EVERETT MENDELSOHN, Harvard University
Knowledge and Power in the Sciences 225
Y ARON EZRAHI, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Knowledge and Power in the Sciences: A Comment 241
Index of Names 247
PREFACE
This collection is the first proceedings volume of the lectures delivered within
the framework of the Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and
Sociology of Science, in its year of inauguration 1981-82. It thus marks the
beginning of a new venture.
Rather than attempting to express an ideology of the l}nity of science, this
collection in fact aims at presenting a kaleidoscopic picture of the variety of
views about science and within science. Three main disciplines come together
in this volume. The first of scientists, the second of historians and sociologists
of science, the third of philosophers interested in science. The scientists
try to present the scientific body of knowledge in areas where the scientific
adventure kindles the imagination of the culture of our time. At the same
time, of course, they register their own reflections on the nature of this body
of knowledge and on its likely course of future development. For the historians
and sociologists, in contrast, science is there to be studied diachronically, as a
process, on the one hand, and synchronically, as a social institution, on the
other. As for the phil9sophers, finally, their contribution to this series is not
meant to remain within the confines of what is usually seen as the philosophy
of science proper, or to be limited to the analysis of the scientific mode of
reasoning and thinking: it is allowed, indeed encouraged, to encompass alter
native, and on occasion even competing, modes of thought.
The collection of essays in this volume, then, does not present one central
sustained argument. Rather than argue a case, these essays, taken together,
exemplify it, through the juxtaposition of a variety of points of view of science
both as a system of propositions and as a social institution. The metaphor of
the kaleidoscope is thus peculiarly apt. As an alternative metaphor one might
think of a cubist painting that attempts to represent a plurality of viewpoints
of a certain object on a single plane.
And, if an educational aim is sought for this volume, it could perhaps be
expressed in Tennyson's words ~
Nourishing a youth sublime
With the fairy tales of science, and long result of Time.
xi