Worlds of ScienceCraft: New Horizons in Sociology, Philosophy, and Science Studies PDF
Preview Worlds of ScienceCraft: New Horizons in Sociology, Philosophy, and Science Studies
Worlds of sciencecraft This book is dedicated to Sharon Anderson-Gold Iain Banks David Heath Susan Leigh-Star Anne Stingl Helen Weiner Worlds of sciencecraft new Horizons in sociology, Philosophy, and science studies sal restivo University of Ghent, Belgium sabrina M. Weiss Rochester Institute of Technology, USA alexander i. stingl Drexel University, USA and University of Kassel, Germany © sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl 2014 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company Wey court east 110 cherry street Union road suite 3-1 farnham burlington, vt 05401-3818 surrey, gU9 7Pt Usa england www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: restivo, sal P. Worlds of sciencecraft : new horizons in sociology, philosophy, and science studies / by sal restivo, sabrina M. Weiss and alexander i. stingl. pages cm includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4094-4527-2 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-4528-9 (ebook) -- ISBN 978- 1-4724-0382-7 (epub) 1. Sociology--Research. 2. Philosophy--Research. 3. Science-- research. i. Weiss, sabrina M. ii. stingl, alexander i. iii. title. HM571.r47 2014 301.072--dc23 2013046906 ISBN 9781409445272 (hbk) ISBN 9781409445289 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 9781472403827 (ebk – ePUB) V Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry ling limited, at the dorset Press, dorchester, dt1 1Hd Contents Acknowledgements vii Prologue ix 1 Mathematics, Society, and Social Change 1 2 The Social Ecology of Brain and Mind 37 3 Veiling the Modest Cyborg: More Than a New Witness 71 4 Sibling Saviors: A Hohfeldian Critique of Sibling Donor Conception 89 5 Local Biopolities of Solidarity, Epistemic Cultures of Empathy, and the Civil Sphere 101 Conclusion: Harder Better Faster Stronger: An Epilogue in the Mask of Four Human Problems 141 Bibliography 193 Index 225 This page has been left blank intentionally Acknowledgements Sabrina Weiss would like to thank the following people: Ron Eglash, Deborah Blizzard, Langdon Winner, Steve Breyman, Ellen Esrock, Kelly Joyce, Ned Woodhouse, Nancy Campbell, Eben Kirksey. CSD, Michael Fitzgerald, Alex Sapadin, Liam and Kellen Potocsnak, Brandy Spani, Catherine Helle, Carly Johnson, Nika, Todd, and Sarah Spiker-Rainey, Lisa, Danny, and Zoe Fontaine- Rainen, Teresa Griffin, Anqi Fu. Snohomish and Kamiak High School Debate Teams, Steve Helman, Bill Nicolay, and Marissa Elliot. Chris Das Neves, Tyler Neal, Sean Galbraith, Zannechaos—fellow modest cyborgs. Owakeri, Lindiwe, Mimeteh, Astenya, Jolilae, Arzu, Bullzilla, and the rest of the great people at WRA. Lorn Reynolds, John Daziens, Pecos, and everyone else from ESX. Linda MacDonald-Glenn, Fred Childs, Brit Yamamoto, Allison Mead, Bill Costello, Steve Koepp, Shan Oglesby, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Tawlks, Carol Rindle, Mrs. Yakovich, Sister Dolores-Crosby, Cliff. My family, including my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around the world; Dan, my brother, for being the best big little brother a person could have, and Alexander I. Stingl for being my partner and equal. And most of all, to my parents for both challenging and supporting me through the many adventures of my life. Alexander I. Stingl has profited from audiences and co-presenters of talks between 2007 and 2013. He would also like to thank his students and TAs (Tutoren) at Leuphana University Lüneburg who engaged and discussed literatures and knowledges with him and happily challenged his conventional views and his provocations alike over the past few years. A particular thanks to Hans Bakker for reminding him of the importance of semiotics and Max Weber, and also for serving as the “image of a woman” at SSSI in NYC in 2013. He wants to thank Kelly Joyce, Ali Kenner, Linnda Caporael, Ron Eglash, Gareth Edel, Jon Gluck, Matt Hoffman, Liz McGoey, Deborah Blizzard, Sebastian Deterling, Ellen Langer, Michael Dellwing, Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Andreas Jürgens, Wendel Burkhardt, Don Levine, Fritz Breithaupt, Volker Wegener, Gayle Goldstick, Joana Mangiuca, Albero Asencio, Ferdie Wagner, David Lindner, Kathrin Schwalbe, Pete Loranger, Laura Mauldin, Jonah Friedman, Justin Grosslight, Armin Monsorno, Bernhard Tilg, Donald Levine, Lazarino Antini, Birgit Dörle, and David Heath for discussions, comments, and/or advice that were relevant to this book. He wants to emphasize he is, as always, indebted to the deterritorializing and detemporalizing dialogue with Sabrina M. Weiss. And, finally: Für Sepp und Mu, danke für alles. Ich drück euch. viii Worlds of ScienceCraft Sal Restivo thanks Randall Collins, Leslie Brothers, Linnda Caporael, and Julia Loughlin for provocations that have helped him to better grasp the social nature of mathematics, brain, and mind. Prologue Sal Restivo and Sabrina M. Weiss1 There are always dangers when we hook our wagon to a star, to an icon of our field or an iconic idea. Notably dangerous icons include Einstein in physics, Foucault in history, Durkheim in sociology, Plato in ancient philosophy, Hegel and Kant in modern philosophy, and Marx in political economy. Dangers also accrue to iconic ideas such as relativity, entropy, complementarity, uncertainty (Heisenberg or Gödel), structuralism, social constructionism, and historical materialism. The dangers are multiple: we must confront the challenges of translation in some cases, the internal contradictions that inevitably crop up in a lifetime of writing, and more often the conflicting interpretations among authors themselves and their readers (T.S. Kuhn being a notable exemplar); and we must be alert to the threat of anachronisms and Whig histories. Finally, we must be cautious about falling prey to hero worship. This danger exists wherever we encounter idolatry, whether in the case of iconic figures, core concepts, ideas and themata, or through disciplinary perspectives. Sal Restivo, Ghent, Belgium, 2012 Inspirations The inspiration for the title of this work, “Worlds of ScienceCraft,” came from the popular massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft. This connection arose out of a series of discussions between Restivo and Weiss and only later was crafted as an homage to this title. The game raised the question about the nature and quality of social interaction. Are online social interactions functionally equivalent to offline face-to-face interactions? This question raised deeply intersectional juxtapositions between disciplines (sociology vs. philosophy), generations (old vs. young), cultures (western and eastern), and gender (masculine, feminine, and queer). For the sociologist, humans are always, already, and everywhere social and the face-to- face aspect of our species defines our humanity. But for a bioethicist philosopher, there is undeniable value in recognizing the reality of interactions, regardless of medium or participant, because all have emotional and conceptual content and impact. The discussions between Restivo and Weiss eventually led to a recognition that just as, to paraphrase William Blake, individuals could be multiples so could 1 The “Inspirations” section was written by Weiss; the rest of this prologue represents an introduction in Restivo’s voice.
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