Department of History and Philosophy of Science

History and Theory Reading Group

Easter Term 2012: Uses of the Social from Fleck to Kuhn

This term we continue our series of 'classic' works in HPS, this time with a sociological theme. Our aims are to find out what some influential thinkers have meant by the social by exploring their use of that notion; and to find out how historians of science can and have used that notion.

Meetings take place on Fridays, 2.30 to 4pm in Seminar Room 1. Hard copies of the readings will be placed in a box in the Whipple, and soft copies sent to the hps-discussion list in advance of each meeting. All are welcome. Please note that the first three meetings will take place weekly, not fortnightly. Organised by Michael Bycroft and Minwoo Seo.

27 April: Josh Nall introduces Michael Polanyi

  • Michael Polanyi, 'The Rights and Duties of Science', Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies 10 (1939), 175–193.
  • Michael Polanyi, 'The Growth of Thought in Society', Economica 8 (1941), 428–456.
  • Mary Jo Nye, 'Scientific Freedom and the Social Functions of Science' (ch. 6), in Michael Polanyi and His Generation: Origins of the Social Construction of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), 183–222.

4 May: Nick Hopwood introduces Ludwik Fleck

  • Extracts from Ludwik Fleck, The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact (Chicago, 1979).
  • Secondary readings TBC.

11 May: John Forrester introduces Thomas Kuhn

  • Kuhn, 'The Priority of Paradigms' (ch. 5) and 'Postscript', in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Chicago, 1970).
  • John Forrester, 'Kuhn's Case: Psychoanalysis and its Paradigm', Critical Inquiry 9 (2007), 1–27.

25 May: Nick Jardine introduces Peter Winch

  • Peter Winch, 'Social Studies of Science' (ch. 3) and 'The Mind and Society' (ch. 4), in The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy (Routledge, 1958).
  • Colin Lyas, '"I Was Investigating the Notion of the Social": The Idea of a Social Science' (ch. 2) in Peter Winch (Acumen, 1999).
  • Nick Jardine, 'Uses and Abuses of Anachronism in the History of Science', History of Science 38 (2000), 251–70.