Abstract
My comments are addressed to some issues in conceiving of the real and ideal uses of scientific knowledge. They derive from the practices found in the papers 1 was asked to review and from observations gathered throughout the meetings. As a short-hand device, the sense of the issues I raise derives from trying to keep together the internalist and externalist programs in the sociology of science. We wish to avoid both extremes of realism and idealism when conceiving of science. In the first case, scientific realism shuts out political idealism because its prescriptive realistic science excuses it from such concerns. In the latter case, scientific idealism is defeated by scientific practice and remains two removes from the ideal community of knowledge it is unable to institutionalize.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adorno, T. W., et al.: The Postivist Dispute in German Sociology. Transl. by G. Adey and D. Frisby. London 1976.
Knorr, D.: Tinkering Toward Success: Prelude to a Theory of Scientific Practice. Theory and Society 8, 1979, 347–376.
Latour, B.: The Three Little Dinosaurs or a Sociologist’s Nightmare. Fundamenta Scientiae 1, 1980, 79–85.
Latour, B., and S. Woolgar: Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts. Beverly Hills 1979.
Lynch, M.E.: Art and Artifact in Laboratory Science: A Study of Shop Work and Shop Talk in a Research Laboratory. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation in Social Sciences. University of California, Irvine 1979.
Morrison, K.L.: Reader‘s Work: Devices for achieving pedagogic events in textual materials for readers as novices to sociology. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. York University, Toronto 1976.
O’Neill, J.: Historian’s Artifacts: Some Production Issues in Ethno-History. Unpublished paper given at SSRC/BSA International Conference on Practical Reasoning and Discourse Processes. St. Hugh’s College, Oxford 1979.
O’Neill, J.: Marxism and the Two Sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 11, 1981, 281–302.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
O’Neill, J. (1983). Some Issues in the Real Use of Science. In: Holzner, B., Knorr, K.D., Strasser, H. (eds) Realizing Social Science Knowledge. Institut für Höhere Studien — Institute for Advanced Studies IHS-Studies. Physica, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-41492-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-41492-7_5
Publisher Name: Physica, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-7051-0003-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-41492-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive