Introduction: Science Studies in East and West—Incommensurable Paradigms?

Abstract

This chapter opens the volume by recalling our lack of knowledge about the origins and foundation of science studies as a discipline. It thus examines the reasons for this gap, showing that it actually coincides with the fact that much of the science studies literature coming from non-US and non-Western European countries has been overlooked in the past. Thus reasoning on the compelling reasons that led to the project for this book, the introduction recalls the impact of the Cold War in the shaping of science studies in the West and the East and the variety of local approaches that eventually were brought together under the science studies umbrella. It recalls the content of each one of the chapters in the volume illustrating this diversity. The introduction concludes by highlighting two issues. First, that these approaches are by and large incomparable from the historical viewpoint, given their specificity in the Cold War context and—at times—their alignment to specific national policies. Second, that even if noncomparable, these studies bear important resemblances that reveal important transnational exchanges of knowledge before, during, and after the Cold War and even, at times, across the Iron Curtain.