Synopses & Reviews
In Making Natural Knowledge, Jan Golinski reviews recent writing on the history of science and shows how it has been dramatically reshaped by a new understanding of science itself. In the past few years, scientific knowledge has come to be seen as a product of human culture, an approach that has challenged the tradition of the history of science as a story of steady and autonomous progress. New topics have emerged in historical research, including the identity of the scientist, the importance of the laboratory, the role of language and instruments, and the connections with other realms of culture and society. Golinski has written a sympathetic but critical survey of this exciting field of research, at a level that can be appreciated by students or anyone else who wants an introduction to contemporary thinking in the development of the sciences.
Review
"This book is...a timely and cogent portrayal of methods in the history and sociology of science. Golinski puts on display the multifacted scholarship that has comprised science studies over the past three decades....Golinski employs straightforward, readable prose appropriate to his intended audiences of advanced undergraduate and graduate students...and scholars from other disciplines." Londa Schiebinger, American Historical Review"Rather than neologisms and smokescreens, [Golinski] uses (relatively) straightforward language that should not give undue trouble to beginning graduate students or advanced undergraduates." Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
Synopsis
This book reviews recent writing on the history of science and shows how it has been dramatically reshaped by a new understanding of science.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-227) and index.
Table of Contents
Preface; Introduction: challenges to the classical view of science; 1. An outline of contructivism; 2. Identity and discipline; 3. The place of production; 4. Speaking for nature; 5. Interventions and representations; 6. Culture and construction; Bibliography.