An argument that the development of scientific practice and growth of
scientific knowledge are governed by Darwin’s evolutionary model of
descent with modification. Although scientific investigation is
influenced by our cognitive and moral failings as well as all of the
factors impinging on human life, the historical development of
scientific knowledge has trended toward an increasingly accurate
picture of an increasing number of phenomena. Taking a fresh look at
Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, in
How Knowledge Grows Chris Haufe uses evolutionary theory to explain
both why scientific practice develops the way it does and how
scientific knowledge expands. This evolutionary model, claims Haufe,
helps to explain what is epistemically special about scientific
knowledge: its tendency to grow in both depth and breadth. Kuhn showed
how intellectual communities achieve consensus in part by
discriminating against ideas that differ from their own and isolating
themselves intellectually from other fields of inquiry and broader
social concerns. These same characteristics, says Haufe, determine a
biological population’s degree of susceptibility to modification by
natural selection. He argues that scientific knowledge grows, even
across generations of variable groups of scientists, precisely because
its development is governed by Darwinian evolution. Indeed, he
supports the claim that this susceptibility to modification through
natural selection helps to explain the epistemic power of certain
branches of modern science. In updating and expanding the evolutionary
approach to scientific knowledge, Haufe provides a model for thinking
about science that acknowledges the historical contingency of
scientific thought while showing why we nevertheless should trust the
results of scientific research when it is the product of certain kinds
of scientific communities.
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The Evolutionary Development of Scientific Practice
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780262371605
Publisert
2022
Utgiver
Random House Publishing Services
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter