Chapter 3: Is Mathematics socially shaped?: The 'strong programme'
1. The planet that could only be seen from France
2. Is even mathematics 'social'?
His main intention, as he recalls today, ‘was to show to philosophers of science that in the light of a wide range of studies, mainly carried out in the history of science, it was not possible anymore to hold a vision of science as exempt from social influences’.
#DavidBloor
3. The weaknesses of the strong programme
Externalism: the context is able to determine the content of scientific research. (Bloor 1991)"
a. Moderate or weak externalism: Knowledge is socially conditioned
a1. Local: The scientific community influences the work of its members.
a2. Global: Society as a whole influences the work of individual scientists.
b. Radical or strong externalism: Knowledge is social.
b1. Local: The scientific community constructs the scientific ideas.
b2. Global: Society as a whole constructs scientific ideas.
"it is theoretical predispositions or proto-ideas that guide observation or the conduct of experiments, not the other way round." -56 (with reference to Bloor)
"Doesn’t the strong programme say that knowledge is purely social? . . . No. The strong programme says that the social component is always present and always constitutive of knowledge. It does not say that it is the only component, or that it is the component that must necessarily be located as the trigger of any and every change: it can be a background condition. Apparent exceptions of covariance and causality may be merely the result of the operation of other natural causes apart from social ones. (Bloor, 1991: 166, italics in the original)" -56
1. The planet that could only be seen from France
2. Is even mathematics 'social'?
His main intention, as he recalls today, ‘was to show to philosophers of science that in the light of a wide range of studies, mainly carried out in the history of science, it was not possible anymore to hold a vision of science as exempt from social influences’.
#DavidBloor
3. The weaknesses of the strong programme
Externalism: the context is able to determine the content of scientific research. (Bloor 1991)"
a. Moderate or weak externalism: Knowledge is socially conditioned
a1. Local: The scientific community influences the work of its members.
a2. Global: Society as a whole influences the work of individual scientists.
b. Radical or strong externalism: Knowledge is social.
b1. Local: The scientific community constructs the scientific ideas.
b2. Global: Society as a whole constructs scientific ideas.
"it is theoretical predispositions or proto-ideas that guide observation or the conduct of experiments, not the other way round." -56 (with reference to Bloor)
"Doesn’t the strong programme say that knowledge is purely social? . . . No. The strong programme says that the social component is always present and always constitutive of knowledge. It does not say that it is the only component, or that it is the component that must necessarily be located as the trigger of any and every change: it can be a background condition. Apparent exceptions of covariance and causality may be merely the result of the operation of other natural causes apart from social ones. (Bloor, 1991: 166, italics in the original)" -56
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