Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Science as Social Knowledge : Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry / Helen E. Longino.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2020]Copyright date: ©1990Description: 1 online resource (280 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691209753
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 501 23
LOC classification:
  • Q175 .L664 1990
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- CHAPTER ONE. Introduction: Good Science, Bad Science -- CHAPTER TWO. Methodology, Goals, and Practices -- CHAPTER THREE. Evidence and Hypothesis -- CHAPTER FOUR. Values and Objectivity -- CHAPTER FIVE. Values and Science -- CHAPTER SIX. Research on Sex Differences -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Explanatory Models in the Biology of Behavior -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Science in Society -- CHAPTER NINE. Science and Ideology -- CHAPTER TEN. Conclusion: Social Knowledge -- WORKS CONSULTED -- INDEX
Summary: Conventional wisdom has it that the sciences, properly pursued, constitute a pure, value-free method of obtaining knowledge about the natural world. In light of the social and normative dimensions of many scientific debates, Helen Longino finds that general accounts of scientific methodology cannot support this common belief. Focusing on the notion of evidence, the author argues that a methodology powerful enough to account for theories of any scope and depth is incapable of ruling out the influence of social and cultural values in the very structuring of knowledge. The objectivity of scientific inquiry can nevertheless be maintained, she proposes, by understanding scientific inquiry as a social rather than an individual process. Seeking to open a dialogue between methodologists and social critics of the sciences, Longino develops this concept of "contextual empiricism" in an analysis of research programs that have drawn criticism from feminists. Examining theories of human evolution and of prenatal hormonal determination of "gender-role" behavior, of sex differences in cognition, and of sexual orientation, the author shows how assumptions laden with social values affect the description, presentation, and interpretation of data. In particular, Longino argues that research on the hormonal basis of "sex-differentiated behavior" involves assumptions not only about gender relations but also about human action and agency. She concludes with a discussion of the relation between science, values, and ideology, based on the work of Habermas, Foucault, Keller, and Haraway.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780691209753

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- CHAPTER ONE. Introduction: Good Science, Bad Science -- CHAPTER TWO. Methodology, Goals, and Practices -- CHAPTER THREE. Evidence and Hypothesis -- CHAPTER FOUR. Values and Objectivity -- CHAPTER FIVE. Values and Science -- CHAPTER SIX. Research on Sex Differences -- CHAPTER SEVEN. Explanatory Models in the Biology of Behavior -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Science in Society -- CHAPTER NINE. Science and Ideology -- CHAPTER TEN. Conclusion: Social Knowledge -- WORKS CONSULTED -- INDEX

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Conventional wisdom has it that the sciences, properly pursued, constitute a pure, value-free method of obtaining knowledge about the natural world. In light of the social and normative dimensions of many scientific debates, Helen Longino finds that general accounts of scientific methodology cannot support this common belief. Focusing on the notion of evidence, the author argues that a methodology powerful enough to account for theories of any scope and depth is incapable of ruling out the influence of social and cultural values in the very structuring of knowledge. The objectivity of scientific inquiry can nevertheless be maintained, she proposes, by understanding scientific inquiry as a social rather than an individual process. Seeking to open a dialogue between methodologists and social critics of the sciences, Longino develops this concept of "contextual empiricism" in an analysis of research programs that have drawn criticism from feminists. Examining theories of human evolution and of prenatal hormonal determination of "gender-role" behavior, of sex differences in cognition, and of sexual orientation, the author shows how assumptions laden with social values affect the description, presentation, and interpretation of data. In particular, Longino argues that research on the hormonal basis of "sex-differentiated behavior" involves assumptions not only about gender relations but also about human action and agency. She concludes with a discussion of the relation between science, values, and ideology, based on the work of Habermas, Foucault, Keller, and Haraway.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)