Between History and Method

In this book I have tried to develop further the ideas expressed in my previous work, Between Experience and Metaphysics, which was published in the same series in 1975. Several years have passed since the original Polish edition (and then 1 the Italian translation) of this book appeared. The fact that the principal ideas expressed in it have withstood, as I see it, the brunt of criticism, has led me to remain basically with the original text. Two main changes have, however, been introduced. First, I have added an Appendix containing the original version of a paper I presented at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in June 1988 and a short postscript to that paper referring to comments made during two dis cussions at the Kolleg. Let me briefly explain the reason for this addition. In recent years the landscape for historical and philosophical in terpretation of the evolution of scientific knowledge has altered. The strongest of the new contenders for epistemological recognition are social constructivists, who analyze in detail how knowledge is produced within specific social settings, including the instruments and procedures of par ticular laboratories and the economic and political realities of particular scientific communities. The local character of these studies raises the question of whether they can ever provide generalizable epistemological claims.

Klappentext

The program Amsterdamski suggests in Between History and Method may not be deemed strong enough' by the sociologists; but he believes that it offers the only way to give an account of the evident specificity of science with respect to other products of human intellectual activities if we cannot accept the idea of the supra-historical rationality of human nature. What differentiates such a program from the old so-calledrationalist tradition' is the thesis that the background consensus is not the incarnation of immanent human rationality, and that it is not historically stable. What differentiates this program from (at least some) contemporary developments in the sociology of science is the notion that if the circumstances of cognition have any impact upon the content of knowledge, this impact is not immediate, but rather is mediated by the relatively stable set of values and ideas constituting the research tradition. It is precisely on the basis of these traditions, which provide the resources for creative renewal from within, that new scientific knowledge is universalized. This book will be of interest to historians of science, philosophers and sociologists of science.

Zusammenfassung
The strongest of the new contenders for epistemological recognition are social constructivists, who analyze in detail how knowledge is produced within specific social settings, including the instruments and procedures of par ticular laboratories and the economic and political realities of particular scientific communities.

Inhalt
Preface to the English Edition. Preface to the Polish Edition. Introduction. I. The Development of Knowledge and the Ideals of Science. II. Ideals of Science and Rules of Explanation. III. The Modern Ideal of Science. IV. The Institutionalization and Professionalization of Scientific Research. V. The Sources of the Crisis of the Modern Ideal of Science. VI. Escape to World Three. VII. Are There Selection Criteria? VIII. Order and Anarchy. Appendix: Philosophy of Science and Sociology of Knowledge. Notes and References. Bibliography. Index of Names.