A Social Epistemology of Research Groups

This book investigates how collaborative scientific practice yields scientific knowledge. At a time when most of today's scientific knowledge is created in research groups, the author reconsiders the social character of science to address the question of whether collaboratively created knowledge should be considered as collective achievement, and if so, in which sense. Combining philosophical analysis with qualitative empirical inquiry, this book provides a comparative case study of mono- and interdisciplinary research groups, offering insight into the day-to-day practice of scientists. The book includes field observations and interviews with scientists to present an empirically-grounded perspective on much-debated questions concerning research groups' division of labor, relations of epistemic dependence and trust.

Combines empirical research and philosophical analysis to offer new insight into research practice Provides readers with a distinct approach to integrating philosophical analysis with first-hand qualitative data Reflects researchers' continued interest in the inner workings of interdisciplinary research

Autorentext

Susann Wagenknecht is an interdisciplinary researcher at the intersection of philosophy of science, social epistemology, and qualitative empirical methods. She received her PhD from Aarhus University, Denmark, in 2014. Since then, she has published on epistemic trust and dependence in Episteme and Social Epistemology; and co-edited together with Hanne Andersen and Nancy J. Nersessian the volume Empirical Philosophy of Science (Springer, 2015).

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Research Groups.- 3. Method.- 4. The Planetary Science Group.- 5. The molecular Biology Laboratory.- 6. Division of Labour.- 7. Epistemic Dependence.- 8. Epistemic Trust.- 9. Collaboration and collective knowledge.- 10. Concluding remarks.