The Writing of the History of Science from the Notion of Scientific Field

Does science depend on its historical context? Does understanding science as a social construction demand us to abandon rationalist perspectives of knowledge? Based on these issues, this article aims to discuss epistemological questions concerning the problem of the historicity of sciences. In first...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTransversal (Belo Horizonte) no. 8
Main Authors Gurgel, Ivã, Watanabe, Graciella
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 30.06.2020
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Summary:Does science depend on its historical context? Does understanding science as a social construction demand us to abandon rationalist perspectives of knowledge? Based on these issues, this article aims to discuss epistemological questions concerning the problem of the historicity of sciences. In first part, we analyze how different philosophical systems conceptualize this problem and point out to tensions that emerge when one tries to reconcile a rationalist with a historicist perspective of knowledge. Then, we discuss the sociological epistemology of Pierre Bourdieu arguing that the field autonomy is a key concept to understand what the author denominates the “social conditions of the progress of reason”. Finally, we present criteria to delimit the most relevant contexts in a case study on the history of science. 
ISSN:2526-2270
2526-2270
DOI:10.24117/2526-2270.2020.i8.05