|
|
The Role of Non-human Actors in the Construction of Scientific Fact in Bruno Latour's Conception
Patáková, Markéta ; Horák, Vít (advisor) ; Hlaváček, Karel (referee)
The main topic of this thesis is the construction of a scientific fact as a special case of construction of reality. Bruno Latour is connected to this in several perspectives through which will this thesis capture his position. It describes his concept of science, originating from his laboratory studies, and its later embedding under the actor-network theory. In both cases, the emphasis lays on withdrawal from explanation through complex invisible forces, used by contemporary sociology. Latour refuses to explain a scientific fact through reference to outside world and society. According to him, attention should shift to the local and empirically approachable level. On this level there are collectives of human and non-human actors, who act together. Latour's conception of the construction of a scientific fact is put to test by the critique from sociology of knowledge. The strong program of sociology of knowledge understands the scientific fact as a joint product of reality and society. Non-humans (principally laboratory technology) play a key role in this dispute. Sociology of knowledge does not include them in their analysis, because they are not taken as social actors. Technology is on the other hand a core element in the construction of scientific fact in Latour's conception. Readers of this thesis will...
|
|
|
Creatures of Science, Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities
Stella, Marco ; Hermann, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tinková, Daniela (referee) ; Janko, Jan (referee)
Creatures of Science. Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities. Marco Stella The present thesis, which is to be understood as a contribution both to history and anthropology of science, deals with the relationship of the construction and emergence of scientific communities and the use of models in science, or construction of new forms of knowledge. We deal primary with the history of life sciences, especially behavioral sciences, which formed in the beginning of the 20th century as a relatively independent a scientific field and a rather heterogeneous platform for a common research of life utterances and cognition of man and other animals. The thesis focuses mainly on living models, often used biological and psychological research. Using Latour's concepts of modernity and hybridity, the thesis points at the hybridizing effect of behavioral sciences (the model always shapes and creates the modelled) and also at their ways of human and animal images. The second often serve as a basis for constructing the second. I also discuss some the ways how implicit model properties, which influence the (seemingly) isolated sphere of science, affect the chances of a community for becoming a discipline. On three examples from the history of life sciences, i.e. the unsuccessful institutionalization of...
|
|
|
Creatures of Science, Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities
Stella, Marco ; Hermann, Tomáš (advisor) ; Tinková, Daniela (referee) ; Janko, Jan (referee)
Creatures of Science. Living Models and the Construction of Scientific Communities. Marco Stella The present thesis, which is to be understood as a contribution both to history and anthropology of science, deals with the relationship of the construction and emergence of scientific communities and the use of models in science, or construction of new forms of knowledge. We deal primary with the history of life sciences, especially behavioral sciences, which formed in the beginning of the 20th century as a relatively independent a scientific field and a rather heterogeneous platform for a common research of life utterances and cognition of man and other animals. The thesis focuses mainly on living models, often used biological and psychological research. Using Latour's concepts of modernity and hybridity, the thesis points at the hybridizing effect of behavioral sciences (the model always shapes and creates the modelled) and also at their ways of human and animal images. The second often serve as a basis for constructing the second. I also discuss some the ways how implicit model properties, which influence the (seemingly) isolated sphere of science, affect the chances of a community for becoming a discipline. On three examples from the history of life sciences, i.e. the unsuccessful institutionalization of...
|
|
|
The Role of Non-human Actors in the Construction of Scientific Fact in Bruno Latour's Conception
Patáková, Markéta ; Horák, Vít (advisor) ; Hlaváček, Karel (referee)
The main topic of this thesis is the construction of a scientific fact as a special case of construction of reality. Bruno Latour is connected to this in several perspectives through which will this thesis capture his position. It describes his concept of science, originating from his laboratory studies, and its later embedding under the actor-network theory. In both cases, the emphasis lays on withdrawal from explanation through complex invisible forces, used by contemporary sociology. Latour refuses to explain a scientific fact through reference to outside world and society. According to him, attention should shift to the local and empirically approachable level. On this level there are collectives of human and non-human actors, who act together. Latour's conception of the construction of a scientific fact is put to test by the critique from sociology of knowledge. The strong program of sociology of knowledge understands the scientific fact as a joint product of reality and society. Non-humans (principally laboratory technology) play a key role in this dispute. Sociology of knowledge does not include them in their analysis, because they are not taken as social actors. Technology is on the other hand a core element in the construction of scientific fact in Latour's conception. Readers of this thesis will...
|
guest ::
