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The (Social) Construction of Scientific Fact
Jedlička, Petr ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Kandert, Josef (referee)
The thesis draws from the examples of the knowledge of two time periods - the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era - to discuss the claims of the constructivist school of the sociology of knowledge. The first part provides a detailed account of the views of the key constructivist figures Ludwik Fleck, David Bloor, and the anthropologist of knowledge Yehuda Elkana. The following chapter examines the main characteristics and dynamics of the medieval religious discourse with the use of Elkana's concept of images of knowledge. The next chapter provides an account of the key period of Early Modern science and shows the rise of the empirical and rational paradigm and the introduction of scientific methods, as well as the broader social context of this process. The changes in the hierarchy of knowledge are primarily demonstrated with the examples of the English natural philosophers and society during the Age of Restoration. Special attention is devoted to sources of knowledge and the methods of their legitimization and verification during both periods, in addition to an examination, based on the Strong program, of the societal roots and factors determining or influencing that knowledge. Are the tenets of the Bloor's thesis, which put forward the idea of a strong social component of knowledge, valid? Is...
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The (Social) Construction of Scientific Fact
Jedlička, Petr ; Balon, Jan (advisor) ; Kandert, Josef (referee)
The thesis draws from the examples of the knowledge of two time periods - the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era - to discuss the claims of the constructivist school of the sociology of knowledge. The first part provides a detailed account of the views of the key constructivist figures Ludwik Fleck, David Bloor, and the anthropologist of knowledge Yehuda Elkana. The following chapter examines the main characteristics and dynamics of the medieval religious discourse with the use of Elkana's concept of images of knowledge. The next chapter provides an account of the key period of Early Modern science and shows the rise of the empirical and rational paradigm and the introduction of scientific methods, as well as the broader social context of this process. The changes in the hierarchy of knowledge are primarily demonstrated with the examples of the English natural philosophers and society during the Age of Restoration. Special attention is devoted to sources of knowledge and the methods of their legitimization and verification during both periods, in addition to an examination, based on the Strong program, of the societal roots and factors determining or influencing that knowledge. Are the tenets of the Bloor's thesis, which put forward the idea of a strong social component of knowledge, valid? Is...
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