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- Title
Social Objectivity Under Scrutiny in the Pasteur-Pouchet Debate.
- Authors
López Cerezo, José
- Abstract
Under the influence of naturalistic approaches, contemporary philosophy of science tends to characterize scientific objectivity not by virtue of the individualistic following of rules or satisfying epistemic utilities, but as a property arising from the organisational features of groups. This paper presents a critical review of one such proposal, that of Helen Longino, probing some of its main features against the debate between Pasteur and Pouchet in mid-nineteenth-century France regarding the spontaneous generation of life. After considering some weaknesses and strengths, it is argued that Longino's social epistemology is only able to generate normativity by implicitly assuming a classic procedural notion of epistemic acceptability. The paper also aims to use this historical case to shed light on the complex, multidimensional nature of the dynamics of actual science, arguing both against purely epistemic and exclusively social approaches in a satisfactory meta-scientific explanation of controversies.
- Subjects
SOCIAL theory; SOCIAL sciences; PHILOSOPHY of science; PHILOSOPHY &; science; PHYSICAL sciences &; philosophy
- Publication
Journal for General Philosophy of Science, 2015, Vol 46, Issue 2, p301
- ISSN
0925-4560
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10838-015-9294-8