Science and Society

"If a science has to be supported by fraudulent means, let it perish. " With these words of Kepler, Agassi plunges into the actual troubles and glories of science (321). The sociology of science is no foreign intruder upon scientific knowledge in these essays, for we see clearly how Agassi transforms the tired internalist/externalist debate about the causal influences in the history of science. The social character of the entire intertwined epistemological and practical natures of the sciences is intrinsic to science and itself split: the internal sociology within science, the external sOciology of the social setting without. Agassi sees these social matters in the small as well as the large: from the details of scientific communication, changing publishing as he thinks to 'on-demand' centralism with less waste (Ch. 12), to the colossal tension of romanticism and rationality in the sweep of historical cultures. Agassi is a moral and political philosopher of science, defending, dis­ turbing, comprehending, criticizing. For him, science in a society requires confrontation, again and again, with issues of autonomy vs. legitimation as the central problem of democracy. And furthermore, devotion to science, pace Popper, Polanyi, and Weber, carries preoccupational dangers: Popper's elitist rooting out of 'pseudo-science', Weber's hard-working obsessive com­ mitment to science. See Agassi's Weberian gloss on the social psychology of science in his provocative 'picture of the scientist as maniac' (437).

1. Introduction: Science in Its Social Setting.- 1. Snow on the Facts of the Matter.- 2. Our Feelings on the Matter.- 3. The Politics of the Matter.- 4. The Intellectual History of the Matter: Rationalism.- 5. The Intellectual History of the Matter: Romanticism.- 6. The New Rationalist Approach.- 2. The Present State of the Philosophy of Science.- 1. Frank and Surreptitious Change.- 2. The View Equating Science and Rationality.- 3. The Schools in Philosophy of Science.- 3. Was Wittgenstein Really Necessary?.- 1. The New Pseudo-Rationalism.- 2. The Techniques of Pseudo-Rationalism.- 3. The Ineffectiveness of Pseudo-Rationalism.- 4. Epistemology as an Aid to Science.- 1. Divorcing Science and Philosophy.- 2. The Need to Demarcate.- 3. Science and Philosophy Intertwined.- Notes.- 5. Externalism.- 1. The Purely External.- 2. Internalism.- 3. Is Complete Internalism Possible?.- Postscript by I. C. Jarvie.- Note.- 6. The Autonomy of Science.- 1. Internalism and Externalism Again.- 2. Science as a Guild.- 3. Autonomy and Heteronomy Again.- 4. The Sociology of Science Again.- 7. The Legitimation of Science.- 1. Science as Autonomous.- 2. The Self-Regulation of Science.- 3. Democracy within Science.- 4. A New Approach to Legitimacy.- 8. Sociologism in Philosophy of Science.- 1. Digression: the Shocking and the Disarrayed.- 2. Digression Continued: Attitudes Concerning the Shocking.- 3. Husserl’s Critique of Descartes.- 4. Husserl not so Radical.- 5. Husserl and Science.- 6. Polanyi’s View of Science.- 7. Polanyi Versus Descartes.- 8. Polanyi’s Traditionalism.- 9. What Non-Justiflcationism Amounts to.- 10. When is a Theory Non-Justificationist?.- 9. Revolutions in Science, Occasional or Permanent?.- 1. Three Views on Revolutions.- 2. Radicalism and Traditionalism.- 3. Are Old Men Conservative?.- 4. Are the Canons of Science Conservative? Ill.- 5. Is Conservatism Temperamental or Intellectual?.- 6. The Advantage of Sensitivity to Problems.- 7. Revolution in Permanence.- 10. Cultural Lag in Science.- 1. Cultural Lags.- 2. Delays in Scientific Progress.- 3. The Hidden Injuries of Science.- 4. The Salieri Effect and the Workshop Mentality.- 11. Storage and Communication of Knowledge.- 1. Science as a System of Communications.- 2. Science as the Best of All Possible Worlds.- 3. The Inherent Ambiguity in the System.- 4. Some Obvious Proposals.- 12. The Economics of Scientific Publications.- 1. The Quality Market and the Mass-Market.- 2. New Products and Their Entry to the Market.- 3. Free Markets and Clearing-Houses.- 4. The Market in Reputation.- 5. The Question of Time-Lag Again.- 13. Revising the Referee System.- 1. The Economics of Publication Again.- 2. Criteria of Excellence.- 3. Revising the Referee System.- 14. Scientific Schools and Their Success.- 1. General.- 2. Sociological.- 3. The Myth of Unanimity.- 4. Rationality: Unanimity Versus Proliferation.- 5. Centers of Learning as Schools of Thought.- 6. Philosophy of Science as Empirical Sociology.- 7. How Methodology and Sociology Fuse.- 8. Living Up to One’s Standards.- 9. Scientific Schools and Their Success.- 15. Genius in Science.- 1. Is Genius Really Necessary?.- 2. Paradigms of Genius in the Literature.- 3. The Romantic Theory of Science.- 4. The Romantic Scientific Leadership.- 5. Against Scientific Authority.- 6. Towards a Rational Theory of Genius.- Notes.- 16. Scientists as Sleepwalkers.- 1. Between Luck and Wit.- 2. Science and Commonsense.- 3. Apriorism is Alive and Well.- 17. The Logic of Scientific Inquiry.- 1. Is Methodology Innate?.- 2. The Socratic Paradox of Learning.- 3. Common Sense Versus Methodology.- 18. The Choice of Scientific Problems.- 1. Activism and Passivism in Philosophy of Science.- 2. The Roots of the Authority of Science.- 3. The Choice of Theories Versus the Choice of Problems.- 19. Between Metaphysics and Methodology.- 1. Metaphysics as Hypothetical.- 2. Metaphysics as Heuristics.- 3. Metaphysics as Both Hypothetical and Heuristic.- 20. Research Project.- 1. What a Scientist Does and What He Says He Does.- 2. The Harm Caused by Inaccurate Reports.- 3. Evaluating Research Projects.- 21. The Methodology of Research Projects: A Sketch.- 1. The Missing Study of Research Projects.- 2. Buckets, Searchlights, and Powerhouses.- 3. Historians for Powerhouses, Positivists Against Them.- 4. The Pedigree Theory and the Hic Rhodos Theory.- 5. Is Methodology Ineffable or Rational?.- 6. The Rational Way to Assess Metaphysical Frameworks.- 7. Progressive and Degenerative Problem-Shifts.- 22. Continuity and Discontinuity in the History of Science.- 1. The Radicalist View of Science and Its History.- 2. Dialectics as a Reaction to Radicalism.- 3. Duhem’s Theory of Science.- 4. The Cultural Background of Science.- 23. Three Views of the Renaissance of Science.- 1. The Radicalist View.- 2. The Conservative View.- 3. The Rise of New Ideas.- 4. Mysticism.- 5. The Possibility of Developing a Third View.- 6. Modified Intuitionism.- 7. The Demarcation of Science.- 8. The Renaissance Revolution of Science.- Inserts.- 24. On Explaining the Trial of Galileo.- 1. Koestler Upsets the Historians.- 2. Koestler and his Predecessors.- 3. Koestler’s Pen-Portrait of Galileo and Its Implications.- 4. The Fall of Galileo.- 5. The Change in Galileo’s Behaviour.- 6. Galileo’s Faith and Fate.- 7. The Dialogue and the Trial of Galileo.- 8. Conclusion.- Notes.- 25. The Origins of the Royal Society.- 1. The Historical Significance of Bacon’s Teaching.- 2. Baconian Radicalism in Action.- 3. Reservations Regarding Bacon.- 4. The Rise of the Royal Society.- 5. Disputing Ancestry Claims.- 6. Bacon Versus Boyle.- Notes.- 26. The Ideological Import of Newton.- 1. Background: The Enlightenment and Newton.- 2. The Problem Situation at Present.- 3. The Persistence of the Tension.- 4. The Enlightenment Mythology.- 27. Sir John Herschel’s Philosophy of Success.- 1. The Public Situation.- 2. A General View of Science.- 3. The Doctrine of Prejudice.- 4. Induction.- 5. A Eulogy on Bacon.- 6. Aids for the Intellect.- 7. Higher Level Generalizations.- 8. The History of Science.- 9. The Philosophy of Success.- Notes.- 28. What Makes for a Scientific Golden Age?.- 1. The Trilemma: Bacon Versus Whewell Versus Popper.- 2. The Historical Dimension.- 3. The Experimental Dimension.- 29. Max Weber’s Scientific Religion.- 1. A Picture of the Scientist as a Maniac.- 2. The Presuppositions of Science.- 3. Conclusion: Weber’s Outlook.- 30. On Pursuing the Unattainable.- 1. Reducing Remote Goals to Near.- 2. The Positivistic Utopia of Rationality.- 3. The Frustration of Seeking the Unattainable.- 4. The Scientific Millennium.- 31. Faith Has Nothing to do With Rationality.- 1. The Basis of Rationality.- 2. The Reason for Rationality.- 3. The Faith in Rationality.- 32. Rationality and the Tu Quoque Argument.- 1. The Faith in Reason Again.- 2. Rationality and Morality.- 3. Rationality and Society.- 33. Technocracy and Scientific Progress.- 1. Robinson Crusoe Today.- 2. The Rise of Technocracy.- 3. Science is Neither Crusonian Nor Technocratic.- 4. Science as a Guild and as a Republic.- 34. Standards to Live By.- 1. Preliminary Difficulties.- 2. The Ills of Excessive Standards.- 3. Room for Making Standards Reasonable.- 4. The Reform of Standards.- Bibliography of Joseph Agassi.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.