History and philosophy of science
Encyclopedia
The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science
and the history of science
. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as either historians or as philosophers, there are degree-granting departments of HPS at several prominent universities (see below).
. His first permanent appointment, at the University of California, Berkeley
, was to a position advertised by the philosophy department, but he also taught courses from the history department. When he was promoted to full professor in the history department only, Kuhn was offended at the philosophers' rejection because "I sure as hell wanted to be there, and it was my philosophy students who were working with me, not on philosophy but on history, were nevertheless my more important students". This attitude is also reflected in his historicist approach, as outlined in Kuhn's seminal Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, 2nd ed. 1970), wherein philosophical questions about scientific theories and, especially, theory change are understood in historical terms, employing concepts such as paradigm shift
.
departments, e.g., the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of New South Wales
was known as the School of Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the mid-1980s until 2001. For this reason it can be argued that the fields are identical and that the difference is only one of emphasis. While it may seem that STS is a broader concept, leaving room for other approaches to science such as sociology of science, HPS departments are not usually as exclusive as a literal interpretation of the name might imply.
The following universities offer degrees in HPS through other departments:
The following universities offer inter-departmental programs in HPS:
Those departments that study aspects of science apart from history and philosophy often prefer more general descriptions such as Science studies
or Science and Technology Studies
:
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
and the history of science
History of science and technology
The history of science and technology is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of the natural world and ability to manipulate it have changed over the centuries...
. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as either historians or as philosophers, there are degree-granting departments of HPS at several prominent universities (see below).
A Unified Discipline
While it may seem an umbrella term, as described above, people in the branch of HPS consider this fusion of history of science with philosophy of science to be perfectly natural. Others see it as an historical anachronism, resulting from the misguided approach of the logical positivists. The origin of this hybrid approach is reflected in the career of Thomas KuhnThomas Kuhn
Thomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science whose controversial 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was deeply influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term "paradigm shift," which has since become an English-language staple.Kuhn...
. His first permanent appointment, at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, was to a position advertised by the philosophy department, but he also taught courses from the history department. When he was promoted to full professor in the history department only, Kuhn was offended at the philosophers' rejection because "I sure as hell wanted to be there, and it was my philosophy students who were working with me, not on philosophy but on history, were nevertheless my more important students". This attitude is also reflected in his historicist approach, as outlined in Kuhn's seminal Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, 2nd ed. 1970), wherein philosophical questions about scientific theories and, especially, theory change are understood in historical terms, employing concepts such as paradigm shift
Paradigm shift
A Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
.
History and development
More recently the sociology of science and technology studies have become popular topics and a few HPS departments have become Science StudiesScience studies
Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...
departments, e.g., the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
was known as the School of Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the mid-1980s until 2001. For this reason it can be argued that the fields are identical and that the difference is only one of emphasis. While it may seem that STS is a broader concept, leaving room for other approaches to science such as sociology of science, HPS departments are not usually as exclusive as a literal interpretation of the name might imply.
HPS Programs
The following universities have departments dedicated to the History and Philosophy of Science:- Indiana University
- Department of History and Philosophy of ScienceDepartment of History and Philosophy of Science, CambridgeThe Department of History and Philosophy of Science , of the University of Cambridge is the largest department of History and Philosophy of Science in the United Kingdom. It received a maximum rating of 4* for the majority of its submissions to the RAE 2008 Research Assessment Exercise...
,University of Cambridge - University of Melbourne
- University of Paris X: Nanterre
- SPHERE, CNRS, Paris, HPS research centre with associated HPS department University of Paris VII: Diderot
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Sydney
- University of Toronto
- University of Utrecht
- University of Washington
- Florida State University
- University College, London
- University of Athens, Greece
- University of Lisbon, Lisbon
- New University of Lisbon, Lisbon
- University of Coimbra, Coimbra
- University of Bern, Switzerland
The following universities offer degrees in HPS through other departments:
- The Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of LeedsCentre for History and Philosophy of Science, University of LeedsThe Centre for History and Philosophy of Science is a research institution devoted to the historical and philosophical study of science and technology, based in the Department of Philosophy, at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England...
(formerly Division of HPS) exists within the University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
philosophy department. - Case Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
has undergraduate degrees in HPS, provided through either the History or Philosophy Departments. - The University of New South WalesUniversity of New South WalesThe University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
has a unit for HPS within their Department of History and Philosophy (but formerly had a separate department of HPS, sometimes known as STS). - The University of MalayaUniversity of MalayaThe University of Malaya is located on a campus near the centre of Kuala Lumpur, and is the oldest university in Malaysia. It was founded in 1905 as a public-funded tertiary institution...
offers undergraduate and graduate programs in HPS through the Department of Science and Technology Studies. - Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
offers undergraduate and graduate programs in HPS through the Center for Biology and Society in the School of Life Sciences. - Michigan State UniversityMichigan State UniversityMichigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
offers undergraduate and graduate programs in HPS through its Lyman Briggs College. http://lymanbriggs.msu.edu/current/majors/hps.html - Shiraz University of Medical SciencesShiraz University of Medical SciencesShiraz University of Medical Sciences is public medical school located in Shiraz, Iran. It is ranked as one of Iran's top medical schools, with more than 5000 students studying for 83 different degrees, and a staff of nearly 13,000 faculty and personnel...
offers undergraduate and graduate programs in HPS http://www.sums.ac.ir/.
The following universities offer inter-departmental programs in HPS:
- University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in HPS - California Institute of TechnologyCalifornia Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
offers an undergraduate program in HPS through their Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México offers a graduate program in HPS coordinated by the Philosophy and the Science faculties.
- University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy - Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy - Western Michigan UniversityWestern Michigan UniversityWestern Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045....
has an interdisciplinary program in HPS. - The University of Texas at Austin offers an interdisciplinary HPS program.
- McGill UniversityMcGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
has an undergraduate minor in HPS. - Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
offers an interdepartmental graduate certificate in HPS.
Similar Programs
Many universities also have history of science programs, which do not include any philosophy of science. Others may provide a philosophy of science track within normal philosophy departments. Often these departments are named to clarify this emphasis on philosophy of science:- University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, IrvineThe University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
has a department of Logic and Philosophy of Science http://www.lps.uci.edu - London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
has a department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/philosophyLogicAndScientificMethod/Default.htm, which offers a highly regarded post-graduate program in philosophy and history of science. - The University of Twente has a department of Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society http://www.utwente.nl/psts/, which offers graduate programs in both Philosophy of Technology and Science and Technology Studies.
Those departments that study aspects of science apart from history and philosophy often prefer more general descriptions such as Science studies
Science studies
Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...
or Science and Technology Studies
Science and technology studies
Science, technology and society is the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these, in turn, affect society, politics and culture...
:
- University of California, San DiegoUniversity of California, San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
offers a graduate program in Science StudiesScience studiesScience studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...
through the departments of History, Philosophy, Sociology and Communication http://sciencestudies.ucsd.edu/ - University of WollongongUniversity of WollongongThe University of Wollongong is a public university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney...
offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in "Science, Technology and Society" through the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications.http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/ssmac/sts/index.html - Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
offers a graduate program in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology through its Graduate College.
See also
- Science studiesScience studiesScience studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...
- History of science and technologyHistory of science and technologyThe history of science and technology is a field of history which examines how humanity's understanding of the natural world and ability to manipulate it have changed over the centuries...
- Philosophy of sciencePhilosophy of scienceThe philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
- Scientific methodScientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
- Scientific revolutionsParadigm shiftA Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
- Thomas KuhnThomas KuhnThomas Samuel Kuhn was an American historian and philosopher of science whose controversial 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was deeply influential in both academic and popular circles, introducing the term "paradigm shift," which has since become an English-language staple.Kuhn...
- Karl PopperKarl PopperSir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
- Imre LakatosImre LakatosImre Lakatos was a Hungarian philosopher of mathematics and science, known for his thesis of the fallibility of mathematics and its 'methodology of proofs and refutations' in its pre-axiomatic stages of development, and also for introducing the concept of the 'research programme' in his...
- Paul FeyerabendPaul FeyerabendPaul Karl Feyerabend was an Austrian-born philosopher of science best known for his work as a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked for three decades . He lived a peripatetic life, living at various times in England, the United States, New Zealand,...
- Alan ChalmersAlan ChalmersAlan Francis Chalmers has been a visiting scholar at the Flinders University Philosophy Department since 1999. For the 2007 fall semester he will be a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He was born in Bristol, England in 1939, and attained a BSc in physics at the University of...