Online research in philosophy

We often legitimately ascribe reality both to social and to natural kinds. But the bases for these ascriptions are not entirely the same. In both cases, reality is typically determined by what characterizations of causal factors are indispensable to adequate explanation. Nonetheless, a psychological role as part of an identity that instances embrace is sometimes, distinctively, a condition for ascribing reality to a social kind. Although such assessments of reality can be construed as employing a standard of causal activity shared with natural science, they reveal a distinctive moral dimension in the bases for ascribing reality to social kinds.

Joseph Agassi's themes in this piece relate to the importance of science and technology in the modern world, the interaction between science and technology, the interrelation between science and culture, the political dimension of science in a democracy, the improvement on the Popperian project in the methodology of science (shifting gears to pluralistic critical rationalism), and the philosophical elements that inform science as well as being informed by science. Key Words: science • scientism • methodology of science • Popper • Agassi • methodological pluralism • critical rationality • science and democracy.

The sociological dimension of science is studied using the discovery of the Wasserman reaction and its accidental application as a test for syphilis as a basis, ...

: The article takes the term "technoscience" literally and investigates a conception of science that takes it not only as practice, but as production in the sense of a material labor process. It will explore in particular the material connection between science and ordinary production. It will furthermore examine how the historical development of science as a social enterprise was shaped by its technoscientific character. In this context, in an excursus, the prevailing notion will be questioned that social relations must be conceived of as pure interactions. Finally, the article will go into the relationship between the epistemic dimension of science and its technoscientific character.

In this 1974 book a practising scientist and gifted expositor sets forth an exciting point of view on the nature of science and how it works.

The question, "Is medicine a social science?" can be understood in three different ways. One interpretation suggests that medicine is merely a social science, which is obviously false. Another interpretation is that medicine might be in part a social science. The third interpretation of the question is, "Is the social scientific dimension of medicine very important?" Three claims are considered about the social scientific dimension of medicine. Although these claims are shown to be untrue, they nevertheless call attention to neglected aspects of medicine. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this?