Social Epistemology Transformed: Steve Fuller’s Account of Knowledge as a Divine Spark for Human Domination
Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 3 (2): 191-205 (2016)
Abstract
In his new book, Knowledge: The Philosophical Quest in History, Steve Fuller returns to core themes of his program of social epistemology that he first outlined in his 1988 book, Social Epistemology. He develops a new, unorthodox theology and philosophy building upon his testimony in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District in defense of intelligent design, leading to a call for maximal human experimentation. Beginning from the theological premise rooted in the Abrahamic religious tradition that we are created in the image of God, Fuller argues that the spark of the divine within us distinguishes us from animals. I argue that Fuller’s recent work takes us away from key insights of his original work. In contrast, I advocate for a program of social epistemology rooted in evolutionary science rather than intelligent design, emphasize a precautionary and ecological approach rather than a proactionary approach that favors risky human experimentation, and attend to our material and sociological embeddedness rather than a transhumanist repudiation of the body.ISBN(s)
1584-174X
DOI
10.5840/symposion20163215
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Citations of this work
Cultural Evolution and Social Epistemology: A Darwinian Alternative to Steve Fuller’s Theodicy of Science.William T. Lynch - 2017 - Social Epistemology 31 (2):224-234.
Social Epistemology for Theodicy without Deference: Response to William Lynch.Steve Fuller - 2016 - Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 3 (2):207-218.
References found in this work
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis.Edward O. Wilson - 1975 - Journal of the History of Biology 33 (3):577-584.
Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought.Pascal Boyer - 2002 - Basic Books.
A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England.Steven Shapin - 1994 - University of Chicago Press.