Social Construction of Information

1
Social Construction of Information

• Lecture 4
• Unpacking Science in a Social World by Goldman

2
Student Observations
3
Some Questions to Ponder

• To what extent does Goldmans analysis reflect
  all human epistemologies? Give examples from
  other cultures.
• ?
• To what extent does Goldmans analysis not
  reflect non-western epistemologies? Give examples
  from other cultures.
• Puha all things are alive and sentient vs.
  world is basically unaware expect for a few
  species and non are as aware as humans

4
Science as a constructed niche

• Darwin was wrong, individual cooperation is more
  important than competition. Together people
  engage in niche construction (Lewontin 2000).
• We are arguing that science as a way of knowing
  was (and to some extent still is) in competition
  with other ways of knowing. In the struggle to
  become a legitimate way of knowing it became the
  only way to know pushing all other ways of
  knowing out of consideration.

5
Social Construction Vs. Science

• Theme of SC is that no social practice should be
  enshrined as a privileged way of getting at
  truth. No practice can lay claim to universal,
  timeless, or context-free validity. SC seeks to
  deconstruct sciences epistemic authority as a
  set of social conventions which arose in a
  particular historical setting and captured the
  loyalty of some cultures.

6
Power and Science

• Creating a social fact is partially a function of
  credentials.
• He who has the most and most powerful allies
  wins.
• Is scientific practice facilitated by politics or
  is it just politics.
• Callum Roberts et al. (2001) article in Science
  and our rejected response.

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Ladennes of Observation

• Science argues that access to truths of Nature
  rests on careful, disciplined observation. And it
  does this best.
• But others argue that what a man sees depends
  both upon what he looks at and also upon what his
  previous visual-conceptual experience has taught
  him to see (Kuhn 1962) or theory ladenness.
  This is the observation that once existence is
  agreed to it is objectified and few can put aside
  these basic principles- even in the attempt to be
  objective. Note use of term!

8
Underdetermination of Theory

• Even if data are true, which theory do we use to
  infer their meaning?
• It is argued that many different theories can be
  seen as being supported by the same observations,
  so we just pick and choose the one we (and our
  powerful peers) want to believe.

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Science as a Social Action

• If scientific research is driven by prospects of
  credit rather than knowledge, how badly does this
  impede the veritistic goals of science?
• How should editors of science journal decide
  which articles to publish?
• Can authority be used effectively in science?

10
Case of Dinosaurs
Birds
Fast and warm
Dinosaurs
Lizards - crocodiles
Cold and Slow
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Rise of a Theory

• Despite a dispute that was argued with little
  data on either side in the late 19th century,
  dino scientists who were in charge of dino
  science declared them to be big lizards cold
  and slow. It is important to note that this
  theory spread to every museum in the world and
  dino bones were displaced in a way to show that
  they were in fact cold and slow.

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Cold and Slow Continues

• New evidence in the 20th century increasingly
  supported the bird-like theory of dino, but
  museums which cold-slow displays fought (how?)
  the new evidence.
• Critics found little purchase in the debate until
  a heretical dino scholar was asked to make up a
  fun-scary creature for Jurracic Park. He made up
  a tall strong smart Raptor which became a key
  figure in the minds of the world soon afterwards.

13
The Birds Have It!

• The movie was seen world wide and has emphasized
  the point with sequels.
• Now, because Hollywood needed the excitement that
  would derive from hot-fast instead of cold-slow.
• Due to his role in the movie, the finding of a
  fossil much like the move version Bakker got a
  voice. He wrote the popular Dinosaur Heresies
  which pushed his theory. He spoke in many new
  places. He was listened to. Now his theory is the
  theory.

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But wait, there is more

• Despite Bakkers celebrity, there were points he
  could not make. So where does one go with such
  points?
• Raptor Red a novel provided his new stage. It
  is about a smart lady raptor and her family
  having adventures in a reconstructed environment
  120 million years ago.

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References

• Bakker, Robert (1986). The Dinosaur Heresies New
  Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs
  and Their Extinction. New York Kensington
  Publishing Corp.
• Bakker, Robert (1995). Raptor Red. New York
  Bantam Books.
• Roberts, Callum, James Bohnsack, Fiona Gell,
  Julie Hawkings, Renata Goodriget (2001) Effectgs
  of Marine Reserves on Adjacent Fisheries. Science
  294 (5548)1920-1923.