Theories of Science

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Theories of Science

• 1. What is Science?

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What is science?

• A part of society (macro level)
• economy, military
• organizations, administration
• culture, politics
• Institutional systems (meso level)
• research and education
• technological innovations, product development
• Forms of knowledge (micro level)
• theoretical academic disciplines
• practical skills, competence
• ethical values, assessment

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The social functions of science

• Economic (natural and engineering sciences)
• useful knowledge (Francis Bacon), artefacts
• Social (social sciences)
• positive knowledge (August Comte), facts
• Cultural (human sciences)
• enlightenment (Immanuel Kant), ideas

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Natural and engineering sciences

• forces of production
• weapons of destruction
• engines of economic growth
• sources of market competition

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Uses of the social sciences

• advice for policy making
• administrative expertise
• organizational change, or action
• dealing with (solving) social problems

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The humanities in society

• public education (bildung, bildning)
• ethical-political debates
• cultural, or ethnic identity
• cultivation of democratic values

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Scientific institutions

• Research and educational systems
• universities, academic institutions
• Innovation and business systems
• companies, commercial institutions
• Information systems
• journals, communication institutions

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The research system

• a tradition of academic community
• relative autonomy, or independence
• internal procedures of accountability
• peer-review quality assessment

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Systems of innovation

• commercial networks
• dependence on sponsorship
• external criteria of problem selection
• economic forms of assessment

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Forms of scientific knowledge

• Theoretical-philosophical (episteme)
• Practical-technical (techne)
• understanding, instrumental rationality
• Ethical-political (fronesis)
• reason, communicative rationality

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Science as theory

• logical methods of argumentation
• abstract (cause-effect) rationality
• search for explanatory laws
• provisional concept of truth

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Science as practice

• experimental methods
• instrumental (means-ends) rationality
• construction of facts
• contextual notion of truth