Sociology of scientific knowledgeThe sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is a recognised school of loosely allied thinkers including Gaston Bachelard, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Bruno Latour and David Bloor. These thinkers (mainly sociologists or philosophers) consider social influences on science. It is argued by some of them that social factors may be as important as, or more important than, the rational or empirical factors normally considered to be paramount, in deciding whether a theory is true or not. Programmes and schoolsThe SSK breaks down into two sub-schools or programmes/programs (either spelling is used). The weak program merely considers sociological factors to be important in scientific practice. The strong program considers sociological factors to be the decisive ones. The weak program is a description of an approach than an organised movement. Subscribers are historians and philosophers of science who see sociological factors as important in science, but who do not see them as being the pre-eminent factor in whether a theory is accepted as being true or not. Karl Popper, Imre Lakatos, and (in some moods) Thomas Kuhn might be said to adhere to it. The strong program is particularly associated with the work of two groups: the Edinburgh School (David Bloor and his colleagues of the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh); and the Bath School (Harry Collins and others of the Science Studies Unit at the University of Bath). Sokal affairSociology of scientific knowledge became controversial in the 1990s after the publication of a hoax paper by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont in the journal Social Text, under the title Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity. The ensuing debate (the Sokal affair) led to SSK thinkers being accused of relativism. See also: Sociology of knowledge, Science and technology studies
Categories: Philosophy of science | History of science |
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