History and philosophy of science
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The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the history of science. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as historians or philosophers, there are degree-granting departments of HPS at several prominent universities (see below).
While it may seem an umbrella term, people in the field of HPS consider this fusion of history of science with philosophy of science to be perfectly natural, as epitomised by Norwood Russell Hanson, "history of science without philosophy of science is blind, and that philosophy of science without history of science is empty" (recasting Kant's famous quotation "Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.").
The origin of this hybrid approach can be seen in the career of Thomas Kuhn. His first permanent appointment, at the University of California, Berkeley, was to a position advertised by the philosophy department but he also taught courses from the history department. When he was promoted to full professor in the history department only, Kuhn was offended at the philosophers' rejection because "I sure as hell wanted to be there, and it was my philosophy students who were working with me, not on philosophy but on history, were nevertheless my more important students"[1]. This attitude is also reflected in his historicist approach, as outlined in Kuhn's seminal Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, 2nd ed. 1970), wherein philosophical questions about scientific theories and, especially, theory change are understood in historical terms, employing concepts such as paradigm shift.
More recently the sociology of science and technology studies have become popular topics and a few HPS departments have become Science Studies departments, e.g., the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of New South Wales was known as the School of Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the mid-1980s until 2001. For this reason it can be argued that the fields are identical and that the difference is only one of emphasis. While it may seem that STS is a broader concept, leaving room for other approaches to science such as sociology of science, HPS departments are not usually as exclusive as a literal interpretation of the name might imply.
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[edit] Notes
- ^ "A Discussion with Thomas S. Kuhn" in The Road Since Structure, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, p. 302.
[edit] Universities with History and Philosophy of Science Programs
The following universities have departments dedicated to the History and Philosophy of Science:
- Indiana University, Bloomington [1]
- University of Cambridge [2]
- University of Melbourne [3]
- University of New South Wales [4]
- University of Pittsburgh [5]
- University of Sydney [6]
- University of Toronto [7]
The University of Leeds has a unit for HPS within the philosophy department [8]
The following universities offer inter-departmental programs in HPS:
- California Institute of Technology offers an undergraduate program in HPS through their Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences [9]
- University of California, Berkeley offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy [10]
- University of Notre Dame offers a graduate program in HPS through their Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values with students admitted to either the history or philosophy department [11]
- Stanford University offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy [12]
[edit] Departments and Programs Related to HPS
Many universities also have history of science programs, which do not include any philosophy of science. Others may provide a philosophy of science track within normal philosophy departments. Often these departments are named to clarify this emphasis on philosophy of science:
- University of California, Irvine has a department of Logic and Philosophy of Science [13]
- London School of Economics has a department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method [14].
Those departments that study aspects of science apart from history and philosophy often prefer more general descriptions such as Science studies or Science and Technology Studies:
- University of California, San Diego offers a graduate program in Science Studies through the departments of History, Philosophy, Sociology and Communication [15]
- University of Wollongong offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in "Science, Technology and Society" through the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications.[16]
- University of Malaya offers undergraduate and graduate programs in "History and Philosophy of Science" and "Science and Technology Policy Studies" through the Department of Science and Technology Studies [17].
