History and philosophy of science: A phylogenetic approach

Abstract

Kuhn closed the Introduction to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions with what was clearly intended as a rhetorical question: How could history of science fail to be a source of phenomena to which theories about knowledge may legitimately be asked to apply? (Kuhn 1970, 9) This paper argues that there is a more fruitful way of conceiving the relationship between a historical and philosophical study of science, which is dubbed the 'phylogenetic' approach. I sketch an example of this approach, and take a first pass at an abstract characterization of the method.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

Similar books and articles

Philosophy and the study of its history.Andrew Melnyk - 2008 - Metaphilosophy 39 (2):203–219.
Philosophy of science naturalized.Ronald N. Giere - 1985 - Philosophy of Science 52 (3):331-356.
Species concepts should not conflict with evolutionary history, but often do.Joel D. Velasco - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 39 (4):407-414.
‘Total evidence’ in phylogenetic systematics.Olivier Rieppel - 2009 - Biology and Philosophy 24 (5):607-622.
Neuroethology and the philosophy of cognitive science.Brian L. Keeley - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (S1):404-418.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
38 (#365,633)

6 months
7 (#176,166)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?