Historical Case Studies: The “Model Organisms” of Philosophy of Science

Erkenntnis 87 (2):933-952 (2020)
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Abstract

Philosophers use historical case studies to support wide-ranging claims about science. This practice is often criticized as problematic. In this paper we suggest that the function of case studies can be understood and justified by analogy to a well-established practice in biology: the investigation of model organisms. We argue that inferences based on case studies are no more problematic than inferences from model organisms to larger classes of organisms in biology. We demonstrate our view in detail by reference to a case study with a long history: Semmelweis’s discovery of the cause of childbed fever.

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Citations of this work

The tragedy of the canon; or, path dependence in the history and philosophy of science.Agnes Bolinska & Joseph D. Martin - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 89 (C):63-73.

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References found in this work

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Thomas S. Kuhn - 1962 - Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Ian Hacking.
Inference to the Best Explanation.Peter Lipton - 1991 - London and New York: Routledge.
The methodology of scientific research programmes.Imre Lakatos - 1978 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
A confutation of convergent realism.Larry Laudan - 1981 - Philosophy of Science 48 (1):19-49.
A Confutation of Convergent Realism.Larry Laudan - 1980 - In Yuri Balashov & Alexander Rosenberg (eds.), Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings. Routledge. pp. 211.

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