Description: Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. But historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have long argued that scientific claims reflect the particular historical, cultural, and social context in which those claims were made. Ronald Giere investigates this field.
Brief description:
Ronald N. Giere is professor of philosophy emeritus at the University of Minnesota, a former director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, and a past president of the Philosophy of Science Association. He is the author or editor of many books, including, most recently, Science without Laws, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Review Quotes: "Ronald Giere's new book has placed perspective center stage, contributing to innovations that are changing philosophy of science today as radically as the historical turn of a half century ago. There is no view from nowhere, the sciences do not provide it, and science is not the realization of a metaphysical dream but a historically and naturally conditioned rational empirical inquiry. Giere offers the view that not only measurement results but also the representation of phenomena in theories and models are perspectival, and supports it with challenging, provocative arguments."--Bas C. van Fraassen, Princeton University