Philosophy, Rhetoric, and the End of Knowledge: A New Beginning for Science and Technology Studies

Steve Fuller, James H. Collier9780805847673, 0-8058-4767-7, 0-8058-4768-5

In this second edition of Steve Fuller’s original work Philosophy, Rhetoric, and the End of Knowledge: A New Beginning for Science and Technology Studies, James Collier joins Fuller in developing an updated and accessible version of Fuller’s classic volume. The new edition shifts focus slightly to balance the discussions of theory and practice, and the writing style is oriented to advanced students. It addresses the contemporary problems of knowledge to develop the basis for a more publicly accountable science. The resources of social epistemology are deployed to provide a positive agenda of research, teaching, and political action designed to bring out the best in both the ancient discipline of rhetoric and the emerging field of science and technology studies (STS). The authors reclaim and integrate STS and rhetoric to explore the problems of knowledge as a social process–problems of increasing public interest that extend beyond traditional disciplinary resources. In so doing, the differences among disciplines must be questioned (the exercise of STS) and the disciplinary boundaries must be renegotiated (the exercise of rhetoric). This book innovatively integrates a sophisticated theoretical approach to the social processes of creating knowledge with a developing pedagogical apparatus. The thought questions at the end of each chapter, the postscript, and the appendix allow the reader to actively engage the text in order to discuss and apply its theoretical insights. Creating new standards for interdisciplinary scholarship and communication, the authors bring numerous disciplines into conversation in formulating a new kind of rhetoric geared toward greater democratic participation in the knowledge-making process. This volume is intended for students and scholars in rhetoric of science, science studies, philosophy, and communication, and will be of interest in English, sociology, and knowledge management arenas as well.

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Table of contents :
PHILOSOPHY, RHETORIC,
AND THE END OF KNOWLEDGE……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Contents……Page 7
Acknowledgments……Page 11
PART I: THE PLAYERS AND THE POSITION……Page 31
HPS AS THE PREHISTORY OF STS……Page 33
THE TURN TO SOCIOLOGY AND STS……Page 37
RHETORIC: THE THEORY BEHIND THE PRACTICE……Page 44
ENTER THE SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGIST……Page 49
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 56
THE TERMS OF THE ARGUMENT……Page 59
THE PERILS OF PLURALISM……Page 62
INTERPENETRATION¡¯S INTERLOPERS……Page 67
THE PRESSURE POINTS FOR INTERPENETRATION……Page 70
THE TASK AHEAD ( AND THE ENEMY WITHIN)……Page 76
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 84
PART II: INTERPENETRATION AT WORK……Page 87
Tycho¡¯s Doctrine: Separate but ( Not Quite) Equal……Page 89
Tycho Goes Social ¡ª Too Little, Too Early……Page 92
Tycho Gets Blindsided by the Rear Guard……Page 95
Tycho Sans Class( icism)……Page 98
A Matter of Principle……Page 100
The Principle in Practice……Page 105
BUILDING THE BETTER NATURALIST……Page 108
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 113
HOW SCIENCE BOTH REQUIRES AND IMPOSES DISCIPLINE……Page 116
Why the Scientific Study of Science Might Just Show That
There Is No Science to Study……Page 120
The Elusive Search for the Science in the Social Sciences:
Deconstructing the Five Canonical Histories……Page 126
Anthropology……Page 129
Sociology……Page 130
Political Science……Page 131
Economics……Page 132
Psychology……Page 133
HOWECONOMISTS DEFEATED POLITICAL SCIENTISTS AT THEIR OWN GAME……Page 134
THE RHETORIC THAT IS SCIENCE……Page 140
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 144
OF RHETORICAL IMPASSES AND FORCED CHOICES……Page 147
SOME IMPASSES IN THE AI DEBATES……Page 149
DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES……Page 150
AI AS PC- POSITIVISM……Page 152
HOW MY ENEMY¡¯S ENEMY BECAME MY FRIEND……Page 155
BUT NOW THAT THE COAST IS CLEAR……Page 159
Simon ¡ª The Covering Cherub……Page 161
Chomsky ¡ª The Revisionist Historian……Page 162
Simon and Chomsky: The Fine Art of Strategic Positioning……Page 165
Language and Thought: Horse and Cart……Page 166
The Cognitive as Sacred Space……Page 168
The Cognitive as Misappropriated Society……Page 171
The Cognitive as Black Box……Page 174
AI¡¯S STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: ACTANTS……Page 175
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 179
POSITIONING SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE TRANSITION FROM HPS TO STS……Page 182
THE PRICE OF HUMANISM IN HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP……Page 187
The Fixation on Genius……Page 190
The Analytic Significance of Individuals……Page 191
A SYMMETRY PRINCIPLE FOR HISTORICISM……Page 193
HISTORICISM¡¯S VERSION OF THE COLD WAR:THE PROBLEM OF ACCESS……Page 195
UNDER- AND OVERDETERMINING HISTORY……Page 201
WHEN IN DOUBT, EXPERIMENT……Page 204
STS AS THE POSTHISTORY OF HPS……Page 209
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 213
PART III: OF POLICY AND POLITICS……Page 215
7 Knowledge Policy: Where’s the Playing Field?……Page 217
SCIENCE POLICY: THE VERY IDEA……Page 218
AN ASIDE ON SCIENCE JOURNALISM……Page 222
MANAGING THE UNMANAGEABLE……Page 224
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY……Page 233
The Rhetoric of Rationality Attributions……Page 236
The Rhetoric of Fact- Value Distinctions……Page 238
ARMED FOR POLICY:FACT- LADEN VALUES AND HYPOTHETICAL IMPERATIVES……Page 241
MACHIAVELLI REDUX?……Page 247
A RECAP ON VALUES AS A PRELUDE TO POLITICS……Page 251
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 252
PHILOSOPHY AS PROTOPOLITICS……Page 255
HAVE SCIENCE AND DEMOCRACY OUTGROWN EACH OTHER?……Page 258
BACK FROM POSTMODERNISM AND INTO THE PUBLIC SPHERE……Page 264
BEYOND ACADEMIC INDIFFERENCE……Page 273
THE SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGIST AT THE BARGAINING TABLE……Page 279
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 287
PART IV: SOME WORTHY OPPONENTS……Page 289
THE SOCRATIC LEGACY TO RELATIVISM……Page 291
THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE DEBATES:WILL THE REAL RELATIVIST PLEASE STAND UP?……Page 292
INTERLUDE I: AN INVENTORY OF RELATIVISMS……Page 295
INTERLUDE II: MANNHEIM¡¯S REALISTIC RELATIVISM……Page 297
IS RELATIVISM OBSOLETE?……Page 298
General Ways of Thinking About the Interpenetration of Science and Society……Page 304
A Model of Knowledge Production Specific to Social Epistemology……Page 306
Relativism Revived:Can Social Epistemology Survive the Reflexive Turn?……Page 308
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 313
10 Opposing the Antitheorist……Page 315
What Exactly Does “Theory Has No Consequences” Mean?……Page 318
FISH¡¯S POSITIVISTIC THEORY OF ¡° THEORY¡±……Page 320
TOWARD A MORE SELF- CRITICAL POSITIVIST THEORY OF “ THEORY”……Page 323
THE UNIVERSALITY, ABSTRACTNESS, AND FOOLPROOFNESS OF THEORY……Page 324
Convention, Autonomy, and Fish’s “Paper Radicalism”……Page 327
CONSEQUENTIAL THEORY: AN ACCOUNT OF PRESUMPTION……Page 330
Presumption in Legal Matters……Page 332
Presumption in Epistemic Matters……Page 335
THOUGHT QUESTIONS……Page 339
Postscript:
The World of Tomorrow, as Opposed to the World of Today……Page 341
Appendix:
Course Outlines for STS in a Rhetorical Key……Page 346
References……Page 353