STS and Science Education Series:
Ron Giere
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota
Monday, April 5, 2010
LECTURE
"Agent-Centered Science and Science Communication"
12:00pm – 1:00pm in 220 Teacher Education Building
Lecture Abstract:
I sketch a philosophy of science that takes as its focus scientific agents, their activities, and their practices. This represents a return to the Pragmatist focus on practice, but without the emphasis on a supposed scientific method. It also represents a rejection of the Positivist focus on the logical structure of scientific theories and the logic of scientific inference. Mainly it allows us to consider scientists as real cognitive agents in their historical and social contexts. Two activities are central for understanding science as a knowledge generating activity: representing (constructing models to represent aspects of the world) and judging (deciding how well these models fit their intended subject matter). Observing and experimenting are seen as aids to judging. I can see many implications for science education, but I leave drawing them out for discussion with those far more experienced than I.
Ron Giere is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and a member and former Director of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota. In addition to many papers in the philosophy of science, he is the author of Understanding Scientific Reasoning (5th ed 2006); Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach (1988); Science Without Laws (1999); and Scientific Perspectivism (2006). His current research focuses on agent-centered accounts of models and scientific representation.
Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota
Monday, April 5, 2010
LECTURE
"Agent-Centered Science and Science Communication"
12:00pm – 1:00pm in 220 Teacher Education Building
Lecture Abstract:
I sketch a philosophy of science that takes as its focus scientific agents, their activities, and their practices. This represents a return to the Pragmatist focus on practice, but without the emphasis on a supposed scientific method. It also represents a rejection of the Positivist focus on the logical structure of scientific theories and the logic of scientific inference. Mainly it allows us to consider scientists as real cognitive agents in their historical and social contexts. Two activities are central for understanding science as a knowledge generating activity: representing (constructing models to represent aspects of the world) and judging (deciding how well these models fit their intended subject matter). Observing and experimenting are seen as aids to judging. I can see many implications for science education, but I leave drawing them out for discussion with those far more experienced than I.
Ron Giere is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and a member and former Director of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota. In addition to many papers in the philosophy of science, he is the author of Understanding Scientific Reasoning (5th ed 2006); Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach (1988); Science Without Laws (1999); and Scientific Perspectivism (2006). His current research focuses on agent-centered accounts of models and scientific representation.