While Shapin and Schaffer embody intellectual, political, and social trends into particular historical characters, they also try to avoid caricaturing them. That’s why it’s a book-length piece, since they include a tremendous amount of historical … [Read more]
Hobbes’ Issue with Boyle (5 September 2016)
In the last discussion, we talked about how Boyle’s experimental program (material, literary, and social) involves boundary drawing for an emerging scientific community. But what was the air pump debate about? It was a fight over Toricellian vacuum. … [Read more]
Introduction: Leviathan and the Air Pump (2 September 2016)
“To know the Supreme Cause from the causes of things” Why do scientists do experiments? This is the main point of Leviathan and the Air Pump, but the issues brought out in answering that simple question are obviously deeper than simply a … [Read more]
Science as Cultural Capital (31 August 2016)
In the social sciences, Pierre Bourdieu was extremely influential; his models of cultural capital, power, and practice (society and culture emerge from doing) continue to influence how people in the social sciences think today. In terms of … [Read more]
Anthropology and STS (29 August 2016)
While STS is an interdisciplinary project, STS academics still remain grounded in their discipline, bringing their disciplinary concerns, theories, and methodologies with them into their STS work. Anthropologist Sarah Franklin has written a 1995 … [Read more]