Positivism, Kuhn, and postmodernism


The following notes aim at collect some references to resources on the web, which could provide a starting point for getting answers to some questions within the philosophy of science. I made the notes to learn myself, and to be able to explain my scientific position in the mych more pragmatic field of the cadastre, land administration, and property rights.



Cathleen C. Loving, (cloving@tamu.edu ), Texas A&M University
From the Summit of Truth to Its Slippery Slopes: Science Education's Journey Through Positivist-Postmodern Territory

This research seeks to justify the development of informed, balanced views regarding the positivist-postmodernist debate in science education. This is accomplished by clarifying origins and offering details on the current status of these two distinct positions. I attempt to illuminate what is an intense debate but one often lacking focus and clear definitions. This is done by discussing (a) the origins of important stances, (b) problems with simplistic reductions to two extremes, (c) dubious extrapolations, and (d)perspectives for science education that strive for an even-handed approach to positions on the nature of science and the nature of learning in a multicultural society. Using both historical and philosophical interpretations of the issues, I conclude that current conceptions are oversimplified by some who promote extremes of both relativistic and strict hypothetico-deductive or inductive models related to what should be learned and what counts as science.

Journal Citation:
American Educational Research Journal, v34 n3 p421-52 Fall 1997



Keith Webb (K.Webb@ukc.ac.uk) addresses ' Prediction, Uncertainty and Control in International Relations ', including the extent to which natural science concepts can be used within the social sciences, specifically 'international relations'. In this context, he also addresses postmodernist positions from the point of view that "[i]n reality, to live is to predict, for the future is always an aspect of thought and action." In another paper ' Preliminary Questions about Postmodernism ' , he specifically addresses this issue.



Andreas Ehrencrona (andreas.ehrencrona@home.se) provides an account of Thomas Kuhn that is introduced as follows:
"Thomas Kuhn changed the view of scientific progress totally. Where once the history of science was seen as a steady progression where theory is added to theory until the truth is found, Kuhn saw a series of revolutionary changes of the world-view of science, where the view of one period had very little in common with the previous. Most importantly, he questioned the possibility for science ever to find a truth."
http://cgi.student.nada.kth.se/cgi-bin/d95-aeh/get/kuhn




Brian Caterino (?, Rochester, N.Y), provides a review entitled ' Bad Max - The New Wave of Weber Studies ' of
The Barbarism of Reason: Max Weber and the Twilight of Enlightenment. Eds. Asher Horowitz and Terry Maley. Toronto, University of Toronto Press 1994, 312 pgs., $25.95.
(c) Sic et Non - Forum for Philosophy and Culture (1998) - http://www.cogito.de/sicetnon/artikel/rezensio/weber.htm

and Steve Hoenisch (shoenish@rcn.com ) offers an essay on 'Max Weber's View of Objectivity in Social Science' Criticism.Com , including a gallery of books  by  and on Max Weber.
Copyright 1997-2000 Steve Hoenisch



From an available Encyclopedia , you get the following description of positivism :

Pronounced as: pozitivizm , philosophical doctrine that denies any validity to speculation or metaphysics. Sometimes associated with empiricism, positivism maintains that metaphysical questions are unanswerable and that the only knowledge is scientific knowledge. The basic tenets of positivism are contained in an implicit form in the works of Francis Bacon, George Berkeley, and David Hume, but the term is specifically applied to the system of Auguste Comte , who developed the coherent doctrine. In addition to being a dominant theme of 19th-century philosophy, positivism has greatly influenced various trends of contemporary thought. Logical positivism is often considered a direct outgrowth of 19th-century positivism.

Erik Stubkjaer, est@i4.auc.dk, 2001-10-17