An Epistemology of the Concrete: Twentieth-Century Histories of Life

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger

Published by Duke University Press 2010

An Epistemology of the Concrete

Twentieth-Century Histories of Life

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger
Edited by: Joseph Dumit
With contributions by: Timothy Lenoir

In the series Experimental futures : technological lives, scientific arts, anthropological voices

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822391333

Overview
Contents

About this book

Brings together case studies and theoretical reflections on the history and epistemology of the life sciences by Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, one of the foremost philosophers of science.

Author / Editor information

Hans-Jörg Rheinberger is Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. He is the author of On Historicizing Epistemology: An Essay and Toward a History of Epistemic Things: Synthesizing Proteins in the Test Tube.

Reviews

“Readers will find that the overarching theme of the text is that scientific knowledge is not simply the result of a series of advances in which one pays forward into the next like a row of falling dominos. It is an emergent property of a nonlinear process involving a complex interplay of history, culture, and the scientific process. Rheinberger’s case studies present science as a productive enterprise with measurable outcomes such as conceptual models, experimental organisms, and instrumentation. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” - J. A. Hewlett, Choice

“An Epistemology of the Concrete offers a methodological framework and a set of research exemplars that will shape science studies for years to come.”—Tim Lenoir, from the foreword

“In this empirical and conceptual tour de force, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger provides an examination of the work of key twentieth-century epistemologists, rigorous historical vignettes of model-organism research, a materialist epistemology of experimental biology, and, consequently, a carefully precise yet broadly illuminating theorization of modes of knowledge production. An Epistemology of the Concrete is a major contribution not only to the history of science but also to fields such as anthropology, which are turning to epistemological analyses of the life sciences as a key site of inquiry.”—Kaushik Sunder Rajan, author of Biocapital: The Constitution of Postgenomic Life

“Hans-Jörg Rheinberger has played a prominent role in bringing those strands of thinking together, thus pioneering an integrated approach to the history and the philosophy of science and, most importantly, illuminating several long-standing philosophical debates with profound, creative and scientifically informed insights on the nature of experimental work. Within this wonderful volume, Rheinberger uses his understanding of the history of biology and his experience as a practising experimenter to build a sophisticated epistemology of scientific practice.”

-- Sabina Leonelli International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

“The reader will learn a great deal from Rheinberger’s essays on the scholars whom he sees as crucial in order to conceive of scientific knowledge as inherently historical, social, and ‘concrete’. The reader will also find an answer to what is historical epistemology today, or at least one version of it, both in theoretical terms and through case studies that show how a historical epistemological perspective enables the epistemologist, historian, and sociologist to read scientific activity.”

-- Christina Chimisso Radical Philosophy

“Readers will find that the overarching theme of the text is that scientific knowledge is not simply the result of a series of advances in which one pays forward into the next like a row of falling dominos. It is an emergent property of a nonlinear process involving a complex interplay of history, culture, and the scientific process. Rheinberger’s case studies present science as a productive enterprise with measurable outcomes such as conceptual models, experimental organisms, and instrumentation. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”

-- J. A. Hewlett Choice

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword Tim Lenoir Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Prologue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I . Historical Epistemology
1. Ludwik Fleck, Edmund Husserl On the Historicity of Scientific Knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Gaston Bachelard The Concept of “Phenomenotechnique” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3. Georges Canguilhem Epistemological History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
PART II . Model Organisms
4. Pisum Carl Correns’s Experiments on Xenia, 1896–99 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
5. Eudorina Max Hartmann’s Experiments on Biological Regulation in Protozoa, 1914–21 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
6. Ephestia Alfred Kühn’s Experimental Design for a Developmental Physiological Genetics, 1924–45 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
7. Tobacco Mosaic Virus Virus Research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes for Biochemistry and Biology, 1937–45 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
Part III . Concepts and Instruments
8. The Concept of the Gene Molecular Biological Perspectives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
9. The Liquid Scintillation Counter Traces of Radioactivity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
10. The Concept of Information The Writings of François Jacob Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Part IV. Epistemic Configurations
11. Intersections Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
12. Preparations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
13. The Economy of the Scribble Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	244
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 352
Illustrations
- Other: 43 illustrations, 2 tables

eBook

Published: September 6, 2010
ISBN: 9780822391333