The Discourses of ScienceUniversity of Chicago Press, 15. dets 1994 - 250 pages In this greatly anticipated revision and translation of Scienza e Retorica, Marcello Pera argues that rhetoric is central to the making of scientific knowledge. Pera begins with an attack on what he calls the "Cartesian syndrome", the fixation on method shared by supporters of both the "standard" and "new" philosophies of science. He argues that in linking scientific rationality to methodological rules, both sides get it wrong. Scientific knowledge is neither the mirror of nature provided by a universal method, nor a cultural construct imposed by subjective interests. Pera proposes to overcome the tension between normative and descriptive philosophies of science by focusing on rhetoric in the construction and acceptance of theories. Examining the uses of argumentation in Galileo's Dialogue, Darwin's Origin, and the big bang-steady state controversy in cosmology, Pera shows that scientific research is not just an interchange between nature and the observer. Rather, science is a three-way interaction among nature, the investigator, and a questioning community which, through the process of attack, defense, and dispute, determines what science is. Rhetoric, then, understood as the practice of scientific argumentation, is an essential element in the constitution of science. As a powerful alternative to dominant philosophies of science and a bold reconsideration of rhetoric and dialectic more broadly, this book addresses contemporary questions in philosophy, rhetoric, history of science, literary criticism, and cognitive science. |
Contents
The Cartesian Syndrome | 1 |
3 | 37 |
The Rhetoric of Science | 59 |
Scientific Dialectics | 103 |
The Dialectical Model of Science | 129 |
Epistemology and Rhetorical Strategies | 153 |
Rhetoric and Scientific Progress | 177 |
Common terms and phrases
according admit argu Aristotle assumption Bondi Cartesian project chapter cognitive claims concept conclusion configuration confutation considered cosmology counter-methodological model criticism Darwin deductive definition Descartes dialectical model electricity empirical ence entities epistemic example explicata explication explicatum factors of scientific facts favor Feyerabend Galileo history of science hypothesis hypothetico-deductive I-theory Ibid idea inductive logic inductivist inquiry interlocutors interpretation Kant kind knowledge Kuhn Lakatos Laudan Marcello Pera means ment methodological rules natural selection objects observational ontology Perelman perfect cosmological principle philosophical philosophy of science Popper precise principle problem procedure progress prove putative reference question rational to accept reality reasons rejected rhetorical arguments rival Rorty scientific code scientific debate scientific dialectics scientific method scientist sense Simplicio situation species steady-state theory strategy substantive factors sunspots T₁ T₂ techniques theoretical theory change thesis things tion true truth underdetermined universe V-judgment valid