Beyond Science Wars Redux: Feminist Philosophy of Science as Trustworthy Science Criticism

Bruno Latour is not the only scholar to reflect on his earlier contributions to science studies with some regret and resolve over climate skepticism and science denialism. Given the ascendency of merchants of doubt, should those who share Latour’s concerns join the scientists they study in circling the wagons, or is there a productive role still for science studies to question and critique scientists and scientific institutions? I argue for the latter, looking to postpositivist feminist philosophy as exemplified by Alison Wylie and Lynn Nelson, among others, as a guide. Feminist philosophers of science who ground their analysis in a detailed understanding of scientific practice are not science’s champions nor its antagonists, but they do stand in a distinct relationship to science. If not merchants of doubt, are they scientific gadflies or perhaps in scientific loyal opposition? Though these notions can underwrite useful approaches to science studies, neither captures the distinctive interdependency and interestedness of feminist philosophers and science. I suggest that we would be better served by the notion of trustworthy science criticism, building on the analyses of trust and trustworthiness by Annette Baier, among others, attendant to the dynamics of interdependency in trust relationships.     

Beyond Pro-Social Behaviour: An Exploration of Altruism in Two Cultures

Altruism is primarily defined as behaviour aimed at benefiting others. Recent studies in evolutionary, social and positive psychology have highlighted that altruistic emotions and behaviours significantly contribute to wellbeing, happiness, health and longevity. However, few studies specifically focused on the concept of altruism, its experiential dimensions, cultural variants, meaning and related life domains. Hence, this study aims at exploring: a) how do people define altruism; b) perceived individual and social consequences of altruism; c) perceived difficulties in being altruistic; d) cultural influences on conceptions of altruism and related behaviours. The Altruism Questionnaire was specifically developed to address these issues. Qualitative data were collected among 119 adult participants (60 Indians and 59 Italians). Findings revealed that in both cultures altruism is perceived more than just as pro-social behaviour, emphasising it as human and social value along with its relational and psychological features. Improvement in relationships is reported as the most prominent benefit of being altruistic. Paradoxically, negative social evaluation such as criticism, isolation and misunderstanding is reported as the prominent difficulty. Influences of culture-specific factors were detected in the conceptualization and evaluation of altruism and altruistic behaviours, raising questions for assessment, intervention and further research.     

Between Cultures

Abstract

A hospital is an institution established to pursue one principal primary task: the care and treatment of the sick. In some hospitals, other important tasks - for example, training and research - must also be undertaken. There may at times be conflict about the relative importance of these tasks. Within the hospital, a large number of heterogeneous groups must coexist, communicate and co-operate to achieve the primary task. Each group is composed of individuals. Each individual has his own motivation for belonging to that group and for working within the hospital. The individual's roles within his own group, his relationship with other subgroups and his place within the hospital as a whole are to a considerable degree determined and driven by his unconscious impulses and needs. Within a gynaecological unit the levels of anxiety and other primitive emotions may be particularly high. Here, issues of life, death and sexuality are constantly being confronted. A strong defence system is therefore likely to operate at both an individual and a social level. This may either enhance or hamper the work effort.     

Before the Two Cultures: Merging the Canons of the History of Science and Philosophy

This article argues that early modern philosophy should be seen as an integrated enterprise of moral and natural philosophy. Consequently, early modern moral and natural philosophy should be taught as intellectual enterprises that developed hand in hand. Further, the article argues that the unity of these two fields can be best introduced through methodological ideas. It illustrates these theses through a case study on Scottish Newtonianism, starting with visions concerning the unity of philosophy and then turning to a discussion of how methodological ideas figure in those visions. Finally, the article argues that methodological considerations can serve as good starting points to introduce and discuss central topics and canonical figures of the early modern period.     

Aborted Transition Between Two Dichotomous Cultures as Seen Through Dialogical Self Theory

The purpose of this article is to further advance the understanding of self-identity work amid transition from military to civilian life, with emphasis on the complexities between and within the military and civilian cultural I-positions of a dialogical self. An analysis of a longitudinal case study of an aborted transition leads to the hypothesis that a culturally dominant military I-position that sustains a cultural dichotomy may hinder dialogical advancement toward reintegration into civilian life. The insights from this article can be used to better understand self-identity issues amid transition and may also have relevance for nonmilitary persons who are exposed to cultural transitions.     

Two Cultures Revisited: New Widening Gaps

Aristotle continues to be a highly cited author in cultural sciences (human and social sciences) and humanities. In the last two decades, his work attracted up to a hundred times more attention than the work of Konrad Lorenz or Edward O. Wilson, who have attempted to synthesize new knowledge on behavior and society and proposed alternatives to traditional, intuitively appealing, explanations. Aristotle's interpretations of the world, which appear to be intuitive to the human mind, were abandoned in natural sciences upon introduction of the experimental method. Human intuition may have been appropriate in conditions under which it was originally selected: for life of small non-anonymous groups of hunters and gatherers in the savannah. Intuition confines human understanding to a simple reality circumscribed by a boundary that can be called Aristotle's barrier. The barrier may only be crossed by experimentation, which is largely missing in cultural sciences. Snow's concept of two cultures may be revisited to characterize a splitting of natural sciences versus cultural sciences. It may also be applied to a widening gulf between science and technoscience. Diverging of the two cultures may have far-reaching consequences for prospects of humankind's survival.     

Science and Technology in Non-Western Cultures

Seline's edited volume relevates non-Western interaction between religious and scientific domains of human intellectual history. Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Chinese thinkers have played central roles in pursuing intellectual inquiry into topics of broad human concern. Although copious and nuanced literary collections in Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan languages document non-Western contributions, these primary sources often are inaccessible to Western scholars, creating the false illusion that members of non-Western cultures have offered only marginal contributions to the rigorous investigation of the natural world. This illusion is dispelled thoroughly by a number of excellent articles contained in Seline's volume.     

Visual Creativity Across Cultures: A Comparison Between Italians and Japanese

Culture-related differences in visual creativity were investigated, comparing Italian and Japanese participants in terms of divergent (figural completion task) and product-oriented thinking (figural combination task). Visual restructuring ability was measured as the ability to reinterpret ambiguous figures and was included as a covariate. Results showed that in divergent thinking, Italians only outperformed Japanese participants in elaboration and in product-oriented thinking in terms of originality of products. Visual restructuring ability was found to play a key role both in originality and practicality of products. Both groups scored the same in terms of fluency, originality, and flexibility of visual divergent thinking, as well as in term of practicality of creative products. These findings are consistent with the idea that Italians and Japanese have the same creative potential, although from the early stages of the design Japanese seem to show a greater tendency to take practicality constraints into account when creating in the visual domain.     

Caught Between Two Worlds:

No abstract available for this article.     

Beyond Dialogue: The Role of Science Within Theology

Abstract : The purpose of this article is to provide background overview and contemporary context for the theme of this issue of Dialog, the role of science within theology. Over the last fifty years, this role has primarily involved dialogue and the drive to mutual understanding. That discussion has now reached a new stage seeking to move beyond dialogue toward what some are referring to as hypothetical consonance. One of the most serious constructive proposals moving beyond dialogue is Creative Mutual Interaction (CMI), proposed by Robert John Russell. The first five ways he discusses in CMI specifically address the role of science in theological reflection. It is argued that these five ways will assist the reader in contextualing the discussion found in the articles in this issue. Elaboration of each way is given, concluding with a constructive theological example of the heuristic use of scientific concepts found in quantum field theory.     

Modelling Beyond Application: Epistemic and Non-epistemic Values in Modern Science

In recent years, philosophers of science have begun to realize that the clear separation of the creation of models in academia and the application of models outside science is not possible. When these philosophers address hybrid contexts in which science is entwined with policy, business, and other realms of society, these often practically oriented realms no longer represent ‘the surroundings’ of science but rather are considered an essential part of it. I argue—and demonstrate empirically—that the judgement of a theory or model conducted by scientists in such hybrid contexts may contain two parts: one is truth supportive and the other is utility oriented. In relation to the debate on science and values, the article seeks to reinforce the argument in modern philosophy of science that the boundaries between epistemic and non-epistemic values are blurred. The article stresses that non-epistemic values may be also understood as values that contribute to the instrumental success of a theory or model and—in this way—influence scientific practice in the hybrid contexts.