-
6Allen, B., Truth in Philosophy, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1993, xi, 230, US $29.95 (cloth). Anderson, E., Value in Ethics and Economics, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1993, xiv, 245, US $35.00 (coth). Armstrong, D., A Materialist Theory of the Mind, London, Routledge, 1993 [1968], xxiii, 375 (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 72 (2). 1994.
-
52The Kantian Legacy in Nineteenth-Century Science (edited book)MIT Press. 2006.Historians of philosophy, science, and mathematics explore the influence of Kant's philosophy on the evolution of modern scientific thought.
-
25The political economy of technoscienceIn M. Carrier & A. Nordmann (eds.), Science in the Context of Application., Springer. pp. 317--336. 2011.
-
22Science in the context of technologyIn M. Carrier & A. Nordmann (eds.), Science in the Context of Application., Springer. pp. 467--482. 2011.
-
15Was wissen die TechnowissenschaftenIn Carl-Friedrich Gethmann (ed.), Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft, Meiner Verlag. pp. 566--79. 2011.
-
Mit der Natur über die Natur hinausIn G. Hofmeister, K. Köchy & M. Norwig (eds.), Nanobiotechnologien. Philosophische, anthropologische und ethische Fragen, Alber. pp. 131--147. 2008.
-
26Molecular disjunctions: staking claims at the nanoscaleIn Baird D. (ed.), Discovering the Nanoscale, Ios. pp. 51--62. 2004.
-
17Ideas for a philosophy of nature as introduction to the study of this science Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, trans. Errol E. Harris and Peter Heath, intro. Robert Stern , xxvi + 294 pp., $49.50, cloth; $15.95, paper (review)History of European Ideas 12 (4): 566-568. 1990.
-
Nanotechnologie im Kontext: Philosophische, ethische und gesellschaftliche Perspektiven (edited book)Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft. 2006.
-
3NanotechnologyIn Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen Friis, Stig Andur Pedersen & Vincent F. Hendricks (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology, Wiley-blackwell. 2012.
-
61Object lessons: towards an epistemology of technoscienceScientiae Studia 10 (SPE): 11-31. 2012.Discussions of technoscience are bringing to light that scientific journals feature very different knowledge claims. At one end of the spectrum, there is the scientific claim that a hypothesis needs to be reevaluated in light of new evidence. At the other end of the spectrum, there is the technoscientific claim that some new measure of control has been achieved in a laboratory. The latter claim has not received sufficient attention as of yet. In what sense is the achievement of control genuine k…Read more
-
89“Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich’s sein!”—Partaking in the NanoworldNanoEthics 5 (2): 233-243. 2011.Images from the nanoworld are not at all disorienting or bewildering, as one might expect from contemplating the strange and surprising features that arise where classical physics comes to an end and quantum effects begin to appear. Instead, we see the traces of explorers in a world that appears to be infinitely malleable. The paper shows that the capability to visualize processes and phenomena at the nanoscale is a matter not only of research technologies and the advancement of observational te…Read more
-
36Editors' Introduction: Forays into the Trading Zone of Image and LogicPerspectives on Science 7 (2): 147-150. 1999.
-
22Comparing incommensurable theoriesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 17 (2): 231-246. 1986.
-
80Invisible origins of nanotechnology: Herbert gleiter, materials science, and questions of prestigePerspectives on Science 17 (2). 2009.Herbert Gleiter promoted the development of nanostructured materials on a variety of levels. In 1981 already, he formulated research visions and produced experimental as well as theoretical results. Still he is known only to a small community of materials scientists. That this is so is itself a telling feature of the imagined community of nanoscale research. After establishing the plausibility of the claim that Herbert Gleiter provided a major impetus, a second step will show just how deeply Gle…Read more
-
25Goodbye and farewell: Siegel vs. FeyerabendInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 33 (3). 1990.In his review (Inquiry 32 [1989], pp. 343?69) of Paul Feyerabend's Farewell to Reason, Harvey Siegel makes a fairly simple point: Feyerabend provides a bad argument for a good cause. In particular, Siegel maintains that the argument suffers, first, from self?inflicted depreciation: having been rendered impotent by Feyerabend's views of objectivity and rationality, what claim to persuasion can his argument possibly hold? And second, the argument is said to be incoherent: instead of respecting and…Read more
-
135Darwinians at war Bateson's place in histories of DarwinismSynthese 91 (1-2). 1992.The controversy between Biometricians and Mendelians has been called an inexplicable embarrassment since it revolved around the mistaken identification of Mendelian genetics with non-Darwinian saltationism, a mistake traced back to the non-Darwinian William Bateson, who introduced Mendelian analysis to British science. The following paper beings to unravel this standard account of the controversy by raising a simple question: Given that Bateson embraced evolution by natural selection and that he…Read more
-
37Knots and strands: An argument for productive disillusionmentJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 32 (3). 2007.This article offers a contrast between European and US-American approaches to the convergence of enabling technologies and to associated issues. It identifies an apparently paradoxical situation in which regional differences produce conflicting claims to universality, each telling us what can and will happen to the benefit of humanity. Those who might mediate and negotiate these competing claims are themselves entangled in the various positions. A possible solution is offered, namely a universal…Read more
-
56Facts-well-putBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (1): 37-77. 1994.In this paper we elucidate a particular type of instrument. Striking-phenomenon instruments assume their striking profile against the shifting backdrop of theoretical uncertainties. While technologically stable, the phenomena produced by these instruments are linguistically fuzzy, subject to a variety of conceptual representations. But in virtue of their technological stability alone, they can provide a foundation for further technological as well as conceptual development. Sometimes, as in the …Read more
-
33Editor's introduction to Peter Galison's image and logic and this Pos collection of critical essaysPerspectives on Science 7 (2): 147-150. 1999.
-
179If and then: A critique of speculative nanoethics (review)NanoEthics 1 (1): 31-46. 2007.Most known technology serves to ingeniously adapt the world to the physical and mental limitations of human beings. Humankind has acquired awesome power with its rather limited means. Nanotechnological capabilities further this power. On some accounts, however, nanotechnological research will contribute to a rather different kind of technological development, namely one that changes human beings so as to remove or reduce their physical and mental limitations. The prospect of this technological d…Read more
-
29A history of the ideas of theoretical physics: Essays on the 19th and 20th century physics (Vol. 213 of Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science) (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34 (4): 677-679. 2003.
-
42Engaging Narratives and the Limits of Lay Ethics: Introduction (review)NanoEthics 4 (2): 133-140. 2010.How can one discover the ethical issues associated with nanotechnologies? One heuristic is to tend closely to the ethical reflections of lay publics and the ways in which these are informed by experience with technological innovation, technology governance, and the (broken) promises of visionary science and technology. A close collaboration between social scientists and philosophers took this heuristic to its limits: On the one hand, it achieved remarkably fine–grained insights into public refle…Read more
-
257Matters of Interest: The Objects of Research in Science and Technoscience (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 42 (2): 365-383. 2011.This discussion paper proposes that a meaningful distinction between science and technoscience can be found at the level of the objects of research. Both notions intermingle in the attitudes, intentions, programs and projects of researchers and research institutions—that is, on the side of the subjects of research. But the difference between science and technoscience becomes more explicit when research results are presented in particular settings and when the objects of research are exhibited fo…Read more
-
41Persistent propensities: Portrait of a familiar controversy (review)Biology and Philosophy 5 (4): 379-399. 1990.Susan Mills and John Beatty's propensity interpretation of fitness encountered very different philosophical criticisms by Alexander Rosenberg and Kenneth Waters. These criticisms and the rejoinders to them are both predictable and important. They are predictable as raisingkinds of issues typically associated with disposition concepts (this is established through a systematic review of the problems generated by Carnap's dispositional interpretation of all scientific terms). They are important as …Read more