{"title":"Disciplinary identity and the idea of a unified social science: A survey of British academics","authors":"Federico Brandmayr","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.04.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.04.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is substantial philosophical disagreement over whether the social sciences are united by a set of fundamental epistemic and methodological principles, echoing broader debates about the unity and disunity of science more generally. This question does not merely concern philosophers but also social scientists themselves. Social scientists form beliefs about the unity or disunity of the social sciences which likely influence their research practices, such as their choices of specialty areas and whether they pursue interdisciplinary projects. To assess such beliefs, the article presents the results of a survey of 1188 British academics working in social science departments. It shows that researchers in core disciplines like economics, sociology, and political science are more likely to identify as social scientists, while those in peripheral fields such as history and psychology are less attached to the category. Despite widespread support for interdisciplinarity, results reveal deep epistemological divergences across disciplines and a greater proximity to the humanities rather than the natural sciences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"111 ","pages":"Pages 18-30"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143864112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unity or disunity of the sciences? The German debate around 1900","authors":"Martin Kusch","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.04.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper gives an overview of the intense and prolonged debates concerning the relationships between the natural, social and historical sciences in German-speaking academia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the paper focuses on discussions over cultural history (Schäfer versus Gothein; Buckle and Du Bois-Raymond versus Droysen and Lorenz; von Below versus Lamprecht); the position of psychology (Steinthal, Lazarus, Wundt, Dilthey); the role of the social sciences (Mohl versusTreitschke and Dilthey); the goals of economics (Knies, Schmoller, Treitschke, Menger, Weber); neo-Kantian conceptions and their rivals (Lange, Cohen, Windelband, Rickert, Dilthey, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche); and the road from Marxism to sociology (Marx, Lassalle, Stammler, Tönnies, Sombart, Simmel). I conclude by gesturing at ways in which these debates were related to social-political controversies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"111 ","pages":"Pages 7-17"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143855088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Quantum phenomenology: Measurement, reflection, correlation","authors":"Dan Zahavi","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In his book <em>A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics: Cutting the Chain of Correlations</em> Steven French presents an interpretation of Fritz London’s and Edmond Bauer’s 1939 monograph <em>La théorie de l’observation en mécanique quantique</em> that acknowledges and engages with the phenomenological theorizing underlying their approach to the measurement problem. My aim in the following contribution is twofold. I will first offer some historical and systematic arguments for why it might indeed be worthwhile to explore the link between phenomenology and quantum mechanics. In the second part of the paper, I will then look closer at French’s interpretation, especially his understanding of reflection, and express some reservations about a central argument of his.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"111 ","pages":"Pages 1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143783714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Unpublished Article by David Bohm","authors":"Chris Talbot editor","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>David Bohm’s orginal abstract is given below.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 88-103"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143684435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The art of estimation and the mathematization of force in Leibniz","authors":"Jeffrey Elawani , Filippo Costantini","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.12.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.12.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>From 1686 onward, Leibniz is engaged in a dispute with Cartesian physicists on the correct expression for the quantity of force in moving bodies. In the 1690s, he puts forth an argument for his own expression that is allegedly based on the science of quantity in general (or the art of estimation). Leibniz states that the latter requires the quantity of force to be determined by the real repetitions of a measure. It would follow that his expression for force is the correct one. Now, commentators have not been sensitive to the ingenuity of the argument presented here. In this paper, focussing on the exchange between Johann Bernoulli and Leibniz, we want to show how this argument consists essentially in pushing for a certain conception of the mathematization of force based, in turn, on a serious conception of measurement of quantities. This conception exploits the conservative properties of physical systems in order to apply general principles of determination of quantity to the special case of the quantity of force. We conclude by confronting our interpretation with others which posit a stronger connection between measurement and metaphysics in Leibniz.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 65-75"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143674812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human nature and therapeutic forms in B. Mandeville","authors":"Cláudio Alexandre S. Carvalho","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.03.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.03.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Medical science has been recognized as an important component of the project for the anatomy of the “invisible Part of Man” presented in <em>The Fable of the Bees</em>, allowing Bernard Mandeville to describe the naturalistic foundations of morality and politics. Paradoxically, the acknowledgment of “self-denial” originating in the social mechanisms that conceal and repress egoistic impulses and interests has contributed to a stereotypical reading of Mandeville’s <em>Treatise of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Diseases</em>, according to which a materialistic management of the passions is the primary, if not the only, way to access and treat dysfunctions. Starting with a study of Mandeville's conception of the principles of human nature, exposed in <em>The Fable of the Bees</em>, this article will revise that presumption by focusing on the therapeutic forms of observation emerging in the three dialogues of the <em>Treatise</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 76-87"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143674797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leveraging participatory sense-making and public engagement with science for AI democratization","authors":"Collin Lucken , Tim Elmo Feiten","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our paper explores new potentials for productive dialogue between public engagement with science (PEWS) and radical embodied cognitive science (RECS). We establish a strong connection between the two fields by highlighting parallels between the views they reject: the ‘deficit model’ in science communication and the ‘information processing paradigm’ in cognitive science. Furthermore, we show that the positive visions of PEWS and RECS are similarly aligned: The concept of participatory sense-making from enactive cognitive science provides an account of why active, dialogical engagement in science communication is so effective. Conversely, processes in which affected communities actively engage developments in science and technology through contribution and contestation provide an invaluable case study for RECS accounts of emergent dynamics in techno-cultural systems. After establishing the connection between PEWS and RECS, we motivate the need for what we call ‘participatory cognitive strategies’. Finally, a brief case study shows the potential for these strategies in actively involving different groups of stakeholders throughout the development of large-scale AI systems, allowing us to make a conceptual contribution to ongoing debates about the meaning of ‘democratizing AI’ in this project and in the larger AI initiative of which it is a part.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 55-64"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143654508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Logical empiricist anti-exceptionalism in its Austro-German context","authors":"Thomas Uebel","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.03.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.03.003","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 46-54"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143642487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Philosophical community from a historical perspective","authors":"Noa Lahav Ayalon","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 40-45"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143611262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A French view of London","authors":"Steven French","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.02.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In 1939 London and Bauer published a ‘little book’ that shaped the debate over the role of consciousness in resolving the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. Mistakenly understood as merely summarising von Neumann’s account, both sides in the debate failed to appreciate its phenomenological underpinnings. London not only originally studied phenomenology but continued thinking about and discussing this approach in the years leading up to the publication of his work with Bauer, most notably with Gurwitsch, who likewise had a dual background in phenomenological philosophy and physics. In the book, <em>A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics: Cutting the Chain of Correlations</em> (French, 2023), the historical background to London and Bauer’s work is set out prior to situating it within the context of Husserl’s philosophy as a whole. It is concluded that the London and Bauer phenomenological account offers a potentially fruitful way forward through various dichotomies, such as that between psi-ontic and psi-epistemic accounts and between interpretational and reconstructive approaches more generally, as well as with regard to understanding quantum physics more generally.</div><div>In this paper London and Bauer’s insistence that quantum mechanics should be seen as a theory of knowledge in its own right is emphasized, where this must be taken as phenomenologically grounded. Hopefully this work will be viewed as contributing to a revised phenomenological understanding of modern physics, standing alongside Ryckman’s <em>The Reign of Relativity</em> (Ryckman, 2005) and Berghofer and Wiltsche’s edited collection <em>Phenomenological Approaches to Physics</em> (Berghofer & Wiltsche, 2020).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"110 ","pages":"Pages 30-39"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143562953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}