Abstract
Science is a multifaceted, natural and
historical phenomenon. It consists of five elements, that is, it happens in five distinct
media: biological, linguistic, technological, social, and historical. None of these alone
provides an indubitable basis for the truth of scientific knowledge, but combined together
they compose a solid ground for our trust in its reliability. The composition, however, is
uniquely related to our modern mode of living. Science did not exist before modernity, and
it will cease to exist in this formif our way of life should change. The book presents a
thorough analysis of all these dimensions and their relations, and thus lays the path for
an integral theory of science. Because of this it can be used as a textbook for general
courses in the theory of science at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Contents
Part 1:
Divine Science
Chapter 1: Divine Knowledge
1. Alienation, Autonomy, and
Coexistence
2. Knowledge: The Identity between
Thought and Being
3. Knowledge: Purification
4. Knowledge: Egocentrism
5. Rationality
Chapter 2: The First Surrogate:IdealLanguage
1. Logic of Science
2. Logicism and Purification
3. Empiricism and the Role of the
Subject
4. Instrumentalism
Chapter 3: The Second Surrogate: Sbjective Knowledge
1. The Ontological Component
2. The Semantic Component
3. The Epistemic Component
4. The Pragmatic Retreat and the
Cosmic Language
Part 2:
Mundane Science
Chapter 4: Knowledge Naturalised
1. The Naturalist Turn
2. Knowledge Reconsidered
3. Science of Science
Chapter 5: Biosynthesis
1. Life
2. Enclosed Selective Openness and
Cognition
3. Mode of Living
Chapter 6: Evolution
1. Classical Darwinism
2. Modern Darwinism
3. Receptors and Effectors
4. Evolutionary Lesson
Part 3:
Humane Science
Chapter 7: Humans
1. Humans as Prematurely Born
Mammals
2. Humans as Retarded Mammals
3. Humans as Unspecialised Mammals
4. Closing the Open Field of
Movements
Chapter 8: Neurosynthesis
1. Nervous System
2. The Human Nervous System and
Importance of the Body
3. Incompleteness of the Human
Nervous System
Chapter 9:Technosynthesis
1. The Instrumental View
2. The Cosmic View
3. Allopoiesis
4. The Technical Reason
Chapter 10: Linguosynthesis
1. Naming and Describing
2. Formatting
3. Performing
4. Making
5. Ambiguity
6. Controlling Metaphors
7. Closure
Part 4:
Modern Science
Chapter 11: Science and Modernity
1. Modes of Human Autopoiesis
2. The Urban Revolution and the
Rise of Science
3. Ancient and Modern Technology
4. Modernity
5. Rational Economic Man
6. Science and Modernity
Chapter 12: Modern Science: Experiment
1. Theory and Experiment
2. Observation
3. Macroscopic Experiment
4. Microscopic Experiment
5. Natural and Artificial
Chapter 13: Modern Science: Language
1. Discovery and Generality
2. Description and Reproduction
3. Explanation and Stratification
4. Theory, Determination, and
Reality
Chapter 14: Modern Science: Sociosynthesis
1. Personal Knowledge and its
Inputs
2. The Strong Programme in the
Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
3. Public Knowledge and
Sedimentation
Epilogue
Chapter 15: Science and the End of Modernity |
