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Presentist History for Pluralist Science
Journal for General Philosophy of Science Pub Date : 2020-06-02 , DOI: 10.1007/s10838-020-09512-8
Hasok Chang

Building on my previous writings on presentism, pluralism, and “complementary science”, I develop an activist view of historiography. I begin by recognizing the inevitability of presentism. Our own purposes and perspectives do and should guide the production of our accounts of the past; like funerals, history-writing is for the living. There are different kinds of presentist history, depending on the historians’ purposes and perspectives. My particular inclination is pluralist. Science remembers its own history from a particular perspective (“whiggism”), which views the past as imperfect versions of the present; if professional historians of science shared this perspective, our work would be redundant. Instead, we can make it our task to illuminate the aspects of the past of science that scientists themselves tend to ignore and forget. History of science can also take a more productive role in the creation and improvement of scientific knowledge. Scientific progress as we know it tends to involve the shutting down of alternative paths of inquiry, resulting in a loss of potential and actual knowledge. A critical and sympathetic engagement with the past allows us to recover the lost paths, which can also suggest new paths. These points will be illustrated by a number of examples, especially from the history of chemistry and physics, including the recovery and extension of past experiments.

中文翻译:

多元科学的现时史

在我之前关于当下主义、多元主义和“补充科学”的著作的基础上,我发展了一种激进主义的史学观。我首先认识到存在主义的必然性。我们自己的目的和观点确实并且应该指导我们对过去的描述;就像葬礼一样,历史写作是为生者而写的。根据历史学家的目的和观点,存在不同种类的现在主义历史。我特别倾向于多元化。科学从特定的角度(“辉格主义”)记住自己的历史,它将过去视为现在的不完美版本;如果专业的科学史家也认同这一观点,我们的工作就会变得多余。相反,我们可以把阐明科学家们自己往往忽视和忘记的科学过去的方面作为我们的任务。科学史还可以在科学知识的创造和改进方面发挥更富有成效的作用。正如我们所知,科学进步往往涉及关闭其他探究路径,从而导致潜在和实际知识的损失。与过去的批判性和同情性接触使我们能够恢复丢失的路径,这也可以建议新的路径。这些观点将通过一些例子来说明,特别是化学和物理学的历史,包括过去实验的恢复和扩展。与过去的批判性和同情性接触使我们能够恢复丢失的路径,这也可以建议新的路径。这些观点将通过一些例子来说明,尤其是化学和物理学的历史,包括过去实验的恢复和扩展。与过去的批判性和同情性接触使我们能够恢复丢失的路径,这也可以建议新的路径。这些观点将通过一些例子来说明,特别是化学和物理学的历史,包括过去实验的恢复和扩展。
更新日期:2020-06-02
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