It has been argued many times in the literature concerning historical counterfactuals that “When implementing a counterfactual antecedent, the historian thus asks what conditions would have to be present in order for the antecedent to follow from these conditions, and whether these conditions were likely.” (Reiss 2009, 719). I have discussed this issue in detail […]
Classics in Historiography of Science: Robert K. Merton
In this post, I will continue my discussion about central figures in the history of historiography of science. I discuss Robert K. Merton’s views on science and, following the approach in the previous classics post, I analyze those views from the perspective of current conceptions of and interests towards science. It will be interesting to […]
Deep Historiography, Valid Futures?
In this post, I argue that the criteria of external validity in the futures research and the criteria for explanatory depth in historiography share important conceptual similarities. The similarities suggest many interesting connections between historiographical insights and futures research. — According to Kuusi, Cuhls and Steinmüller (2015), we can explicate the notion of external validity […]
Invariances in History, Science, and Future
In this post, I discuss to what extent the concept of invariance can connect historiography, sciences, and futures studies. I argue that we can find invariances concerning human activities, especially in the case of science. I argue that (a) science, historiography, and futures studies require knowledge of invariances, and (b) knowledge of invariances enable us […]
A Brief Note on Scientific Breakthroughs
Recently, we discussed about scientific breakthroughs in Tiedepiiri[1] (“The Circle of Science”). While this phenomenon is a close relative of scientific discovery, scientific innovation, and scientific revolution, the language of scientific breakthroughs has no established meanings in academic research concerning science. The concepts of discovery, revolution, innovation, and breakthrough all have different connotations. Roughly: Discovery […]
How to Approach History of Science Objectively? Presentism in Historiography
See the paper https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/718993 discussing the ideas in this post. — In this post, I discuss some major conceptual and philosophical problems that the historiography of science faces. These problems are important for the estimating of the future of science since they question our ability to connect the past to the present and our ability […]
Classics of Historiography of Science. George Sarton
This post begins a series of posts that focus on some canonical figures and texts in the historiography of science. I write about their conceptions of history, science and future. Already in this text, the essential connection between history and future will arise. Beyond that, I find these figures interesting for many reasons. First, the […]
Losing My Religion. The Problem of Unconceived Alternatives
In the previous post, I wondered whether we can conceive a history (or future) of science that does not end up in the current state of science. We noted that the task is at least difficult. We have to use our current scientific knowledge in creating counterfactual historical scenarios of science and therefore our current […]
Forever Trusting Who We Are. Can We Escape the Present Science?
In the excellent and rich paper, “So close no matter how far: counterfactuals in history of science and the inevitability/contingency controversy” (2020), Luca Tambolo discusses counterfactuals in the historiography of science. Tambolo argues that “In the case of general history, it is often possible to imagine a consequent dramatically different from actual history, and yet […]
Will the Future Understand Us?
In historiography, a common idea is that we should describe and explain the past in its own terms. People have had different beliefs, values, and problems to be solved, and the social and cultural dynamics surrounding them have been different – not to mention the material realities of the past. We should not expect that […]
Squeezing Water out of Stones. On Historical Counterfactuals
When I was around 14, my math teacher T. M. always accused me of excessive speculation. I decided that I would learn everything there is to be learned about the art of speculation. I went to the library and starter to read Tetlock and Belkin’s Counterfactual Thought Experiments in World Politics in order to counter […]
But Something Is Happening and You Don’t Know What It Is, Do You, History of Knowledge?
In this post, I discuss the historiography of knowledge. I analyze tensions within the field and attempt to understand why we should to care about the foundations of the field. —– History of Knowledge is here. The authorities are still checking the identity of the settler. Is it someone’s sibling or cousin? Is it someone’s […]