Title

The Sociological Foundations of Modern Science

Abstract

One of the essential difficulties faced in affirming the sociological aspects as one of the tenets of modern science, between the 1940s and 1950s, was the Alexandre Koyré’s metaphysical conception concerning the emergence of the scientific revolution. In affirming his position, Koyré elaborated a strong criticism of all sociological interpretation of modern science (Zilsel, Grossman, Hessen, etc.) establishing the so-called internalism versus externalism controversy. Later when Wiener and Noland (1957) affirmed Edgar Zilsel as the typical representative of the externalist position vis-à-vis Koyré’s internalism, this controversy demarcated definitively Zilsel thesis as a sociological position without considering that it was also grounded on robust epistemological assumptions. The purpose of this talk is to show that Zilsel thesis – as a typical representative of sociological interpretation of the foundation of modern science – is also based on a solid epistemological perspective.

References

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Contact

• mauroconde@ufmg.br