Jeff Kochan
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View article: Ingold, hermeneutics, and hylomorphic animism
Ingold, hermeneutics, and hylomorphic animism Open
Tim Ingold draws a sharp line between animism and hylomorphism, that is, between his relational ontology and a rival genealogical ontology. He argues that genealogical hylomorphism collapses under a fallacy of circularity, while his relati…
View article: Animism and natural teleology from Avicenna to Boyle
Animism and natural teleology from Avicenna to Boyle Open
Argument Historians have claimed that the two closely related concepts of animism and natural teleology were both decisively rejected in the Scientific Revolution. They tout Robert Boyle as an early modern warden against pre-modern animism…
View article: Review of Rhonda L. Hinther. Perogies and Politics: Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891-1991.
Review of Rhonda L. Hinther. Perogies and Politics: Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891-1991. Open
Review of Rhonda L. Hinther. Perogies and Politics: Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891-1991. U of Toronto P, 2018. Studies in Gender and History, general editors, Franca Iacovetta and Karen Dubinsky. xii, 300 pp. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes.…
View article: Science as Social Existence
Science as Social Existence Open
In this bold and original study, Jeff Kochan constructively combines the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) with Martin Heidegger’s early existential conception of science. Kochan shows convincingly that these apparently quite differe…
View article: Chapter Four - Things, Thinking, and the Social Foundations of Logic
Chapter Four - Things, Thinking, and the Social Foundations of Logic Open
Chapter Four begins a transition to themes more typical of the history of science. Kochan starts with a review of Heidegger’s phenomenological history of logic, wherein logic is construed as the science of thinking. In Heidegger’s view, th…
View article: Chapter One - The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, Phenomenology, and the Problem of the External World
Chapter One - The Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, Phenomenology, and the Problem of the External World Open
Chapter One begins with a nod to the so-called ‘science wars,’ a heated intellectual dispute which erupted in the 1990s. One battle in this multifaceted dispute was over the purported idealism of SSK practitioners. This charge of idealism …
View article: Chapter Three - Finitude, Humility, and the Bloor-Latour Debate
Chapter Three - Finitude, Humility, and the Bloor-Latour Debate Open
Chapter Three focuses on the high-profile debate between SSK practitioner, David Bloor, and STS scholar, Bruno Latour. At the base of their dispute is the Kantian thing-in-itself, a thing to which we can attribute independent existence, bu…
View article: Chapter Two - A Minimal Realism for Science Studies
Chapter Two - A Minimal Realism for Science Studies Open
In Chapter Two, it is argued that a ‘minimal realism’ may be drawn from Heidegger’s existential model of scientific subjectivity. Heidegger affirms that things are, that they exist, independently of subjects, but rejects any attempt to det…
View article: Chapter Five - Mathēsis and the Emergence of Early-Modern Science
Chapter Five - Mathēsis and the Emergence of Early-Modern Science Open
Chapter Five shifts focus from the history of formal science to the history of natural science, including medicine. In doing so, it builds on the argument from the previous chapter that science is a process of thematisation in which inform…
View article: Chapter Six - Mathematics, Experiment, and the Ends of Scientific Practice
Chapter Six - Mathematics, Experiment, and the Ends of Scientific Practice Open
In Chapter Six, the emergence of early-modern experimental Philosophy is discussed, especially in the work of Robert Boyle. Kochan challenges SSK practitioner Steven Shapin’s attempt to insulate Boyle from mathematical culture, arguing tha…