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The Scientist as Adult

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Ronald N. Giere*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota
*
Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Philosophy, 355 Ford Hall, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455; or giere@maroon.tc.umn.edu.

Extract

My concern is with the possible implications of research in developmental psychology for understanding the workings of modern science. I agree both with Gopnik's general naturalistic orientation and with her more specific claims about scientists as cognitive agents. Neither the formal structure of propositions nor the social structure of scientific communities provides sufficient resources for the understanding we seek. So I agree that the empirical study of human cognition is not only relevant, but necessary, for understanding how science works (Giere 1988, 1989).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1996

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References

Giere, R. N. (1988), Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, R. N. (1989), “The Units of Analysis in Science Studies,” In Science Studies, DeMey, M., Shinn, T., and Woolgar, S. (ed.), The Cognitive Turn: Sociological and Psychological Perspectives on Science. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, pp. 311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, R. N. (1994), “The Cognitive Structure of Scientific Theories,” Philosophy of Science, 61:276296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorman, M. E. (1992), Simulating Science: Heuristics, Mental Models, and Technoscientific Thinking. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar