Cooperative Division of Cognitive Labour: The Social Epistemology of Photosynthesis Research
Cooperative Division of Cognitive Labour: The Social Epistemology of Photosynthesis Research
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DOI：
10.1007/s10838-020-09543-1
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发表时间：
2021-03-19
影响因子：
1
通讯作者：
Nickelsen, Karin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Nickelsen, Karin
科学家如何在群体中产生知识？他们过去是如何做到的？认知驱动的社会互动如何影响甚至驱动这一过程？这些问题涉及科学史和科学哲学的核心利益。人们提出理想化模型和形式论证来阐明科学的社会认识论，但它们的结论并不直接适用于科学实践。本文使用这些模型之一作为检验实际科学集体的镜头和史学工具。它集中分析十九世纪末至二十世纪中叶光合作用研究历史上的两个片段，这些片段展示了与基彻的“认知劳动的分工”（1990）类似的广泛且协调的知识多样性。我认为，这个概念抓住了光合作用研究领域的重要方面，但其潜在过程的展开方式与模型的假设却很有趣。该论文揭示了科学界内合作与竞争的自组织相互作用以及个人和集体目标的动态如何成为知识生成的影响因素。从那时起，人们就科学分析中的历史方法和哲学方法如何有效地相互作用提出了一些想法。
How do scientists generate knowledge in groups, and how have they done so in the past? How do epistemically motivated social interactions influence or even drive this process? These questions speak to core interests of both history and philosophy of science. Idealised models and formal arguments have been suggested to illuminate the social epistemology of science, but their conclusions are not directly applicable to scientific practice. This paper uses one of these models as a lens and historiographical tool in the examination of actual scientific collectives. It centres on the analysis of two episodes from the history of photosynthesis research of the late nineteenth- to mid-twentieth centuries, which display a wide and coordinated intellectual diversity similar to Kitcher's "division of cognitive labour" (1990). The concept, I argue, captures important aspects of the photosynthesis research communities, but the underlying process unfolded in ways that differ from the model's assumption in interesting ways. The paper unravels how the self-organised interplay of cooperation and competition, and the dynamics of individual and collective goals within scientific communities were influential factors in the generation of knowledge. From there, some thoughts are developed on how historical and philosophical approaches in the analysis of science can productively interact.