The Disunity of science

Is science unified or disunified? Over the last century, the question has raised the interest (and hackles) of scientists, philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science, for at stake is how science and society fit together.

Recent years have seen a turn largely against the rhetoric of unity, ranging from the pleas of condensed matter physicists for disciplinary autonomy all the way to discussions in the humanities and social sciences that involve local history, feminism, multiculturalism, postmodernism, scientific relativism and realism, and social constructivism.

Many of these varied aspects of the debate over the disunity of science are reflected in the sixteen papers in this volume, which brings together a number of scholars studying science who otherwise have had little to say to each other: feminist theorists, philosophers of science, sociologists of science. Most of the contributors begin with the view that there is something local about scientific knowledge, and then try to explore where that leads.