Paradigms in science and archaeology

The paradigm concept as developed in western philosophy of science contexts is reviewed, and the metaphysical paradigms that govern research protocols in mainstream Old and New World prehistoric archaeology are described and compared. It is concluded that post-1970 New World archaeological research receives its intellectual mandate from anthropology, is founded on postpositivist biases, and is governed by a critical-realist ontology, a modified-objectivist epistemology, and an experimental-manipulative methodology. Post-1970 Old World archaeological research is viewed as a kind of history, remains mostly in the strict empiricist tradition, and is governed by a realist ontology, an inductivist epistemology, and by an observational methodology. The claims of various kinds of postprocessual archaeology are also evaluated in terms of the paradigm concept.     

Philosophy of archaeology: Current issues

Recent literature reflects continuing concern with problems such as explanation, skepticism, and objective knowledge. Some authors urge archaeologists to abandon positivism in favor of new philosophical approaches, such as feminism, Marxism, hermeneutics, and critical theory. Ethical issues have received increased attention as archaeologists have become involved in determining public policy with regard to disposition of artifacts and uncovering of human burials.     

Briefe im 19. Jahrhundert als wissenschaftshistorische Quelle. Dargestellt am Beispiel des Briefwechsels des Apothekers A. P. J. Du Menil (1777–1852)

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the importance of scientific communication of pharmacists in the 19th century. 89 letters were analysed both written received by August Peter Julius Du Menil (1777–1852). In the paper also a summary is given about the importance of extensive activity of the pharmacist Du Menil. He was be in correspondence with 39 scientists, for instance 13 physicans and 12 pharmacists. The letters are an interesting document about scientific community in the 19th century.     

经验科学进步的一般模式与当今地理学的发展——试以人文地理学为例

笔者首先引入库恩的范式理论和科学进步模式,并用协同学理论对之改造,以此作为本文分析问题的理论框架。紧接着,尝试用该模式剖析地理学的发展历史,指出每阶段的大致时间区间、发展特点、重要的历史贡献和代表人物,并用自组织原理阐述科学危机和科学革命发生的机理,从而为第四部分分析当今地理学危机作理论铺垫。然后,以人文地理学为例总结地理学的科学范式,从而形成当今地理学发展总的图景。再之,本文指出当今地理学危机产生的原因有两个:地理学范式逻辑结构松散和信息革命的挑战。危机是革命的先导,继计量革命和行为革命之后,(人文)地理学领域将要发生战后的第三次较大的革命,(人文)地理学范式将得以重塑,(人文)地理学共同体的地理思维、地理行为将随之变化。最后,本文引申出在新的时代条件下地理学的两大发展任务和地理哲学领域的两大前沿课题,以供参考。     

中国华侨华人研究的学科建设与学术定位

在前期研究的基础上,进一步对当前华侨华人学科建设与学术定位中的一些认识问题、理论问题进行了阐述。主要观点为:学术研究与政策宣传是相辅相成的。相对独立和自由的学术研究是制定政策的基础工作和必要前提;华人研究不应该以中国社会为中心,而应该以海外华人社会为研究的主要对象;华侨华人研究应该摆脱功利主义的考量和民族情绪的影响,坚持理性思考的科学精神;华侨华人研究应该有宽松的氛围、宽阔的视野和宽容的态度。     

科学史学乎?“科学古学”乎?——傅斯年“史学便是史料学”之思想渊源新探

在现代中国史学史上,傅斯年以其"史学便是史料学"的口号,成为所谓"史料学派"的代表人物。而"史料学派"之推动历史研究的科学化,又常与德国兰克学派的理论和实践相比仿。不过傅氏虽然曾留学德国,但从他的藏书和其它资料来看,其实他在留学期间,对兰克学派及其德国的历史研究,并没有太多接触。相反,傅氏对西方博古主义或古学运动对古典文化的研究,颇有兴趣。他在回国以后所开展的一系列工作,也显示出他之强调史料的扩充和整理,并由此来推广科学史学的做法,介乎于科学主义和博古主义之间。     

The role of the telescope and microscope in the constitution of the Idea of scientific progress

The invention of optical instruments showed that the extent of human experience is not eternal and natural but contingent – it can change, depending on the availability and performance of optical instruments over time. This knowledge of the temporal variability of empirical knowledge led to changes in the methodology and epistemology of early modern natural philosophy. In this article, I focus mainly on three aspects of this process. Firstly, optical technique has shown that nature cannot be examined by an isolated individual. Natural philosophy must be a collective activity with institutional support. Secondly, use of optical instruments led to an understanding of the relativity of contemporary natural philosophy, no longer understood as the culmination of preceding development. The present state of natural philosophy becomes a transient stage in a longer development. Thirdly, telescopes and microscopes contributed to the formation of an idea of unending progress.     

Schooling the Quantum Generations: Textbooks and Quantum Cultures from the 1910s to the 1930s

Ever since Thomas Kuhn's influential The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), textbooks have suffered a bad reputation. They have been accused of distorting—at times purportedly—history and of feeding students with an unacceptably simplified and optimistic view of science. This attitude started to change only in recent times. With the increase of attention paid not only to how theories are conceived, but also how they are practiced, disseminated, and appropriated, historians have rehabilitated textbooks as a legitimate site of knowledge production. In this paper, I adopt textbooks as an instrument to unfold multiple facets of the culture that allowed quantum physics to flourish between 1900 and the early 1930s. I organize the article around two stories about two major textbooks, i.e., Sommerfeld′s Atombau und Spektrallinien and Dirac′s Principles of Quantum Mechanics. I explore the complex pedagogical cultures underlying these two masterpieces and how they intersect local agendas.     

Moralism in theories of secession: a realist perspective

Moral reasoning is the most common approach to secession in political philosophy. Just‐cause, choice and liberal‐cultural theories rely on moral conceptions of political authority. This article examines an alternative view through an exploration of moral theories of secession from a realist perspective. Realism has recently seen a revival as a form of normative political philosophy and focuses on political disagreement and legitimacy rather than rights and moral analysis. I claim that realism would reject utopianism and moralism present in theories of secession. Instead of regarding secession as a right, realism would frame secession as a political option. According to this view, this article explores a realist theory of secession that would be based on the priority of politics and disagreement among other concepts. This would be a middle‐ground theory, compatible with liberal values and existing moral theories.     

Bringing Order from the Chaos of Names,Texts and Nature: Collection and Translation of Chinese Materia Medica in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Paying attention to the research of Daniel Hanbury (1825–75), whose scientific practice revolved around names, languages and their translations of Chinese materia medica, this article discusses the centrality of names development of drug knowledge in nineteenth-century Britain. Along with the collection of material specimens, names both in transliteration and in Chinese characters were gathered locally through correspondence networks. On the other hand, names within older texts that had hitherto remained disparate were reclaimed by the nineteenth-century effort to consult and collate earlier accounts of each item. As such, the collection, identification and translation of names constituted an integral part of the process of making Chinese materia medica recognizable within a new system of universal scientific knowledge. Hanbury’s extensive efforts collating and streamlining numerous names demonstrates that the early makings of scientific drug knowledge relied heavily upon a series of textual practices and peculiar modes of knowledge brokerage that straddled distant points of time and space.