Martin Kusch: Relativism in the Philosophy of Science

Описание: In my talk I will explain two relativist approaches in the study of science, one from philosophy of science (van Fraassen), the other from the sociology of science (Barnes and Bloor). I shall compare and contrast the two approaches and identify some problems and open questions. I shall also briefly sketch how I see the relationship between relativism, perspectivism and pluralism.

Martin Kusch is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Epistemology at the University of Vienna. Before moving to Vienna in 2009, he was Professor for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Finnish Academy of Science, and a member of the Academia Europaea as well as the Institut International de Philosophie. He has published in the philosophy of the natural and social sciences, epistemology, philosophy of language and mind, philosophy of technology, the history of German and Austrian philosophy as well as the sociology of scientific knowledge. From 2014 until 2019 he was PI of an ERC Advanced Grant Project entitled "The Emergence of Relativism". His current work relates to this project, e.g. (as author) RELATIVISM IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE (due out in 2020, CUP); THE FIRST RELATVIST: A STUDY OF GEORG SIMMEL (in prep.); (as editor), THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK ON RELATIVISM (due out in 2020); (as co-editor), THE EMERGENCE OF RELATIVISM (Routledge 2019), SOCIAL EPISTEMOLOGY AND EPISTEMIC RELATIVISM (Routledge, 2020).