A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century EnglandHow do we come to trust our knowledge of the world? What are the means by which we distinguish true from false accounts? Why do we credit one observational statement over another? In A Social History of Truth, Shapin engages these universal questions through an elegant recreation of a crucial period in the history of early modern science: the social world of gentlemen-philosophers in seventeenth-century England. Steven Shapin paints a vivid picture of the relations between gentlemanly culture and scientific practice. He argues that problems of credibility in science were practically solved through the codes and conventions of genteel conduct: trust, civility, honor, and integrity. These codes formed, and arguably still form, an important basis for securing reliable knowledge about the natural world. Shapin uses detailed historical narrative to argue about the establishment of factual knowledge both in science and in everyday practice. Accounts of the mores and manners of gentlemen-philosophers are used to illustrate Shapin's broad claim that trust is imperative for constituting every kind of knowledge. Knowledge-making is always a collective enterprise: people have to know whom to trust in order to know something about the natural world. |
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A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England Steven Shapin No preview available - 1995 |
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actors Air-Pump Aretology argued Aristotle assent astronomical authority Auzout Bacon Boyle Papers Boyle's Boyle's law Burnet Cambridge certainty chapter civil conversation claims comets conceptions concerned constitution Cork Correspondence courtesy literature credibility culture Discourse divers early modern early modern English England English Gentleman epistemic Essays ethical evidence Experimental Natural Philosophy Experiments Touching Cold fact factual free action gentle gentlemanly Gilbert Burnet Hartlib Henry Oldenburg Hevelius Hevelius's History honor Hooke human Hydrostatical ibid idem identified identity individual integrity John Wallis judgment knowl knowledge knowledge-claims labor laboratory legitimate Leviathan mathematical matter ment moral Natural Philosophy noted observations Oldenburg one's person philosophical physical political practical practitioners precision reason recognized relations relevant reliable reports Robert Boyle Robert Hooke role Royal Society Sceptical Chymist Science scientific servants seventeenth-century English skepticism skill social order sources specific Stalbridge technicians testimony texts things tion traditional trust truth truth-telling University Press virtue writing