THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF SCIENCE

Transcription

1 THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF SCIENCE

2 BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE EDITED BY ROBERT S. COHEN AND MARX W. WARTOFSKY VOLUME 94

3 THE KALEIDOSCOPE OF SCIENCE The Israel Colloquium: Studies in History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science Volume 1 Edited by EDNA ULLMANN-MARGALIT D. REIDEL PUBLISHING COMPANY A MEMBER OF THE KLUWER ACADEMICPUBUSHERSGROUP DORDRECHT I BOSTON I LANCASTER I TOKYO

4 library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: The Kaleidoscope of science. (Boston studies in the philosophy of science; 94) Includes index. 1. Science-Philosophy. 2. Science-History. I. Ullmann-Margalit, Edna. II. Series. Q174.B67 vol '.01s (501] (QI75] ISBN-13: e-isbn-13: DOl: / Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company, P.O. Box 17,3300 AA Dordrecht, Holland. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 190 Old Derby Street, Hingham, MA 02043, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, Holland. Prepared in cooperation with Mrs. Esther Shashar, executive editor, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. All Rights Reserved 1986 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1986 No part of the material protected by this copyrigh t notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner

5 THE ISRAEL COLLOQUIUM: STUDIES IN HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE The Governing Board Yehuda Elkana Michael Heyd Asa Kasher Coordinator Edna Ullmann-Margalit Advisory Editorial Board Robert S. Cohen Boston University Yehuda Elkana Tel-Aviv University and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Gerald Holton Harvard University The Advisory Committee Joseph Ben-David Solly Cohen Aryeh Dworetzky Jacob Eckstein Varon Ezrahi Michael Feldman Seymour Fox Saul Friedlander Amos Funkenstein Max Jammer Shneior Lifson Yuval Ne'eman Shlomo Pines Moshe Prywes Shmuel Sambursky David Samuel Ben-Ami Scharfstein Ozer Schild Mark Steiner Ezra Talmor Zvi Yavetz The Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science was established in the academic year It offers, annually, a series of public lectures, alternately in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv. It is sponsored and directed jointly by three bodies: The Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Medicine of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; The Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas of Tel-Aviv University; and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. It has an advisory board representing all the institutions of higher learning in Israel; also, it collaborates with R. S. Cohen and M. Wartofsky of the Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science.

6 EDITORIAL NOTE On the Proceedings of the Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science: In recent years it has become evident that, in addition to serious and competent disciplinary work on the specifics of the History of Science, the Philosophy of Science and the Sociology of Science, there is now a growing need to develop a problem-oriented approach which no longer distinguishes between these three specialties in a cut and dried way. Since the time has come for such an approach, the institutional tools should be provided. A way to do so would be to write - and to encourage others to write - almost 19th century style, problem-oriented overviews and to devote journals and workshops to that as a systematic approach. Another way is more eclectic, namely to organize colloquia and to publish good papers stemming from these, without attempting to organize the papers under the separate rubrics of History or Philosophy or Sociology of Science; and moreover to consider it natural that any fundamental issue of the foundations of the sciences, or their place in a culture and the way they are institutionalized in the societal web, is still our concern, no matter whether we are a professional scientist, historian or philosopher who deals with the problem. The Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science at Boston University, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, represented this approach under the general umbrella of Philosophy of Science. The Israel Colloquium, which is now in its fifth year, started as an offspring of the Boston Colloquium with the advice and encouragement of the founders and organizers of the Boston Colloquium, and has chosen explicitly to devote itself to History, Philosophy and Sociology of... : actually it should have been of Science, Technology and Medicine, except the name would have been too cumbersome. Or, perhaps it could have been called simply: A Colloquium devoted to the Historical Sociology of Scientific Knowledge. Like the parent institution, situated in the intellectual Mecca of Boston, the Israel Colloquium is at the crossroads of various kinds of contradictory attitudes, polarized worldviews and a multitude of intellectual trends which brings vii

7 viii EDITORIAL NOTE scholars from many nations - alas not yet from all- to visit Israel and to conduct a dialogue on their topic of interest. In the academic year 85/86 the Israel Colloquium has started its fifth annual lecture series, and it has been gathering momentum and recognition with the scientific community. The first contract for publication of its selected proceedings was signed with Dr. Simon Silverman, the founder and moving spirit of the Humanities Press, a man who did so very much since 1945 to promote our field in the United States and recently also in Israel with publications and direct donations. After his sudden death in 1984, which we mourn deeply, the Humanities Press underwent changes and the Israel Colloquium volumes appropriately found a home with the D. Reidel Publishing Co., among the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science where books from the Boston Colloquium have appeared from its beginning. We hope that this new series of scholarly books will prove a worthwhile contribution to the study of Science as a Cultural System. September 1985 ROBERT S. COHEN Boston University YEHUDA ELKANA Tel-A viv University MARX W. WARTOFSKY Baruch College, City University of New York

8 Contents Editorial Note Preface vii Xl STEPHAN KORNER, Bristol and Yale Universities On the Empirical Application of Mathematics and Some of its Philosophical Aspects HAIM GAIFMAN, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem On the Empirical Application of Mathematics: A Comment HILARY PUTNAM, Harvard University Meaning and Our Mental Life EDDY M. ZEMACH, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Meaning and Our Mental Life: A Comment AMOS FUNKENSTEIN, Tel-Avb University and The University of California in Los Angeles The Persecution of Absolutes: On the Kantian and Neo-Kantian Theories of Science NATHAN ROTEN STREICH, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Origin and Spontaneity: A Comment AMOS TVERSKY, Stanford University Cognitive Illusions in Judgment and Choice 75 A VISHAI MARGA LIT, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Past of an Illusion: A Comment 89 BERNARD D. DAVIS, Harvard University Molecular Genetics and the Falsifiability of Evolution 95

9 x CONTENTS YADIN DUDAI, The Weizmann Institute of Science On Experimental Approaches and Evolution: A Comment III DAVID KOHN, William Paterson College of New Jersey Darwin's Principle of Divergence as Internal Dialogue 117 SILVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University On Darwin's Principle of Divergence: A Comment 133 HENRI ATLAN, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Molecular versus Biological Evolution and Programming 137 ROGER H. STUEWER, University of Minnesota Gamow's Theory of Alpha-Decay 147 HARRY J. LIPKIN, The Weizmann Institute of Science On Gamow's Theory of Alpha-Decay: A Comment 187 MARTIN J. S. RUDWICK, Trinity College, Cambridge The Group Construction of Scientific Knowledge: Gentlemen-Specialists and the Devonian Controversy 193 SILVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University On the Devonian Controversy: A Comment EVERETT MENDELSOHN, Harvard University Knowledge and Power in the Sciences Y ARON EZRAHI, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Knowledge and Power in the Sciences: A Comment Index of Names

10 PREFACE This collection is the first proceedings volume of the lectures delivered within the framework of the Israel Colloquium for the History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science, in its year of inauguration It thus marks the beginning of a new venture. Rather than attempting to express an ideology of the l}nity of science, this collection in fact aims at presenting a kaleidoscopic picture of the variety of views about science and within science. Three main disciplines come together in this volume. The first of scientists, the second of historians and sociologists of science, the third of philosophers interested in science. The scientists try to present the scientific body of knowledge in areas where the scientific adventure kindles the imagination of the culture of our time. At the same time, of course, they register their own reflections on the nature of this body of knowledge and on its likely course of future development. For the historians and sociologists, in contrast, science is there to be studied diachronically, as a process, on the one hand, and synchronically, as a social institution, on the other. As for the phil9sophers, finally, their contribution to this series is not meant to remain within the confines of what is usually seen as the philosophy of science proper, or to be limited to the analysis of the scientific mode of reasoning and thinking: it is allowed, indeed encouraged, to encompass alternative, and on occasion even competing, modes of thought. The collection of essays in this volume, then, does not present one central sustained argument. Rather than argue a case, these essays, taken together, exemplify it, through the juxtaposition of a variety of points of view of science both as a system of propositions and as a social institution. The metaphor of the kaleidoscope is thus peculiarly apt. As an alternative metaphor one might think of a cubist painting that attempts to represent a plurality of viewpoints of a certain object on a single plane. And, if an educational aim is sought for this volume, it could perhaps be expressed in Tennyson's words ~ Nourishing a youth sublime With the fairy tales of science, and long result of Time. xi

11 xii PREFACE As is well known to those experienced in such matters, the running of an annual series of lectures and the production of a proceedings volume are enterprises which exact - and depend on - the good will and cooperation of many people. The largest and deepest debt of gratitude is due to Yehuda Elkana, the prime mover of the entire Israel Colloquium venture. Thanks for indispensable editorial, administrative and secretarial help go to Robert Amoils, Yael Avner, Mordechai Dwek, Edna Gil, Rachel Kerem, G. H. Schalit, Hanna Shapira, Esther Shashar, and Fred Simons. Edna Ullmann-Margalit The Coordinator Jerusalem