The History and Philosophy of Science History

Abstract

Past science is studied from two perspectives. The intellectual history of science, which focuses on the development of ideas and arguments, and the social history of science, which focuses on the development of science as a social undertaking within its broader contexts, are both alive in the academy. Nevertheless, these two approaches do not interact very well, and the field of science history is bifurcated along these lines. Indeed, intellectual and cultural historians of science tend, basically, to ignore one another. They have different training, different aims, different audiences, and often different institutional homes. Intellectual historians of science tend to be conversant with philosophers, social historians of science associate with mainstream historians, but they do not often discourse with each other. In turn, this has led to remarkable naïveté on each side regarding the work of science historians across the disciplinary fence.