Feeling with the organism: A blueprint for an empirical philosophy of science

Abstract

Empirical insights have proven fruitful for the advancement of Philosophy of Science, but the integration of philosophical concepts and qualitative empirical data poses considerable methodological challenges. Debates in Integrated History and Philosophy of Science suggest that the advancement of philosophical knowledge can take place through the integration of empirical or historical research into philosophical studies, as Chang, Nersessian, Thagard and Schickore argue. Building upon their contributions, we will develop a blueprint for an Empirical Philosophy of Science that draws upon qualitative methods from the social sciences in order to advance our philosophical understanding of science in practice. We will regard the relationship between philosophical conceptualization and empirical data as an iterative dialogue between theory and data, which is guided by a particular ‘feeling with’ the empirical phenomenon under study. On the basis of our own experience, we will explain how this dialogical interplay between conceptual discourse and empirical insight manifests itself when analysing the practices of infectious disease modelling and a team of planetary scientists. Thereby, we offer not only practical examples, but also a framework for further reflection on the methodology of an Empirical Philosophy of Science.