Alle Publikationen
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2012
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(2012): Between Homo Sociologicus and Homo Biologicus. The Reflexive Self in the Age of Social Neuroscience. In: Science & Education 21 (10), S. 1507-1526. DOI: 10.1007/s11191-012-9447-7
Abstract: The social sciences rely on assumptions of a unified self for their explanatory logics. Recent work in the new multidisciplinary field of social neuroscience challenges precisely this unproblematic character of the subjective self as basic, well-defined entity. If disciplinary self-insulation is deemed unacceptable, the philosophical challenge arises of systematically bringing together neurological, psychological, sociological, and anthropological dimensions of analysis in one framework such as dynamic systems theory; and of finding bridging concepts such as memory, social cognition, and cultural scripts that can facilitate the cross disciplinary study of the reflexive self. Relying on the systemic philosophy of science developed by Mario Bunge, this paper takes some steps in this direction.
Keywords: Cognition, cultural scripts, Culture, dynamic systems theory, History and Philosophy of Science, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Konstruktion des Selbst, Mario Bunge, MEMORY, Modelle/Theorien, SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, script, SELVES, Social Cognition, soziale Kognition, STRANGE BEDFELLOWS, subjective self 2010
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(2010): Socially relevant philosophy of science. An introduction. In: Synthese 177 (3), S. 301-316. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-010-9855-7
Abstract: This paper provides an argument for a more socially relevant philosophy of science (SRPOS). Our aims in this paper are to characterize this body of work in philosophy of science, to argue for its importance, and to demonstrate that there are significant opportunities for philosophy of science to engage with and support this type of research. The impetus of this project was a keen sense of missed opportunities for philosophy of science to have a broader social impact. We illustrate various ways in which SRPOS can provide social benefits, as well as benefits to scientific practice and philosophy itself. Also, SRPOS is consistent with some historical and contemporary goals of philosophy of science. We're calling for an expansion of philosophy of science to include more of this type of work. In order to support this expansion, we characterize philosophy of science as an epistemic community and examine the culture and practices of philosophy of science that can help or hinder research in this area.
2005
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(2005): The ABC's of BBN. From Acoustics to Behavioral Sciences to Computers. In: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 27 (2), S. 15-29. DOI: 10.1109/MAHC.2005.32
Abstract: The discipline of psychology, and specifically the concept of man-machine integration, served to organize computer research and development at BBN, beginning in the 1950s.
2002
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(2002): Love-Hate for Man-Machine Metaphors in Soviet Physiology. From Pavlov to “Physiological Cybernetics”. In: Science in Context 15 (02), S. 339-374. DOI: 10.1017/S0269889702000479
Abstract: This article reinterprets the debate between orthodox followers of the Pavlovian reflex theory and Soviet "cybernetic physiologists" in the 1950s and 60s as a clash of opposing man-machine metaphors. While both sides accused each other of "mechanistic," reductionist methodology, they did not see anything "mechanistic" about their own central metaphors: the telephone switchboard metaphor for nervous activity (the Pavlovians), and the analogies between the human body and a servomechanism and between the human brain and a computer (the cyberneticians). I argue that the scientific utility of machine analogies was closely intertwined with their philosophical and political meanings and that new interpretations of these metaphors emerged as a result of political conflicts and a realignment of forces within the scientific community and in society at large. I suggest that the constant travel of man-machine analogies back and forth between physiology and technology has blurred the traditional categories of the "mechanistic" and the "organic" in Soviet neurophysiology, as perhaps in the history of physiology in general.
Keywords: American Cybernetics, Cold War, cybernetic physiologists, History and Philosophy of Science, Im (wissenschaftlichen) Diskurs, machine analogy, man-machine, mechanistic vs. organic, mechanistisches Weltbild, Mechanizismus, Mensch und Maschine, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Metapher, metaphor, Ontologische Differenzierungen: Tier, Mensch, Maschine, Pavlov, Reflexionen über MTR, technische Metaphern 1973
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(1973): This Cybernetic World of Men, Machines and Earth Systems. In: Technology and Culture 14 (2). DOI: 10.2307/3102426
Abstract: Professional interests in systems and cybernetics now encompass a wide range of disciplines and activities, including some that appear to be only distantly related to each other. This gives the field a multidisciplinary character that is like a breath of fresh air in a world that is too specialized for its own good. As proposed by its founder, Norbert Wiener, cybernetics is the science of control and of information, whether applied to the living world or to the inanimate machine . It has come to represent a quite general search for relationships among phenomena. Some people distinguish the term cybernetics from what is called general systems theory, but all too often the distinctions seem to be more superficial than real. Most publications on cybernetics that followed Professor Wiener’s beautiful exposition have tended to emphasize highly specialized aspects of the field. The present volume is designed to present a broader view of the subject, to be read by laymen as well as by professionals, since there is no need to hide the common sense and beauty of the subject behind equations. My hope is that readers will find the treatment understandable and sufficiently exciting to encourage the use of the “cybernetic approach,” whatever that may turn out to be, for their own way of life and thought.
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: Men, Machine, and Modern Times. 50th Anniversary Edition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press
Abstract: Men, Machines, and Modern Times, though ultimately concerned with a positive alternative to an Orwellian 1984, offers an entertaining series of historical accounts taken from the nineteenth century to highlight a main theme: the nature of technological change, the fission brought about in society by such change, and society's reaction to that change. Beginning with a remarkable illustration of resistance to innovation in the U.S. Navy following an officer's discovery of a more accurate way to fire a gun at sea, Elting Morison goes on to narrate the strange history of the new model steamship, the Wapanoag, in the 1860s. He then continues with the difficulties confronting the introduction of the pasteurization process for milk; he traces the development of the Bessemer process; and finally, he considers the computer. While the discussions are liberally sprinkled with amusing examples and anecdotes, all are related to the more profound and current problem of how to organize and manage system of ideas, energies, and machinery so that it will conform to the human dimension. People have had trouble adapting to new technology ever since (perhaps) the inventor of the wheel had to explain that a wheelbarrow could carry more than a person. This little book by a celebrated MIT professor—the fiftieth anniversary edition of a classic—describes how we learn to live and work with innovation. Elting Morison considers, among other things, the three stages of users' resistance to change: ignoring it; rational rebuttal; and name-calling. He recounts the illustrative anecdote of the World War II artillerymen who stood still to hold the horses despite the fact that the guns were now hitched to trucks—reassuring those of us who have trouble with a new interface or a software upgrade that we are not the first to encounter such problems. Morison offers an entertaining series of historical accounts to highlight his major theme: the nature of technological change and society's reaction to that change. He begins with resistance to innovation in the U.S. Navy following an officer's discovery of a more accurate way to fire a gun at sea; continues with thoughts about bureaucracy, paperwork, and card files; touches on rumble seats, the ghost in Hamlet, and computers; tells the strange history of a new model steamship in the 1860s; and describes the development of the Bessemer steel process. Each instance teaches a lesson about the more profound and current problem of how to organize and manage systems of ideas, energies, and machinery so that it will conform to the human dimension.
Keywords: Disziplin, Grundlegendes und umfassende Theorien, History and Philosophy of Science, Im (wissenschaftlichen) Diskurs, Mensch und Maschine, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Neuheit (vs. Etabliertheit) einer technologischen Innovation, Ontologische Differenzierungen: Tier, Mensch, Maschine, Philosophie, Reflexionen über MTR, Reluctancy against technonogical innovations theory, Technikphilosophie
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