Humans not instruments

Collins, Harold Maurice ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2909-9035 2010. Humans not instruments. Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science 4 (1) , pp. 138-147. 10.4245/sponge.v4i1.11354

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Abstract

I argue that it is serious mistake to treat instruments as having parity with humans in the making of scientific knowledge. I try to show why the parity view is misplaced by beginning with the “Extended Mind” thesis which can be seen as an individualistic version of Actor/ant Network Theory, and then move on to instruments. The idea of parity cannot be maintained in the face of close examination of actions as simple as doing a calculation or accepting the reading of an instrument. The key difference is that humans are embedded in language communities—the locus of knowledge-making—and nothing else is.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Centre for the Study of Knowledge Expertise and Science (KES) Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Publisher:	The University of Toronto
ISSN:	1913-0465
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 08:24
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/28200

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