Unity of science: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:36, 23 February 2025

Revision as of 15:40, 23 February 2025

Line 1:

{{Short description|Theory in the philosophy of science}}

The '''unity of science''' is a thesis in [[philosophy of science]] that says that all the [[sciences]] form a unified whole. The variants of the thesis can be classified as [[ontological]] (giving a unified account of the structure of reality) and/or as [[epistemic]]/pragmatic (giving a unified account of how the activities and products of science work).{{sfn|Tahko|2021|p=4}} There are also philosophers such as [[John Dupré]]<ref name=" Dupré ">{{cite book | vauthors=((Dupré, J.)) | date=1 January 1993 | title=The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science | publisher=Harvard University Press | edition=First | isbn=978-0-674-21260-2}}</ref> and, [[Nancy Cartwright]].,<ref name=" Cartwright ">{{cite book | vauthors=((Cartwright, N.)) | date= 1999 | title=The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science | publisher=Cambridge University Press | url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/dappled-world/86851744699530B9C4F2A19E8A610331 | doi=10.1017/CBO9781139167093 | isbn=978-0-521-64336-8}}</ref> and [[Evelyn Fox Keller]]<ref name="Book">{{cite book | vauthors=((Keller, E. F.)) | date=31 May 2002 | title=Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines | publisher=Harvard University Press | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-674-00746-8}}</ref> who emphasize the '''disunity of science''', which does not necessarily imply that there could be no unity in some sense but does emphasize [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralism]] in the ontology and/or practice of science.{{sfn|Tahko|2021|p=4}}

Early versions of the unity of science thesis can be found in [[ancient Greek philosophers]] such as [[Aristotle]],{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Wilson|2000}} and in the later history of [[Western philosophy]].{{sfn|Cat|2017}} For example, in the first half of the 20th century the thesis was associated with the unity of science movement led by [[Otto Neurath]],{{sfn|Symons|Pombo|Torres|2011}} and in the second half of the century the thesis was advocated by [[Ludwig von Bertalanffy]] in "General System Theory: A New Approach to Unity of Science" (1951){{sfn|Bertalanffy|1951}} and by [[Paul Oppenheim]] and [[Hilary Putnam]] in "Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" (1958).{{sfn|Oppenheim|Putnam|1958}} It has been opposed by [[Jerry Fodor]] in "Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis)" (1974),{{sfn|Fodor|1974}} by [[Paul Feyerabend]] in ''Against Method'' (1975) and later works,{{sfn|Feyerabend|1993}}{{sfn|Feyerabend|2011}} and by [[John Dupré]] in "The Disunity of Science" (1983){{sfn|Dupré|1983}} and ''The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science'' (1993).{{sfn|Dupré|1993}}