2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

PSA Abstracts
as 7 methodological value judgments, relevant to H. Using criteria of internal and
external consistency, as well as predictive power, it argues that metascience helps
resolve this debate. And if so, then value-laden, policy-relevant science may need,
not only more attention to social values in order to resolve and to clarify disputes,
but more traditional philosophy of science analysis. If this paper’s thesis holds in the
very politicized “hard case” of radiation hormesis, then it suggests that the
metascientists may be right about what is often necessary to clarify scientific disputes.
Sergio Sismondo Queen’s University
Nicholas Chrisman University of Washington
Deflationary Metaphysics and the Natures of Maps
Scientific theories are maps of the natural world. This metaphor is often used as
part of a deflationary argument for a weak but relatively global version of scientific
realism, a version that recognizes the place of conventions, goals, and contingencies
in scientific representations, while maintaining that they are typically true in a
clear and literal sense. By examining, in a naturalistic way, some relationships
between maps and what they map, we question the scope and value of realist
construals of maps and by extension of scientific representations. Deflationary
philosophy of science requires more variegated metaphysical stances.
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Edward Slowik Winona State University
Descartes’ Science, Holism, and the Mechanical Philosophy
In recent treatments of “holism” in the history of science, Descartes’ natural
philosophy is often judged to be a paradigm instance of a “mechanistic” and
reductivist scientific approach. This essay, on the contrary, will challenge this
view by exploring various aspects of Descartes’ conservation principle for the
quantity of motion (size times speed), especially its largely neglected function as
a measure of both durational motion and instantaneous “tendencies towards
motion”. Despite the prevailing consensus, it will be demonstrated that an
underlying non-local, or holistic, element is essential to a full understanding of the
conservation principle’s development and intended operation.
Kent␣ W. Staley Arkansas State University
What Experiment Did We Just Do?: Counterfactual Error Statistics and
Uncertainties about the Reference Class
Experimenters use pre-trial planning to ensure that they will be able to draw
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