Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

III. Methods and tools
has a number of different meanings
Objectivity
on the context. In the context of
depending
and scientific practice, the connotation
science
one of freedom from bias and value-
is
In other words, it is the principle
neutrality.
separation between scientist and science,
of
that observers and experimenters do not
such
descriptions of their observation or
influence
knowledge is what Thomas Nagel
Objective
“the view from nowhere” (1986) and what
calls
calls “knowledge without a knower”
Popper
Is such perspective-less knowledge
(1979).
in science, or indeed at all? To what
possible
does the scientific method protect against
extent
perspectives and fallibility? The feminist
human
post-colonial perspectives we explored in
and
suggest that scientific knowledge always
II.7
the mark of its producers and the context
bears
its production, while III.1 examined the
of
of theory on observation. Does nature
influence
is a second sense in which objectivity finds
There
in science, a way for scientists to make
expression
irrelevant to the process and product
themselves
science. This is the ideal of formal objectivity,
of
procedures are perfectly followed by
where
The removal of subjectivity from
scientists.
happens through the standardization,
science
indeed universalization of units, tools
and
even laboratory organisms. If human
and
are unable to restrain themselves
researchers
influencing the outcomes of scientific
from
machines might. For instance, scientific
methods,
has widely replaced scientific
photography
that was once widely popular in
illustration
But can technology produced by human
botany.
be free of human perspective? We explore
beings
idea of the neutrality of technology in
this
3. Chapter
lengths to which scientists go to be objective
The
for incredible stories. Consider, for example,
make
we know the length of 1 metre. It involves
how
expedition that first measured and established
an
length of a metre as a one ten-millionth of
the
distance between the equator and the North
the
Two centuries later it was discovered that
Pole.
result was accurate to less than the width
the
a human hair. It may be surprising that how
of
agree about measurements of length, mass
we
time are linked to the events and values of
and
French Revolution. The units established
the
were envisioned to be “for all time, for
then
people”, a goal no doubt influenced by the
all
ideals and movements of the period.
political
meter has since been pegged to constant (the
The
of light in a vacuum), which is truly for
speed
time, as opposed to transient phenomena—
all
recently as 2018 the kilogram underwent a
As
process. It is currently defined in terms of
similar
special metal cylinder called Le GrandeK, the
a
of which are kept deep underground in
copies
rooms secured with three locks. By the time
two
read this, the kilogram will be tied to the
you
7
III.4 Objectivity: For all people,
for all time
interpretations of their results.
including even the Earth.
speak for itself? Can we, and do we, let it?
Figure 7.8 Kibbl balan at th National Instituts of Standards
and Thnology, USA, that idntis th wight of 1 kilogram basd
on th Plank onstant
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