Debating Contemporary Approaches to the History of Science

by Lukas M. Verburgt (editor)

Debating Contemporary Approaches to the History of Science explores the main themes, problems and challenges currently at the top of the discipline's methodological agenda. In its chapters, established and emerging scholars introduce and discuss new approaches to the history of science and revisit older perspectives which remain crucial. Each chapter is followed by a critical commentary from another scholar in the field and the author's response.

The volume looks at such topics as the importance of the 'global', 'digital', 'environmental', and 'posthumanist' turns for the history of science, and the possibilities for the field of moving beyond a focus on ideas and texts towards active engagement with materials and practices. It also addresses important issues about the relationship between history of science, on the one hand, and philosophy of science, history of knowledge and ignorance studies, on the other.

With its innovative format, this volume provides an up-to-date, authoritative overview of the field, and also explores how and why the history of science is practiced. It is essential reading for students and scholars eager to keep a finger on the pulse of what is happening in the history of science today, and to contribute to where it might go next.

374 pages, Hardcover

Published February 8, 2024

Reviews

[Floris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure about the endorsement by Michael Bycroft that this book is “exactly what the field needs right now”, but it’s certainly a format that I would like to see more! Experts (at various career stages, which was nice to see) in various sub-fields of the history of science offer their thoughts on where their sub-fields have come from, are at the moment, and where they might go/should be going. These sub-fields include global HoS, environmental HoS, material and performative HoS, as well as some closely related and intertwined fields such as integrated history and philosophy of science and history of knowledge. The style of these chapters vary, from broad historiographical overviews of a sub-field’s development (Donald Opitz’s essay on gender HoS is particularly rich) to deep-dives into pet interests (Johan Gärdebo explores a very thin slice of environmental HoS based on his doctoral work, but it’s still useful to think with). Both ends of this spectrum have their advantages and disadvantages. But the format of having an essay, followed by a shorter comment by another expert, followed by an even shorter response from the original author is really fun, not to mention useful! The comments and responses are useful for clarifying tricky concepts, reflecting on their implications, or identifying gaps/possibilities for elaboration in the original essay. The comments that are a bit more critical are particularly entertaining (Chaps 6 and 11 come to mind). Overall, I don’t think anyone needs to read the entire volume. But it’ll definitely be a useful resource to return to.