ArgumentThis article offers a social history of the “Galois Affair,” which arose in 1831 when the French Academy of Sciences decided to reject a paper presented by an aspiring mathematician, Évariste Galois. In order to historicize the meaning of Galois's work at the time he tried to earn recognition for his research on the algebraic solution of equations, this paper explores two interrelated questions. First, it analyzes scholarly algebraic practices and the way mathematicians were trained in the nineteenth century to (...) reconstruct the scientific meaning of Galois's research. By emphasizing the historically contingent nature of scientific debates, the paper argues that to historicize the work of a mathematician, we must historicize the scientific world as well. The second part of this article goes further to seek a fresh perspective on Galois's short career by analyzing the cultural, social, and institutional dynamics that governed how the mathematical community came to recognize an aspiring mathematician as one of its own. (shrink)

Cet article analyse les débuts de la Revue du Mois, revue de culture générale à caractère scientifique créée en 1905 par le mathématicien Émile Borel. À une période où des périodiques de format similaire se multiplient, l’originalité de l’entreprise réside dans l’association d’articles présentant à un large public les enjeux des recherches récentes (en sciences exactes, expérimentales, mais aussi humaines), et de thèmes plus légers, comme des chroniques théâtrales et littéraires. En examinant la préparation des premiers numéros, l’article dévoile les (...) intentions et la mise en acte de ce projet. Il étudie notamment comment a été définie la ligne éditoriale, comment ambition scientifique et vocation généraliste ont pu coïncider, et comment la revue est parvenue à conquérir son public. (shrink)

Résumé Cet article propose de revenir sur le programme d’histoire concrète de l’abstraction proposé par Jean-Claude Perrot dans les années 1990, pour montrer quels en sont les apports pour l’histoire des mathématiques. En mettant l’accent sur les dynamiques sociales, culturelles et matérielles dans lesquelles s’élaborent les connaissances, ce programme fournit en effet des outils pour analyser non seulement les modalités de circulation des mathématiques, mais surtout les effets concrets des pratiques symboliques, souvent laissées de côtés dans les travaux historiens sur (...) les sciences. Plus encore, le programme d’histoire concrète de l’abstraction constitue en objet d’histoire le processus qui permet aux traces matérielles des activités savantes passées et aux modalités de raisonnements qu’elles véhiculent de parvenir jusqu’à nous tout en transcendant leurs conditions initiales de production. Il offre ainsi un cadre analytique pour étudier le rapport des mathématiques au temps historique. (shrink)

Drawing on five months of ethnography among rank-and-file Soka Gakkai members, this article takes issue with the conventional view of Komeito and Gakkai political socialization as one of group identity. It uses interviews and primary sources from Gakkai socialization practice to document how the two organizations appeal to Gakkai members by promoting the Komeito policy agenda, and how Gakkai members use the same arguments in search of non-Gakkai votes for the party. Social ties remain important, but they are vehicles for (...) this policy message, not a justification for supporting Komeito. This makes Komeito leadership far more constrained in its political choices than is currently recognized. The article finishes by showing how this theory explains variation in Komeito electoral support better than a social identity alternative. (shrink)

La théorie des transferts culturels permet de penser la circulation et la mutation des messages entre les cultures. Elle a élargi son horizon notamment grâce à l’émergence de quatre théories élaborées au tournant des années 2004-2006 : l’histoire croisée, la médiation artistique, le champ culturel transnational et les transfer studies. Ces dernières peuvent contribuer à repenser les aires culturelles par une étude des imbrications et les tensions qui existent entre les aires culturelles, les espaces et les territoires.

For the first time in 20 years, the prefectural level 2001 LDP primaries offer a chance to reevaluate the relationship between Diet members and the LDP rank and file. Since 1982, scholars have agreed that Diet members use their support organizations to control how rank and file vote in LDP leadership contests; and the absence of any suitable data from the 1980s and 1990s has prevented a reassessment of this hypothesis in Japan's evolving political environment. This study uses regression analysis (...) on prefectural-level primary ballot totals in order to measure Diet member influence over the rank-and-file primaries. The results suggest while national politicians did influence voters, their impact was too small to affect the outcome of the election. This implies that the relationship between LDP Diet members and the rank and file is changing and suggests directions for further study. (shrink)

La notion de patrimoine est aujourd’hui très présente, tant dans l’espace public qu’en sciences humaines et sociales, si bien que rien ne semble échapper à la « consécration patrimoniale » [Jeudy 2008], un phénomène qu’a accentué la définition par l’Unesco en 2003 de la catégorie de Patrimoine Culturel immatériel. La conservation et la valorisation du patrimoine ancien sont devenues une préoccupation importante pour la plupart des institutions de savoirs. Le patrimoine scientifique est alors...

La notion de patrimoine est aujourd’hui très présente, tant dans l’espace public qu’en sciences humaines et sociales, si bien que rien ne semble échapper à la « consécration patrimoniale » [Jeudy 2008], un phénomène qu’a accentué la définition par l’Unesco en 2003 de la catégorie de Patrimoine Culturel immatériel. La conservation et la valorisation du patrimoine ancien sont devenues une préoccupation importante pour la plupart des institutions de savoirs. Le patrimoine scientifique est alors...

Diese transdisziplinäre Studie betritt Neuland in der Forschung, weil sie zeigt, dass die beiden disparaten frühen Schriften Schleiermachers ”Über die Religion, Reden an die Gebildeten unter ihren Verächtern“ und die ”Monologen“ aufeinander bezogen gelesen werden können und müssen. Sichtbar wird ein Kategoriengefüge im Denken Schleiermachers, das dessen Erziehungs- und Glaubenslehre, aber auch seine Ethik und Dialektik sowie seine schulreformerischen Überlegungen als konsequente Weiterführung und Erweiterung von Reflexionsformen ausweist. Es kommt ein Schleiermacher zu Wort, der agonal argumentiert, weil er sich die (...) ”Trennung gefallen“ lässt und die ”Berührung“ der ”Vereinigung“ vorzieht. Für die Verhältnisbestimmung von Bildung und Religion heute erweist sich dieses Prinzip einer auf Polaritäten abhebenden Reflexionsbewegung als zukunftsweisend. Die Arbeit stellt die beiden Abhandlungen in einen bildungstheoretischen Kontext, der für den religionspädagogischen Diskurs fruchtbar ist. (shrink)

»[...] der kraftvolle Fichte, der Urheber des transzendentalen Idealismus, dessen Erscheinung wie ein Blitz wirkte, der für einen Augenblick gleichsam die Pole des Denkens umkehrte, aber auch wie ein Blitz wieder verschwand, [würde] in dem gegenwärtigen Bewußtsein [...] kaum noch die Stelle finden [...], an die er damals sein System anlegte, so zwar, daß man Schwierigkeit findet, den Nachkommen den Grundgedanken seiner Lehre nur noch zu verdeutlichen«.

This passage comes at the end of Diodorus' account of the archon year 357/6 and obviously contains a proleptic reference to the future fortunes of the tyrannicides, Tisiphonus, Lycophron,. Tisiphonus died probably in 355 or early in 354; Lycophron and Peitholaus were expelled from Pherae by Philip in 352.

Ever since Proclus wrote his commentary on Plato's Republic, repeated attempts have been made to find a hidden number of cosmic significance in Rep. 8.546. For the Neo-Platonist it was natural to look for esoteric secrets in ancient works; among the men of the New Learning at the end of the Middle Ages there were enough astrologers and necromancers to ensure respect for the proposition; we are now again enamoured of irrationality. But the scholars who attempted such calculations around 1900 (...) must have considered Plato himself a mystery-monger. In this article I propose: to show why such attempts are mistaken, to discuss what early writers who mention the passage say about its meaning, to provide a mathematician's translation that fits the context, and to comment on it; for the currently accepted explanation is unsatisfactory. ‘There is fairly widespread agreement that the geometrical number is 12,960,000 = 3,6002 = 4,800 × 2,700, but on the method by which this number is reached the widest divergence exists’ or, from an earlier, different guess: ‘…one can, so to speak, state a priori that Plato's number is a multiple of 19 ten thousands’, i.e. the text is approached with a ready-made answer in mind. There are three further objections to the conventional view, It takes the text out of its context as if it had strayed from the Timaeus. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 98 Heft: 1 Seiten: 360-361.

Researchers have wondered how the brain creates emotions since the early days of psychological science. With a surge of studies in affective neuroscience in recent decades, scientists are poised to answer this question. In this target article, we present a meta-analytic summary of the neuroimaging literature on human emotion. We compare the locationist approach (i.e., the hypothesis that discrete emotion categories consistently and specifically correspond to distinct brain regions) with the psychological constructionist approach (i.e., the hypothesis that discrete emotion categories (...) are constructed of more general brain networks not specific to those categories) to better understand the brain basis of emotion. We review both locationist and psychological constructionist hypotheses of brain–emotion correspondence and report meta-analytic findings bearing on these hypotheses. Overall, we found little evidence that discrete emotion categories can be consistently and specifically localized to distinct brain regions. Instead, we found evidence that is consistent with a psychological constructionist approach to the mind: A set of interacting brain regions commonly involved in basic psychological operations of both an emotional and non-emotional nature are active during emotion experience and perception across a range of discrete emotion categories. (shrink)

While it is widely acknowledged that science is not “free” of non-epistemic values, there is disagreement about the roles that values can appropriately play. Several have argued that non-epistemic values can play important roles in modeling decisions, particularly in addressing uncertainties ; Risbey 2007; Biddle and Winsberg 2010; Winsberg : 111-137, 2012); van der Sluijs 359-389, 2012). On the other hand, such values can lead to bias ; Bray ; Oreskes and Conway 2010). Thus, it is important to identify when (...) it is legitimate to appeal to non-epistemic values in modeling decisions. An approach is defended here whereby such value judgments are legitimate when they promote democratically endorsed epistemological and social aims of research. This framework accounts for why it is legitimate to appeal to non-epistemic values in a range of modeling decisions, while addressing concerns that the presence of such values will lead to bias or give scientists disproportionate power in deciding what values ought to be endorsed. (shrink)

Kristen Hessler argues that philosophy can best contribute to understanding human rights by exploring the full range of their use in practice. Her approach emphasizes how human rights activism and adjudication can both reveal and dismantle unjust social hierarchies. The result is an innovative vision of interdisciplinary human rights scholarship.

Over the past twenty-five years, numerous articles in Hypatia have clarified, revised, and defended increasingly more nuanced views of both feminist empiricism and standpoint feminism. Feminist empiricists have argued that scientific knowledge is contextual and socially situated (Longino 1990; Nelson 1990; Anderson 1995), and standpoint feminists have begun to endorse virtues of theory choice that have been traditionally empiricist (Wylie 2003). In fact, it is unclear whether substantive differences remain. I demonstrate that current versions of feminist empiricism and standpoint feminism (...) now have much in common but that key differences remain. Specifically, they make competing claims about what is required for increasing scientific objectivity. They disagree about 1) the kind of diversity within scientific communities that is epistemically beneficial and 2) the role that ethical and political values can play. In these two respects, feminist empiricists have much to gain from the resources provided by standpoint theory. As a result, the views would be best merged into “feminist standpoint empiricism.”. (shrink)

Several science studies scholars report instances of scientific “hype,” or sensationalized exaggeration, in journal articles, institutional press releases, and science journalism in a variety of fields (e.g., Caulfield and Condit 2012). Yet, how “hype” is being conceived varies. I will argue that hype is best understood as a particular kind of exaggeration, one that explicitly or implicitly exaggerates various positive aspects of science in ways that undermine the goals of science communication in a particular context. This account also makes clear (...) the ways that value judgments play a role in judgments of “hype,” which has implications for detecting and addressing this problem. (shrink)

In this review, we highlight evidence suggesting that concepts represented in language are used to create a perception of emotion from the constant ebb and flow of other people’s facial muscle movements. In this “construction hypothesis,” (cf. Gendron, Lindquist, Barsalou, & Barrett, 2012) (see also Barrett, 2006b; Barrett, Lindquist, & Gendron, 2007; Barrett, Mesquita, & Gendron, 2011), language plays a constitutive role in emotion perception because words ground the otherwise highly variable instances of an emotion category. We demonstrate that language (...) plays a constitutive role in emotion perception by discussing findings from behavior, neuropsychology, development, and neuroimaging. We close by discussing implications of a constructionist view for the science of emotion. (shrink)

This article explores “determining gender,” the umbrella term for social practices of placing others in gender categories. We draw on three case studies showcasing moments of conflict over who counts as a man and who counts as a woman: public debates over the expansion of transgender employment rights, policies determining eligibility of transgender people for competitive sports, and proposals to remove the genital surgery requirement for a change of sex marker on birth certificates. We show that criteria for determining gender (...) differ across social spaces. Gender-integrated spaces are more likely to use identity-based criteria, while gender-segregated spaces, like the sexual spaces we have previously examined, are more likely to use biology-based criteria. In addition, because of beliefs that women are inherently vulnerable and men are dangerous, “men’s” and “women’s” spaces are not policed equally—making access to women’s spaces central to debates over transgender rights. (shrink)

Several feminist philosophers of science have tried to open up the possibility that feminist ethical or political commitments could play a positive role in good science by appealing to the Duhem-Quine thesis and underdetermination of theories by observation. I examine several different interpretations of the claim that feminist values could play a legitimate role in theory justification and show that none of them follow from a logical gap between theory and observation. Finally, I sketch an alternative approach for defending the (...) possibility that feminist political commitments could play a legitimate role in science. (shrink)

Over a century ago, William James outlined the first psychological constructionist model of emotion, arguing that emotions are phenomena constructed of more basic psychological parts. In this article, I outline a modern psychological constructionist model of emotion. I first explore the history of psychological construction to demonstrate that psychological constructionist models have historically emerged in an attempt to explain variability in emotion that cannot be accounted for by other approaches. I next discuss the modern psychological constructionist model of emotion that (...) I take in my own research, outlining its hypotheses, existing empirical support, and areas of future research. I conclude by arguing that psychological constructionist models can help scientists better understand the human mind. (shrink)

The field of behavioral ethics has seen considerable growth over the last few decades. One of the most significant concerns facing this interdisciplinary field of research is the moral judgment-action gap. The moral judgment-action gap is the inconsistency people display when they know what is right but do what they know is wrong. Much of the research in the field of behavioral ethics is based on early work in moral psychology and American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s foundational cognitive model of moral (...) development. However, Kohlberg’s model of moral development lacks a compelling explanation for the judgment-action gap. Yet, it continues to influence theory, research, teaching, and practice in business ethics today. As such, this paper presents a critical review and analysis of the pertinent literature. This paper also reviews modern theories of ethical decision making in business ethics. Gaps in our current understanding and directions for future research in behavioral business ethics are presented. By providing this important theoretical background information, targeted critical analysis, and directions for future research, this paper assists management scholars as they begin to seek a more unified approach, develop newer models of ethical decision making, and conduct business ethics research that examines the moral judgment-action gap. (shrink)

If contextual values can play necessary and beneficial roles in scientific research, to what extent should science communicators be transparent about such values? This question is particularly pressing in contexts where there appears to be significant resistance among some non-experts to accept certain scientific claims or adopt science-based policies or recommendations. This paper examines whether value transparency can help promote non-experts’ warranted epistemic trust of experts. I argue that there is a prima facie case in favor of transparency because it (...) can promote four conditions that are thought to be required for epistemic trustworthiness. I then consider three main arguments that transparency about values is likely to be ineffective in promoting such trust (and may undermine it). This analysis shows that while these arguments show that value transparency is not sufficient for promoting epistemic trust, they fail to show that rejecting value transparency as a norm for science communicators is more likely to promote warranted epistemic trust than a qualified norm of value transparency (along with other strategies). Finally, I endorse a tempered understanding of value transparency and consider what this might require in practice. (shrink)

Several have argued that the aims of scientific research are not always independent of social and ethical values. Yet this is often assumed only to have implications for decisions about what is studied, or which research projects are funded, and not for methodological decisions or standards of evidence. Using the case of the recently developed HPV vaccines, we argue that the social aims of research can also play important roles in justifying decisions about (1) how research problems are defined in (...) drug development, (2) evidentiary standards used in testing drug “success”, and (3) clinical trial methodology. As a result, attending to the social aims at stake in particular research contexts will produce more rational methodological decisions as well as more socially relevant science. (shrink)

Developmental psychologists identify propensities for social engagement in human infants that are less evident in other apes; Sarah Hrdy links these social propensities to novel features of human childrearing. Unlike other ape mothers, humans can bear a new baby before the previous child is independent because they have help. This help alters maternal trade-offs and so imposes new selection pressures on infants and young children to actively engage their caretakers’ attention and commitment. Such distinctive childrearing is part of our grandmothering (...) life history. While consequences for other cooperative activities must surely follow, the novel rearing environments set up by helpful grandmothering can explain why natural selection escalated preferences and motivations for interactivity in our lineage in the first place, and why, unlike other aspects of infant development, social sensitivities are not delayed in humans compared with genus Pan. (shrink)

The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Philosophy of Science is a comprehensive resource for feminist thinking about and in the sciences. Its 33 chapters were written exclusively for this Handbook by a group of leading international philosophers as well as scholars in gender studies, women’s studies, psychology, economics, and political science. The chapters of the Handbook are organized into four main parts: I. Hidden Figures and Historical Critique II. Theoretical Frameworks III. Key Concepts and Issues IV. Feminist Philosophy of Science in (...) Practice. The chapters in this extensive, fourth part examine the relevance of feminist philosophical thought for a range of scientific and professional disciplines, including biology and biomedical sciences; psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience; the social sciences; physics; and public policy. The Handbook gives a snapshot of the current state of feminist philosophy of science, allowing students and other newcomers to get up to speed quickly in the subfield and providing a handy reference for many different kinds of researchers. (shrink)