
- 296 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
About this book
Western philosophers have traditionally concentrated on theory as the means for expressing knowledge about a variety of phenomena. This absorbing book challenges this fundamental notion by showing how objects themselves, specifically scientific instruments, can express knowledge. As he considers numerous intriguing examples, Davis Baird gives us the tools to "read" the material products of science and technology and to understand their place in culture. Making a provocative and original challenge to our conception of knowledge itself, Thing Knowledge demands that we take a new look at theories of science and technology, knowledge, progress, and change. Baird considers a wide range of instruments, including Faraday's first electric motor, eighteenth-century mechanical models of the solar system, the cyclotron, various instruments developed by analytical chemists between 1930 and 1960, spectrometers, and more.
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Yes, you can access Thing Knowledge by Davis Baird in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Political Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Tables
- Preface
- 1. INSTRUMENT EPISTEMOLOGY
- 2. MODELS: REPRESENTING THINGS
- 3. WORKING KNOWLEDGE
- 4. ENCAPSULATING KNOWLEDGE
- 5. THE INSTRUMENTATION REVOLUTION
- 6. THING KNOWLEDGE
- 7. THE THING-Y-NESS OF THINGS
- 8. BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE
- 9. INSTRUMENTAL OBJECTIVITY
- 10. THE GIFT
- References
- Index