The Triumph of Uncertainty

Tauber, a leading figure in history and philosophy of science, offers a unique autobiographical overview of how science as a discipline of thought has been characterized by philosophers and historians over the past century. He frames his account through science’s – and his own personal – quest for e...

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Egile nagusia: Tauber, Alfred I.
Formatua: Online
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Argitaratua: Central European University Press 2023
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Sarrera elektronikoa:OCN: 1338838626
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author Tauber, Alfred I.
author_browse Tauber, Alfred I.
author_facet Tauber, Alfred I.
author_sort Tauber, Alfred I.
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Tauber, a leading figure in history and philosophy of science, offers a unique autobiographical overview of how science as a discipline of thought has been characterized by philosophers and historians over the past century. He frames his account through science’s – and his own personal – quest for explanatory certainty. During the 20th century, that goal was displaced by the probabilistic epistemologies required to characterize complex systems, whether in physics, biology, economics, or the social sciences. This “triumph of uncertainty” is the inevitable outcome of irreducible chance and indeterminate causality. And beyond these epistemological limits, the interpretative faculties of the individual scientist (what Michael Polanyi called the “personal” and the “tacit”) invariably affects how data are understood. Whereas positivism had claimed radical objectivity, post-positivists have identified how a web of non-epistemic values and social forces profoundly influence the production of knowledge. Tauber presents a case study of these claims by showing how immunology has incorporated extra-curricular social elements in its theoretical development and how these in turn have influenced interpretive problems swirling around biological identity, individuality, and cognition. The correspondence between contemporary immunology and cultural notions of selfhood are strong and striking. Just as uncertainty haunts science, so too does it hover over current constructions of personal identity, self knowledge, and moral agency. Across the chasm of uncertainty, science and selfhood speak.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-978732025-07-31T13:23:08Z The Triumph of Uncertainty Tauber, Alfred I. Autobiography; Immunology; Personal identity; Postmodernism; Positivism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNC Memoirs thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800 Tauber, a leading figure in history and philosophy of science, offers a unique autobiographical overview of how science as a discipline of thought has been characterized by philosophers and historians over the past century. He frames his account through science’s – and his own personal – quest for explanatory certainty. During the 20th century, that goal was displaced by the probabilistic epistemologies required to characterize complex systems, whether in physics, biology, economics, or the social sciences. This “triumph of uncertainty” is the inevitable outcome of irreducible chance and indeterminate causality. And beyond these epistemological limits, the interpretative faculties of the individual scientist (what Michael Polanyi called the “personal” and the “tacit”) invariably affects how data are understood. Whereas positivism had claimed radical objectivity, post-positivists have identified how a web of non-epistemic values and social forces profoundly influence the production of knowledge. Tauber presents a case study of these claims by showing how immunology has incorporated extra-curricular social elements in its theoretical development and how these in turn have influenced interpretive problems swirling around biological identity, individuality, and cognition. The correspondence between contemporary immunology and cultural notions of selfhood are strong and striking. Just as uncertainty haunts science, so too does it hover over current constructions of personal identity, self knowledge, and moral agency. Across the chasm of uncertainty, science and selfhood speak. 2023-03-03T05:31:33Z 2023-03-03T05:31:33Z 2023-02-07T10:36:51Z 2022 book OCN: 1338838626 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/61186 9789633865965 9789633865811 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/97873 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61186/1/9789633865828.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61186/1/9789633865828.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61186/1/9789633865828.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/61186/1/9789633865828.pdf Central European University Press 10.7829/9789633865828 10.7829/9789633865828 49dd7c40-8e8d-4f66-b9e6-2895b535a0e0 9789633865965 9789633865811 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Opening the Future 406 open access
spellingShingle Autobiography; Immunology; Personal identity; Postmodernism; Positivism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNC Memoirs
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
Tauber, Alfred I.
The Triumph of Uncertainty
title The Triumph of Uncertainty
title_full The Triumph of Uncertainty
title_fullStr The Triumph of Uncertainty
title_full_unstemmed The Triumph of Uncertainty
title_short The Triumph of Uncertainty
title_sort triumph of uncertainty
topic Autobiography; Immunology; Personal identity; Postmodernism; Positivism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNC Memoirs
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
topic_facet Autobiography; Immunology; Personal identity; Postmodernism; Positivism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DN Biography and non-fiction prose::DNC Memoirs
thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDH Philosophical traditions and schools of thought::QDHR Western philosophy from c 1800
url OCN: 1338838626
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