ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Diversity, Disagreements, and the Physical Sciences

• In Event: Shifting Perspectives: Diversity, Geographies, and Possibilities in the Physical Sciences (no 2)

English Abstract

Gender, race, and class are increasingly relevant categories in the history of science. However, when framed within the broader category of social markers, it becomes clear that our field has a long tradition of examining how social markers influence knowledge production. For instance, we have long accepted the existence of peculiar national traditions, and thus terms like “German physics” and “French physics,” as well as the influence of various political identities on scientific theories. In this talk, I aim to reflect on how a perspective that integrates social markers can help craft historical studies from the perspective of gender and race that go beyond acknowledging the contribution of marginalized groups to science to engage with epistemic questions. That is, inquire into how identities influence the content and practices of science. My strategy will be to establish a dialogue between the history of science and social epistemology, particularly feminist and disagreement epistemologies, to reflect on the role of diversity in science. Diversity is analyzed along two principal axes: one is associated with cognitive and disciplinary perspectives and approaches, while the other is related to social markers of identity such as gender, race, nationality, and class that profoundly impact the experiences of individuals and groups. This dialogue helps develop more democratic and inclusive conceptions of science that consider its social nature as one of its fundamental pillars, without disregarding its content or the crucial role of nature in the production of scientific knowledge. As old debates between internalism versus externalism and epistemic versus non-epistemic approaches resurface, I argue that attention to the epistemic role of diversity can help bridge what appears to be a widening schism in the history of the physics community.

Author

• Climerio Paulo da Silva Silva Neto, Universidade Federal da Bahia