4,788 research outputs found
Objective Styles in Northern Field Science
Social studies of science have often treated natural field sites as extensions of the laboratory. But this overlooks the unique specificities of field sites. While lab sites are usually private spaces with carefully controlled borders, field sites are more typically public spaces with fluid boundaries and diverse inhabitants. Field scientists must therefore often adapt their work to the demands and interests of local agents. I propose to address the difference between lab and field in sociological terms, as a difference in style. A field style treats epistemic alterity as a resource rather than an obstacle for objective knowledge production. A sociological stylistics of the field should thus explain how objective science can co-exist with radical conceptual difference. I discuss examples from the Canadian North, focussing on collaborations between state wildlife biologists and managers, on the one hand, and local Aboriginal Elders and hunters, on the other. I argue that a sociological stylistics of the field can help us to better understand how radically diverse agents may collaborate across cultures in the successful production of reliable natural knowledge
Does a functional integral really need a Lagrangian?
Path integral formulation of quantum mechanics (and also other equivalent
formulations) depends on a Lagrangian and/or Hamiltonian function that is
chosen to describe the underlying classical system. The arbitrariness presented
in this choice leads to a phenomenon called Quantization ambiguity. For example
both and L_2=e^\dot{q} are suitable Lagrangians on a
classical level (), but quantum mechanically they are
diverse. This paper presents a simple rearrangement of the path integral to a
surface functional integral. It is shown that the surface functional integral
formulation gives transition probability amplitude which is free of any
Lagrangian/Hamiltonian and requires just the underlying classical equations of
motion. A simple example examining the functionality of the proposed method is
considered.Comment: 4 pages, published version, references added, comments are welcom
Putting a Spin on Circulating Reference, or How to Rediscover the Scientific Subject
Bruno Latour claims to have shown that a Kantian model of knowledge, which he describes as seeking to unite a disembodied transcendental subject with an inaccessible thing-in-itself, is dramatically falsified by empirical studies of science in action. Instead, Latour puts central emphasis on scientific practice, and replaces this Kantian model with a model of “circulating reference.” Unfortunately, Latour's alternative schematic leaves out the scientific subject. I repair this oversight through a simple mechanical procedure. By putting a slight spin on Latour's diagrammatic representation of his theory, I discover a new space for a post-Kantian scientific subject, a subject brilliantly described by Ludwik Fleck. The neglected subjectivities and ceaseless practices of science are thus re-united
Suppressed Subjectivity and Truncated Tradition: A Reply to Pablo Schyfter
Author's response to: Pablo Schyfter, 'Inaccurate Ambitions and Missing Methodologies: Thoughts on Jeff Kochan and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge,' Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 8 (2018): 8-14. -- Part of a book-review symposium on: Jeff Kochan (2017), Science as Social Existence: Heidegger and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (Cambridge UK: Open Book Publishers)
Decolonising Science in Canada: A Work in Progress
This paper briefly highlights a small part of the work being done by Indigenous groups in Canada to integrate science into their ways of knowing and living with nature. Special attention is given to a recent attempt by Mi'kmaw educators in Unama'ki (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) to overcome suspicion of science among their youth by establishing an 'Integrative Science' (Toqwa'tu'kl Kjijitaqnn, or 'bringing our knowledges together') degree programme at Cape Breton University. The goal was to combine Indigenous and scientific knowledges in a way that protects and empowers Mi'kmaw rights and lifeways
Noncommutative Lagrange Mechanics
It is proposed how to impose a general type of ''noncommutativity'' within
classical mechanics from first principles. Formulation is performed in
completely alternative way, i.e. without any resort to fuzzy and/or star
product philosophy, which are extensively applied within noncommutative quantum
theories. Newton-Lagrange noncommutative equations of motion are formulated and
their properties are analyzed from the pure geometrical point of view. It is
argued that the dynamical quintessence of the system consists in its kinetic
energy (Riemannian metric) specifying Riemann-Levi-Civita connection and thus
the inertia geodesics of the free motion. Throughout the paper,
''noncommutativity'' is considered as an internal geometric structure of the
configuration space, which can not be ''observed'' per se. Manifestation of the
noncommutative phenomena is mediated by the interaction of the system with
noncommutative background under the consideration. The simplest model of the
interaction (minimal coupling) is proposed and it is shown that guiding affine
connection is modified by the quadratic analog of the Lorentz electromagnetic
force (contortion term).Comment: This is a contribution to the Proc. of the 3-rd Microconference
"Analytic and Algebraic Methods III"(June 19, 2007, Prague, Czech Republic),
published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and
Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA
Disassembling the System: A Reply to Paolo Palladino and Adam Riggio
Final instalment of a book-review symposium on: Jeff Kochan (2017), Science as Social Existence: Heidegger and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (Cambridge UK: Open Book Publishers). -- Author's response to: Paolo Palladino (2018), 'Heidegger Today: On Jeff Kochan’s Science and Social Existence,' Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7(8): 41-46; and Adam Riggio (2018), 'The Very Being of a Conceptual Scheme: Disciplinary and Conceptual Critiques,' Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7(11): 53-59
The Future of Employee-Employer Relations
[Excerpt] This paper seeks to initiate a discussion of the challenges facing the future of employee-employer relations in the United States. I take a very broad perspective to the task, one that reflects the expanded domain of issues, activities, and parties that must be considered if employee relations are to contribute to the twin challenges facing the American economy and workforce: The need to improve long term economic competitiveness while simultaneously improving our standards of living
Sovereignty and the American Courts at the Cocktail Party of International Law: The Dangers of Domestic Judicial Invocations of Foreign and International Law
Part I of this Article presents the background regarding the invocation of foreign and international law in federal courts. It discusses their use as precedential and supportive sources of authority and as the bases for legal liability. Part II discusses the fundamental infirmities and dangers related to the invocation of international and foreign law in U.S. jurisprudence. Further, this Part discusses the implications of such behavior on sovereignty, the rule of law, democratic values, constitutional adherence, foreign policy, and development. In conclusion, this Article finds that adherence or even reference to foreign and international authorities should be avoided if the foundational principles of the Republic are to be respected
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