Selection, system and historiography

Peter Machamer

pp. 149-160

in: Kostas Gavroglu, Jean Christianidis, Efthymios Nicolaidis (eds), Trends in the historiography of science, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

This paper is contentious, assertive and programmatic. It attempts to assay certain characteristics of a chronological history of science as practiced. It presents a model based on evolutionary theory that shows how to do that job better. After a brief excursion into the ontological assumptions of history writing, it goes on to sketch a different, systemic model. This systemic model is compatible with the traditional model, but will allow science better to be seen in its complex relation to other human and social aspects. As a leitmotif it is argued that intentionality and the mental or their teleological analogues, as an essential part of selectivity, are an ineliminable part of the history of science, however done.