midterm

Question 1

logical positivism

Answer 1

a form of positivism that considers that the only meaningful philosophical problems are those that can be solved through logical analysis

Question 2

falsification

Answer 2

inherent testability of any scientific process

Question 3

essentialist

Answer 3

idea that certain traditional concepts ideals and skills are essential to society and should be taugh to all studnets

Question 4

antiessentialist

Answer 4

the non belief in the essence of any given thing idea or metaphysical entitiy

Question 5

duhem quine thesis

Answer 5

it is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation

Question 6

realism

Answer 6

the attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly

Question 7

underdetermination

Answer 7

thesis explaining that for any scientifically based theory there will always be at least one rival theory that is also supported by the evidence given

Question 8

monotechnic

Answer 8

of or offering instruction in a single scientifictchnique

Question 9

degrasse tysons beliefs

Answer 9

we should draw lines between what is and isnt science

theories should make predictions that are testable and if the prediction fails the theory fails

Question 10

karl popper beliefs

Answer 10

falsification

Question 11

sismodo beliefs

Answer 11

anti essentialist

Question 12

mumford beliefs

Answer 12

polytechnics and monotechnics

Question 13

realism

Answer 13

the understanding of science and technology

Question 14

positivism

Answer 14

focuses on the scientific method to distinguish what is true and what is not

Question 15

what is science?

Answer 15

study of how things interact
study of the natural world
an approach to answer a question

Question 16

what goes wrong in science

Answer 16

observation limitations
priority limitations
hypothesis limitations
experimental limitiations
data bias
conclusion bias

Question 17

whig histroy

Answer 17

the history of science before kuhn

the assumption that there is a direct route from the material world to beliefs around it

Question 18

foundationalism

Answer 18

the thesis that knowledge can be traced back to firm foundations

Question 19

normal science

Answer 19

science done when the memebers of a field share a recognition of key past achievements in their field, beliefs about which theories are right, an understanding of the important problems in the field, and methods for solving those prolems

Question 20

paradigm

Answer 20

a scientific achievement that serves as an example for others to follow

Question 21

theory dependence of observation

Answer 21

people working with a paradigm see things differently because the paradigm shapes their understanding of their observation

Question 22

incommensurability

Answer 22

lacking a common measure

Question 23

trading zone

Answer 23

an area in whch scientific and or technical practices can fruitfully interact via these simplified languages or pidgins without requiring full assimilation

Question 24

pidgins

Answer 24

the simplified languages used to faciliate trading zones

Question 25

boundary objects

Answer 25

objects that can transcend social worlds and still maintain a strict meaning in each

Question 26

black box

Answer 26

facts that are taken for granted. These do not need to be explored; they are automatically assumed

Question 27

experimenters regress

Answer 27

shows how there can be tractable controversies over experiments

Question 28

what is thomas kuhn's book

Answer 28

the structure of scientific revolutions

Question 29

functionalism

Answer 29

the structure of society that consists of separate groups, each of which performs an important role in society as a whole

Question 30

four norms of science

Answer 30

universalism disinterestedness communism organized skepticism

Question 31

universalism

Answer 31

claims dont depend on the identity of the person making them

Question 32

disinterestedness

Answer 32

scientests are disengaged fromresults

Question 33

communism

Answer 33

knowledge belongs to everyone

Question 34

organized skepticism

Answer 34

new claims are challanged | no automatic acceptance

Question 35

counter-norms for universalism

Answer 35

claims are judged by the people making them

Question 36

counter norm for disinterestedness

Answer 36

if you were truly objective then you wouldnt care about esults

Question 37

counter norm for communism

Answer 37

but science lives in competition

Question 38

counter norm for organized skepticism

Answer 38

you want to use the results from others for your own work

Question 39

empiricist

Answer 39

defending your work

Question 40

contingent

Answer 40

criticizing others

Question 41

cumulative advantage

Answer 41

people who get stuff get more stuff

Question 42

standpoint theory

Answer 42

a theory of the privelege that particular perspectives can generate

Question 43

difference feminism

Answer 43

masculine and feminine perspectives and styles of knowing can be mapped onto those of men and women

Question 44

the strong programme

Answer 44

beliefs treated as objects

Question 45

casual

Answer 45

conditions that bring about beliefs

Question 46

impatial

Answer 46

end of debate is not a consideration

Question 47

symmetrical

Answer 47

can explain true and false beliefs

Question 48

reflexive

Answer 48

applies to sociology too

Question 49

finitism

Answer 49

rules are extended to new cases where extension is a process

Question 50

interest explanations

Answer 50

rational choice making

Question 51

social capital

Answer 51

based on beliefs.. hierchy based on network

Question 52

cultural capital

Answer 52

based on position..

Question 53

social construction

Answer 53

construction of facts and knowledge

Question 54

realism

Answer 54

claim that many or most truths are dependent on the natural world

Question 55

empiricist argument against truth

Answer 55

given two theories with the same prediction, there can be no empirical evidence to tell the difference between the two

Question 56

attributional model of discoveries

Answer 56

discoveries are not events but rather events retrospectively recognized as origins

Question 57

heterogenous engineering

Answer 57

simultaneously build artifacts and build environments in which those artifacts can function- and typically neither of these activities can be done on their own (electricity)

Question 58

nominalism

Answer 58

believe that kinds are human impositions, even if people find it easy to classify objects similarly

Question 59

actor network theory

Answer 59

objects are a part of social networks

Question 60

technoscience

Answer 60

science and technology involve importantly similar processes

Question 61

actant

Answer 61

things made to act

Question 62

engine science

Answer 62

highlights the centrality of engineering practices to scientific advancement

Question 63

inscription devices

Answer 63

transforms matter into text, graphs, pictures

Question 64

immutable mobiles

Answer 64

texts graphs pictures

Question 65

centers of calculation

Answer 65

summary of texts graphs and pictures

Question 66

relational materiality

Answer 66

objects are defined by their places in a network

Question 67

ant central ideas

Answer 67

concrete actors everything is connected human and nonhumans are equal

Question 68

technology determinism

Answer 68

the idea that tech controls history; eras are named after the tech that caused them

Question 69

interpretive flexibility

Answer 69

no tech or object has one use

Question 70

ideologies of tech

Answer 70

does tech deskill workers

Question 71

tacit knowledge

Answer 71

difficult to transfer to another person verbally

Question 72

linear model of science

Answer 72

innovation can be traced from basic research to applied research to development and finally, to production of technology

Question 73

sociotech ensembles

Answer 73

theory that attempts to outline the thorough intertwining of the social and technological

Question 74

technological frame

Answer 74

the set of practices and the material and social infrastructure built up around an artifact or a collection of similar artifacts

Question 75

formal objectivity

Answer 75

standardized knowledge