Science and Subjectivity

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»It is a pleasure for me to introduce this new edition of Science and Subjectivity. Although almost a decade and a half have elapsed since the book first appeared, I believe that the situation it addressed is still urgent, and that the treatment it presented remains appropriate. Were I writing the book today, I should alter some details and elaborate various passages; I should certainly, however, retain its fundamental characterization of the problems and uphold its major criticisms and lines of argument. The main purpose of the book is the reinterpretation and defense of the ideal of objectivity in the light of recent criticisms that have brought it under severe attack. Since without objectivity as a guiding ideal there can be no science or, indeed, any rational deliberation whatever, the task undertaken by the book is pressing and far-reaching in its ramifications. Whether my philosophical effort has been successful or not is for others to judge. I hope, above all, to have brought home the seriousness of the issue; let those unpersuaded by my response join in the inquiry and do better. [...] By far the widest notice received by Science and Subjectivity has been directed to Chapter 4, largely devoted to a discussion of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Since I have replied to certain criticisms of that chapter, summarizing and also supplementing its basic arguments in my 1972 paper “Vision and Revolution: A Postscript on Kuhn,” I am very pleased that the present edition makes that paper available as Appendix A below.« (from the preface) Cover Half Title Imprint Contents Foreword to the Second Edition Preface Objectivity Under Attack Observation and Objectivity Meaning and Objectivity Change and Objectivity Epistemology of Objectivity Appendix A Appendix B Index