
Contents
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3 Human Cooperation among Kin and Close Associates May Require Enforcement of Norms by Third Parties
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Introduction Introduction
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Integrating Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science Integrating Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science
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Against Method Against Method
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Managing Methodological Skepticism: Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science Managing Methodological Skepticism: Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science
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The Roots of Science The Roots of Science
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Some Anthropologists’ Views. Some Anthropologists’ Views.
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Some Developmental Psychologists’ Views. Some Developmental Psychologists’ Views.
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The Critical Side of Science The Critical Side of Science
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Scientific Pluralism. Scientific Pluralism.
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Situating Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science. Situating Cognitively Liberal Conceptions of Science.
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Criticism as a Scientific Obligation. Criticism as a Scientific Obligation.
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Liberalism Inspired by Science’s Connections with Technology Liberalism Inspired by Science’s Connections with Technology
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Is Technology Inherently Scientific? Is Technology Inherently Scientific?
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Technological Grounds for Cognitive Liberalism. Technological Grounds for Cognitive Liberalism.
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An Alternative View of the Intimate Relation between Modern Science and Technology. An Alternative View of the Intimate Relation between Modern Science and Technology.
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Science as Cultural Achievement Science as Cultural Achievement
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Teasing Science and Technology Apart Teasing Science and Technology Apart
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History Matters History Matters
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Ancient History. Ancient History.
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Prehistory. Prehistory.
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Natural History. Natural History.
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Science as an Abstract Technology Science as an Abstract Technology
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Seeking Understanding. Seeking Understanding.
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Impracticality. Impracticality.
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Clarification: Cognitively Unnatural Technologies of Modern Science Clarification: Cognitively Unnatural Technologies of Modern Science
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Cognitive Reflections Cognitive Reflections
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Deductive and Probabilistic Inference Deductive and Probabilistic Inference
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Wason. Wason.
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Tversky and Kahneman. Tversky and Kahneman.
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Other Cognitive and Psychological Obstacles Other Cognitive and Psychological Obstacles
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Intrusive Intuitions often Swamp Science’s Radically Counterintuitive Representations. Intrusive Intuitions often Swamp Science’s Radically Counterintuitive Representations.
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Confirmation Bias. Confirmation Bias.
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Motivated Perception. Motivated Perception.
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Cultural and Historical Reflections Cultural and Historical Reflections
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How Have Humans Managed to Do Science? How Have Humans Managed to Do Science?
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Literacy. Literacy.
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Education. Education.
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How Has Science Achieved Its Celebrated Epistemic Status? How Has Science Achieved Its Celebrated Epistemic Status?
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Peer Review. Peer Review.
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Replication. Replication.
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How Has Science Progressed? How Has Science Progressed?
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Universities. Universities.
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Scientific Societies and Disciplines. Scientific Societies and Disciplines.
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Science’s Fragility Science’s Fragility
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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments
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10 Scientific Method as Cultural Innovation
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Published:November 2013
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Abstract
Consideration of scientific method as a cultural innovation requires examining the philosophy and sociology of science, anthropology, developmental, cognitive, and social psychology as well as the histories of science and technology. Anarchistic philosophical proposals about science set the stage for subsequent endorsements of quite liberal conceptions of science and scientific thinking that root these pursuits in basic features of human—even animal—cognition or in the intimate connection between science and technology. That every methodological prescription has its limits or that science is not uniform does not entail methodological anarchism. Like any other radial category, science includes more and less central instances and practices. Justifications for such liberality regarding science that are grounded in the acquisition of empirical knowledge by infants and other species downplay the sciences’ systematic approach to criticizing hypotheses and scientists’ mastery of a vast collection of intellectual tools, facts, and theories. Justifications that look to the close ties between science and technology neglect reasons for distinguishing them. Intimate ties are not inextricable ties. Research on scientific cognition suggests that, in some respects, human minds are not well suited to do science and that measures progressively sustaining science’s systematic program of criticism and its ever more counterintuitive representations both depend on cultural achievements and are themselves cultural achievements involving what have proven to be comparatively extraordinary social conditions. This richer, epistemologically unsurpassed form of science is both rare and fragile, having arisen no more than a few times in human history. Published in the Strungmann Forum Reports Series.
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