Featuring Torah Kachur

Dr. Torah Kachur is a passionate science communicator, as a science columnist for CBC Radio and co-creator of scienceinseconds.com, and a lecturer at the University of Alberta and MacEwan University. In this interview, Dr. Kachur told Eureka about her background in science and beyond, motivations as a scientist, and her perspective on the role of communication in science.

Cultural-Historical Epistemology and Perspectives of the Philosophy of Science

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the methodological effectiveness of one of the directions in developing the philosophy of science – cultural and historical epistemology. Cultural-historical epistemology does not pretend at all to be any radical epistemological originality but offers a general view of science as a part of intellectual culture, where both individual historical cases and broad sociological generalizations find their methodologically significant place. The authors believe that it is the development of methodological norms capable of determining the fundamental parameters and strategies of scientific research that is now the central task of the philosophy of science. One of the characteristic forms of organization of modern advanced science is interdisciplinary research programs that involve the joint activities of large research teams. This fact raises a critical question about the mutual understanding of specialists from different disciplines and, accordingly, about the development of methodological norms that can determine the generally accepted parameters of the reproducibility of cognition results. Thus, in the center of attention of the philosophy of science, epistemological plots are put forward, one way or another connected with a specific understanding of the phenomenon of communication in science. Moreover, according to the authors, in these philosophical and methodological searches, it is essential to overcome, on the one hand, the inclination to conceptual design that leads away from the real methodological needs of science and, on the other hand, straightforward sociologization and equally direct historicization of science. These approaches are fraught with relativization of the very idea of scientific knowledge as a rational phenomenon of culture. The authors of the article believe that in modern conceptual trends in the philosophy of science, it is necessary to accentuate quite traditional epistemological principles, which in their updated edition make it possible to activate, or, as it were, to revive the methodological functions of the philosophy of science that are partially lost today. Justifying this approach, the authors turn to the epistemological trend, which for two decades has been developed based on the traditions of Russian philosophy of the first half of the 20th century.

Some Final Thoughts

This short final chapter draws together key conclusions from the preceding chapters to finish the book with some short conclusions. We reflect on the personal characteristics typical of a scientist and the way in which they are trained to know that their work is not complete until it has been passed on and made an impact, and how those who follow a career in science know that this is a key way in which their careers will be judged. The benefits of a career in science are considered, but placed alongside the responsibilities and expectations in terms of integrity and trust. Finally, the central role of communication in science, the theme for the book as a whole, is emphasized once again.