The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the history of science. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as historians or philosophers, there are degree-granting departments of HPS at several prominent universities (see below). The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy which studies the philosophical foundations, assumptions, and implications of science, including the natural sciences such as physics and biology, and the social sciences, such as psychology and economics. ... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ...

While it may seem an umbrella term, people in the field of HPS consider this fusion of history of science with philosophy of science to be perfectly natural, as epitomised by Norwood Russell Hanson, "history of science without philosophy of science is blind, and that philosophy of science without history of science is empty" (recasting Kant's famous quotation "Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind."). Norwood Russel Hanson (1922 – 1967) was a philosopher who created the book Patterns of Discovery (1958) who successfully argued that what we see and perceive is not what our senses receive, but instead filtered sensory information, where the filter is our existing preconceptions. ... Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804) was a Prussian philosopher, generally regarded as one of Europes most influential thinkers and the last major philosopher of the Enlightenment. ...

The origin of this hybrid approach can be seen in the career of Thomas Kuhn. His first permanant appointment, at the University of California, Berkeley, was to a position advertised by the philosophy department but he also taught courses from the history department. When he was promoted to full professor in the history department only, Kuhn was offended at the philosophers' rejection because "I sure as hell wanted to be there, and it was my philosophy students who were working with me, not on philosophy but on history, were nevertheless my more important students"¹. This attitude is also reflected in his historicist approach, as outlined in Kuhn's seminal Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962, 2nd ed. 1970), wherein philosophical questions about scientific theories and, especially, theory change are understood in historical terms, employing concepts such as paradigm shift. Thomas Samuel Kuhn (July 18, 1922 – June 17, 1996) was an American intellectual who wrote extensively on the history of science and developed several important notions in the philosophy of science. ... University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal, University of California, UC Berkeley, UCB, or simply Berkeley) is a public coeducational university situated in the foothills of Berkeley, California, USA to the east of San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate. ... The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas Kuhn, 1962) is an analysis of the history of science. ... A paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his famous 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ...

More recently the sociology of science and technology studies have become popular topics and a few HPS departments have become Science Studies departments, e.g., the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of New South Wales was known as the School of Science and Technology Studies (STS) from the mid-1980s until 2001. For this reason it can be argued that the fields are identical and that the difference is only one of emphasis. While it may seem that STS is a broader concept, leaving room for other approaches to science such as sociology of science, HPS departments are not usually as exclusive as a literal interpretation of the name might imply. In academics, science studies (sometimes seen as science and technology studies) is an umbrella term for a number of approaches devoted to studying science, and as a discipline its participants often come from a wide variety of disciplines, usually history of science, sociology of science, philosophy of science, sociology of... In academics, science studies (sometimes seen as science and technology studies) is an umbrella term for a number of approaches devoted to studying science, and as a discipline its participants often come from a wide variety of disciplines, usually history of science, sociology of science, philosophy of science, sociology of... University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ...

Note 1: "A Discussion with Thomas S. Kuhn" in The Road Since Structure, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, p. 302.

Universities with History and Philosophy of Science Programs

The following universities have departments dedicated to the History and Philosophy of Science:

• Cambridge University [1]
• Indiana University, Bloomington [2]
• University of Melbourne [3]
• University of New South Wales [4]
• University of Pittsburgh [5]
• University of Sydney [6]
• University of Toronto [7]

University of Leeds has a unit for HPS within the philosophy department [8] REDIRECT [1] ... Indiana University Bloomington is the principal campus of the Indiana University system. ... The University of Melbourne   The University of Melbourne, located in Melbourne, in Victoria, is the second oldest university in Australia (the University of Sydney is the oldest). ... University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales is a university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related, doctoral/research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... The University of Sydney, established in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia, and it is located in Sydney, the capital city of the state of New South Wales. ... Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto (U of T), in Toronto, Ontario, is the largest university in Canada and one of the most important scholarly publishers in North America. ... University Tower, University of Leeds The University of Leeds (United Kingdom) is amongst the largest of British universities and the most popular by applicants, with 52,444 applicants in 2003 for 7,228 places (UCAS). ...

These universities offer inter-departmental programs in HPS:

• University of California, Berkeley offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy [9]
• University of Notre Dame offers a graduate program in HPS through their Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values with students admitted to either the history or philosophy department [10]
• Stanford University offers a program in HPS administered by the departments of History and Philosophy [11]

Many universities also have history of science programs, which do not include any philosophy of science. Others may provide a philosophy of science track within normal philosophy departments. Often these departments are named to clarify this emphasis on philosophy of science e.g. University of California, Irvine, which has a department of Logic and Philosophy of Science [12], and London School of Economics, which has a department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method [13]. University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (also known as Cal, University of California, UC Berkeley, UCB, or simply Berkeley) is a public coeducational university situated in the foothills of Berkeley, California, USA to the east of San Francisco Bay, overlooking the Golden Gate. ... Not to be confused with the University of Notre Dame Australia University of Notre Dame du Lac The University of Notre Dame is a Roman Catholic institution of higher learning located adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, USA. Notre Dames picturesque campus sits on 1,250 acres (5 km²) containing... For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). ... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ... University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine is a public, coeducational university situated in suburban Irvine, California. ... The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or the LSE, is a specialist university based in London, often regarded as the worlds most prestigious social science institution. ...

See also

Related topics

• Science studies
• History of science and technology
• Philosophy of science
• Scientific method
• Scientific revolutions

In academics, science studies (sometimes seen as science and technology studies) is an umbrella term for a number of approaches devoted to studying science, and as a discipline its participants often come from a wide variety of disciplines, usually history of science, sociology of science, philosophy of science, sociology of... The history of science and technology (HST) is a field of history which examines how humanitys understanding of science and technology has changed over the millennia. ... The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy which studies the philosophical foundations, assumptions, and implications of science, including the natural sciences such as physics and biology, and the social sciences, such as psychology and economics. ... The characterization phase can require extended and extensive study, even centuries. ... A paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his famous 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. ...

Related people

• Thomas Kuhn
• Karl Popper
• Imre Lakatos
• Paul Feyerabend