Abstract

These comments generally applaud Kourany's project: if, as a growing number accept, one vital perspective on science is as a social practice, then it must surely be a central task of philosophy of science to evaluate this practice and consider how it should be carried out for the greatest social good. Kourany's book considers this task and offers interesting ideas about what this implies for science and for philosophy of science, while also relating this to the more familiar epistemological perspective on science. Some points where further work is needed are suggested, including the nature of value-ladenness in the epistemic content of science, the specific role of feminism in relation to a range of other critical standpoints on science, the appropriate treatment of values strongly opposed to those that Kourany advocates, and the diversity of roles that philosophy of science might expect to play in addressing the social nature of science.

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