Thing Knowledge
：A Philosophy of Scientific Instruments
Publication subTitle ：A Philosophy of Scientific Instruments
Author： Baird > Davis
Publisher： University Of California Press
Publication year： 2004
E-ISBN: 9780520928206
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780520232495
Subject： N33 the experiment method and experiment device
Keyword： 政治理论
Language： ENG
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.
Description
Western philosophers have traditionally concentrated on theory as the means for expressing knowledge about a variety of phenomena. This absorbing book challenges this fundamental notion by showing how objects themselves, specifically scientific instruments, can express knowledge. As he considers numerous intriguing examples, Davis Baird gives us the tools to "read" the material products of science and technology and to understand their place in culture. Making a provocative and original challenge to our conception of knowledge itself, Thing Knowledge demands that we take a new look at theories of science and technology, knowledge, progress, and change. Baird considers a wide range of instruments, including Faraday's first electric motor, eighteenth-century mechanical models of the solar system, the cyclotron, various instruments developed by analytical chemists between 1930 and 1960, spectrometers, and more.
Chapter