How Knowledge Grows: The Evolutionary Development of Scientific Practice

by Chris Haufe

Overview

An argument that the development of scientific practice and growth of scientific knowledge are governed by Darwin’s evolutionary model of descent with modification.

Although scientific investigation is influenced by our cognitive and moral failings as well as all of the factors impinging on human life, the historical development of scientific knowledge has trended toward an increasingly accurate picture of an increasing number of phenomena. Taking a fresh look at Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, in How Knowledge Grows Chris Haufe uses evolutionary theory to explain both why scientific practice develops the way it does and how scientific knowledge expands. This evolutionary model, claims Haufe, helps to explain what is epistemically special about scientific knowledge: its tendency to grow in both depth and breadth.

Kuhn showed how intellectual communities achieve consensus in part by discriminating against ideas that differ from their own and isolating themselves intellectually from other fields of inquiry and broader social concerns. These same characteristics, says Haufe, determine a biological population’s degree of susceptibility to modification by natural selection. He argues that scientific knowledge grows, even across generations of variable groups of scientists, precisely because its development is governed by Darwinian evolution. Indeed, he supports the claim that this susceptibility to modification through natural selection helps to explain the epistemic power of certain branches of modern science. In updating and expanding the evolutionary approach to scientific knowledge, Haufe provides a model for thinking about science that acknowledges the historical contingency of scientific thought while showing why we nevertheless should trust the results of scientific research when it is the product of certain kinds of scientific communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262544450
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Chris Haufe is Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Professor of the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

I The Evolution of Scientific Knowledge 7

1 Again with the Science and the Evolution? 11

2 The Persistence of Practice 45

3 Isolation of the Evolving Population 71

4 Directionality and the Refinement of Scientific Practice 105

5 Branching and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge 141

6 The Recovery of Scientific Knowledge 177

II The Emergence of a Discipline 207

7 The Philosophical Foundations of Disciplinary Autonomy 213

8 Attempted Paleontology 227

9 Wonderful Death 271

Notes 309

References 315

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Science seems to grow in power and breadth over generations, yet it is conducted by fallible individuals whose judgment is often coerced by irrelevant social factors. How is this possible?  Christopher Haufe argues that the apparent opposing forces are resolved through a Darwinian approach to the conundrum.  His argument is  philosophically acute and entirely persuasive, especially in regard to scientific practice.” —Robert J. Richards, Morris Fischbein Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Science, The University of Chicago

“This book advances two Kuhnian ideas, that science is essentially a product of communities, and that scientific development has deep analogies to Darwinian evolution. A case study on the development of evolutionary paleontology nicely illustrates this.” —Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Professor Emeritus at Leibniz University of Hannover

Editorial Reviews

Haufe’s book offers a compelling case for why we should take the analogy between science and Darwinian evolution seriously. He shows that Darwinian selection is at the core of science’s production of knowledge—growing it ever deeper and ever broader with time.”
—Ahmed Al-Juhany, Quarterly Review of Biology

“Overall, [How Knowledge Grows] provides a fascinating, clearly argued, and at times compelling account. There is grandeur in this view of science, and this book might provide a promising starting point for further research into an evolutionary understanding of the scientific process. This should be essential reading for anyone interested in the history or epistemology of science, as well as the philosophy of biology or paleontology.”
—Metascience

 "Well-informed, enjoyable to read, and well-argued. It provides a much-needed update to an important line of thought in 20th century philosophy of science, and will be useful for researchers working on a diverse range of issues: from traditional epistemological questions such as demarcating science from nonscience; to the application of cultural evolutionary theory in the philosophy of science in practice; to the history of science."
—Evolution

From the Publisher