About Method : Experimenters, Snake Venom, and the History of Writing Scientifically / Jutta Schickore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schickore, Jutta, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Methodology.

Science.

Science--Experiments.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Scientists' views on what makes an experiment successful have developed dramatically throughout history. Different criteria for proper experimentation were privileged at different times, entirely new criteria for securing experimental results emerged, and the meaning of commitment to experimentation altered. In About Method, Schickore captures this complex trajectory of change from 1660 to the twentieth century through the history of snake venom research. As experiments with poisonous snakes and venom were both challenging and controversial, the experimenters produced very detailed accounts of their investigations, which go back three hundred years-making venom research uniquely suited for such a long-term study. By analyzing key episodes in the transformation of venom research, Schickore is able to draw out the factors that have shaped methods discourse in science. About Method shows that methodological advancement throughout history has not been simply a steady progression toward better, more sophisticated and improved methodologies of experimentation. Rather, it was a progression in awareness of the obstacles and limitations that scientists face in developing strategies to probe the myriad unknown complexities of nature. The first long-term history of this development and of snake venom research, About Method offers a major contribution to integrated history and philosophy of science.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction. "A matter so obscure, so difficult, and likewise so new . . ."

Chapter One. Argument, Narrative, and Methods Discourse

Chapter Two. Many, Many Experiments

Chapter Three. Trying Again

Chapter Four. Newtonian Poison

Chapter Five. Experiment as the Only Guide

Chapter Six. Thousands of Experiments

Chapter Seven. Practical Criticisms

Chapter Eight. Controlling Experiment

Chapter Nine. Unobservables

Chapter Ten. Fragmentation and Modularity

Conclusion. About Methods

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2017.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

9780226759890

022675989X

OCLC:

988326332