Unity of science

The unity of science is a thesis in philosophy of science that says that all the sciences form a unified whole. The variants of the thesis can be classified as ontological (giving a unified account of the structure of reality) and/or as epistemic/pragmatic (giving a unified account of how the activities and products of science work).{{sfn|Tahko|2021|p=4}} There are also philosophers who emphasize the disunity of science, which does not necessarily imply that there could be no unity in some sense but does emphasize pluralism in the ontology and/or practice of science.{{sfn|Tahko|2021|p=4}}

Early versions of the unity of science thesis can be found in ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle,{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Wilson|2000}} and in the later history of Western philosophy.{{sfn|Cat|2017}} For example, in the first half of the 20th century the thesis was associated with the unity of science movement led by Otto Neurath,{{sfn|Symons|Pombo|Torres|2011}} and in the second half of the century the thesis was advocated by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in "General System Theory: A New Approach to Unity of Science" (1951){{sfn|Symons|Pombo|Torres|2011}}{{sfn|Bertalanffy|1951}} and by Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam in "Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" (1958).{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Oppenheim|Putnam|1958}} It has been opposed by, for example, Jerry Fodor in "Special Sciences (Or: The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis)" (1974),{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Fodor|1974}} by Paul Feyerabend in Against Method (1975) and later works,{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{harvnb|Feyerabend|1993}}; {{harvnb|Feyerabend|2011}}. by John Dupré in "The Disunity of Science" (1983) and The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science (1993),{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{harvnb|Dupré|1983}}; {{harvnb|Dupré|1993}}. by Nancy Cartwright in The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science (1999) and other works,{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Cartwright|1999}} and by Evelyn Fox Keller in Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines (2002) and other works.{{harvnb|Ludwig|Ruphy|2021}}; {{harvnb|Keller|2002}}.

Jean Piaget suggested, in his 1918 book Recherche{{sfn|Piaget|1918}} and later works, that the unity of science can be considered in terms of a circle of the sciences, where logic is the foundation for mathematics, which is the foundation for mechanics and physics, and physics is the foundation for chemistry, which is the foundation for biology, which is the foundation for sociology, the moral sciences, psychology, and the theory of knowledge, and the theory of knowledge forms a basis for logic, completing the circle,{{sfn|Braun|Baribeau|1984}} without implying that any science could be reduced to any other.{{sfn|Kitchener|1981}} More recently, many complex systems are considered to be transdisciplinary objects of study.{{sfn|Cat|2017}}{{sfn|Bunge|2003|pp=4, 250}} Such systems can be modeled as having emergent properties at different levels of organization, which do not neatly correspond to separate disciplines such as physics or biology,{{sfn|Cat|2017}} and which cannot be adequately modeled using a philosophy of extreme reductionism ("everything comes from the bottom", which does not fully account for emergent properties) or extreme holism ("everything comes from the top", which does not fully account for systems' components and interactions).{{sfn|Bunge|2003|p=40}}{{sfn|O'Connor|2020}}

Notes

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{{harvnb|Nicolescu|2002|p=1}}: "The term {{em|transdisciplinary}} first appeared three decades ago in the works of such varied scholars as Jean Piaget, Edgar Morin, and Erich Jantsch."

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References

{{cite journal |last=Bertalanffy |first=Ludwig von |author-link=Ludwig von Bertalanffy |date=December 1951 |title=General system theory: a new approach to unity of science: 1. Problems of general system theory |journal=Human Biology |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=302–312 |jstor=41448003 |pmid=14907026}} Bertallanfy's article was part of a section that also included, in response, Carl G. Hempel's "General system theory and the unity of science" (pp. 313–322), Robert E. Bass's "Unity of nature" (pp. 323–327), and Hans Jonas's "Comment on general system theory" (pp. 328–335).
{{cite book |editor1-last=Boyd |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-link=Richard Boyd |editor2-last=Gasper |editor2-first=Philip |editor3-last=Trout |editor3-first=J. D. |editor3-link=J. D. Trout |date=1991 |title=The philosophy of science |series=A Bradford book |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0262023156 |oclc=22597466 |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyofscie0000unse_u7z8 |url-access=registration}}
{{cite journal |last1=Braun |first1=Claude M. J. |last2=Baribeau |first2=Jacinthe M. C. |date=Summer 1984 |title=The classification of psychology among the sciences from Francis Bacon to Boniface Kedrov |journal=Journal of Mind and Behavior |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=245–259 (252–254) |jstor=43853037 |url=https://www.academia.edu/27010916}}
{{cite book |last=Bunge |first=Mario |author-link=Mario Bunge |date=2003 |title=Emergence and convergence: qualitative novelty and the unity of knowledge |series=Toronto studies in philosophy |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0802088600 |oclc=52411064 |doi=10.3138/9781442674356 |url=https://archive.org/details/emergenceconverg0000bung |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Cartwright |first=Nancy |author-link=Nancy Cartwright |date=1999 | title=The dappled world: a study of the boundaries of science |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-64336-8 |oclc=40305531 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139167093}}
{{cite SEP |last=Cat |first=Jordi |date=2017 |url-id=scientific-unity |title=The unity of science |edition=Fall 2017}}
{{cite journal |last=Dupré |first=John |author-link=John Dupré |date=July 1983 |title=The disunity of science |journal=Mind |volume=92 |issue=367 |pages=321–346 |jstor=2253810 |doi=10.1093/mind/XCII.367.321|doi-access=free }}
{{cite book |last=Dupré |first=John |date=1993 |title=The disorder of things: metaphysical foundations of the disunity of science |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=0674212606 |oclc=25746325 |url=https://archive.org/details/disorderofthings0000dupr |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Feyerabend |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Feyerabend |date=1993 |orig-year=1974 |title=Against method |edition=3rd |location=London; New York |publisher=Verso |isbn=086091481X |oclc=29026104 |url=https://archive.org/details/againstmethod0000feye |url-access=registration}}
{{cite book |last=Feyerabend |first=Paul |date=2011 |chapter=The disunity of science |title=The tyranny of science |location=Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA |publisher=Polity Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/tyrannyofscience0000feye/page/32 32–63] |isbn=978-0745651897 |oclc=668946683 |url=https://archive.org/details/tyrannyofscience0000feye |url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/tyrannyofscience0000feye/page/32 |chapter-url-access=registration}}
{{cite journal |last=Fodor |first=Jerry A. |author-link=Jerry Fodor |date=October 1974 |title=Special sciences (or: The disunity of science as a working hypothesis) |journal=Synthese |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=97–115 |doi=10.1007/BF00485230 |jstor=20114958 |s2cid=46979938|url=https://philarchive.org/rec/FODSSO-2 }} Reprinted in {{harvnb|Boyd|Gasper|Trout|1991}}.
{{cite book |last=Keller |first=Evelyn Fox |author-link=Evelyn Fox Keller |date=2002 |title=Making sense of life: explaining biological development with models, metaphors, and machines |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00746-8 |oclc=48100379 |jstor=j.ctvjz82ht |url=https://archive.org/details/makingsenseoflif00kell |url-access=registration}}
{{cite journal |last=Kitchener |first=Richard F. |date=September 1981 |title=The nature and scope of genetic epistemology |journal=Philosophy of Science |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=400–415 (413) |jstor=186987 |doi=10.1086/289007 |s2cid=144785292 |quote=Nowhere does Piaget suggest that sociology can be reduced to psychology, but instead refers to 'psycho-sociology'.}}
{{cite SEP |last=Ludwig |first=David |last2=Ruphy |first2=Stéphanie |date=2021 |url-id=scientific-pluralism |title=Scientific pluralism |edition=Fall 2024}}
{{cite book |last=Nicolescu |first=Basarab |author-link=Basarab Nicolescu |date=2002 |title=Manifesto of transdisciplinarity |location=Albany |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=0791452611 |oclc=46872261 |url=https://archive.org/details/manifestooftrans0000nico |url-access=registration}}
{{cite SEP |last=O'Connor |first=Timothy |date=2020 |url-id=properties-emergent |title=Emergent properties |edition=Winter 2021}}
{{cite book |last1=Oppenheim |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Oppenheim |last2=Putnam |first2=Hilary |author-link2=Hilary Putnam |date=1958 |chapter=Unity of science as a working hypothesis |editor-last=Feigl |editor-first=Herbert |editor-link=Herbert Feigl |title=Concepts, theories and the mind–body problem |series=Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science |volume=2 |location=Minneapolis |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |pages=3–36 |hdl=11299/184622 |isbn=9780816601585 |oclc=2669746 |chapter-url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/184622}} Reprinted in {{harvnb|Boyd|Gasper|Trout|1991}}.
{{Cite book |last=Piaget |first=Jean |author-link=Jean Piaget |date=1918 |title=Recherche |location=Lausanne |publisher=Édition La Concorde |page=59 |oclc=2565864 |access-date=9 February 2017 |url=http://www.fondationjeanpiaget.ch/fjp/site/textes/VE/JP_18_Recherche.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629025055/http://www.fondationjeanpiaget.ch/fjp/site/textes/VE/JP_18_Recherche.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-29 |url-status=live |language=fr}}
{{cite book |editor1-last=Symons |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Pombo |editor2-first=Olga |editor3-last=Torres |editor3-first=Juan Manuel |date=2011 |title=Otto Neurath and the unity of science |series=Logic, epistemology, and the unity of science |volume=18 |location=Dordrecht; New York |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=9789400701427 |oclc=723045353 |doi=10.1007/978-94-007-0143-4}}
{{cite book |last=Tahko |first=Tuomas E. |date=2021 |title=Unity of science |series=Cambridge elements in the philosophy of science |location=Cambridge, UK; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108713382 |oclc=1204142197 |doi=10.1017/9781108581417 |doi-access=free}}
{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Malcolm |date=2000 |title=Aristotle's theory of the unity of science |series=Phoenix, supplementary volume |volume=38 |location=Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0802047963 |oclc=43634904 |doi=10.3138/9781442670990}}

External links

{{PhilPapers|category|unity-of-science|Unity of Science}}
[https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.USM Guide to the Unity of Science Movement Records 1934–1968] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]

Category:Science studies

Category:Philosophy of science

Category:Metaphysics of science

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Unity of science

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links