Putting Science in Its Place

David N. Livingstone

234 pages, parution le 12/12/2003

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Résumé

We are accustomed to thinking of science and its findings as universal. After all, one atom of carbon plus two of oxygen yields carbon dioxide in Amazonia as well as in Alaska; a scientist in Bombay can use the same materials and techniques to challenge the work of a scientist in New York; and of course the laws of gravity apply worldwide. Why, then, should the spaces in which science is done matter at all? David Livingstone here puts that question to the test with his fascinating study of how science bears the mark of its place of production.

Putting Science in Its Place establishes the fundamental importance of geography in both the generation and the consumption of scientific knowledge, and it does so with historical examples of the many places where science has been practiced. Livingstone first turns his attention to some of the specific sites where science has been made--the laboratory, museum, and botanical garden, to name some of the more conventional locales, but also places like the coffeehouse and cathedral, ship's deck and asylum, even the human body itself. In each case, Livingstone reveals just how the space of inquiry has conditioned the investigations carried out there. He then describes how, on a regional scale, provincial cultures have shaped scientific endeavor and how, in turn, scientific practices have been instrumental in forming local identities. Widening his inquiry, Livingstone points gently to the fundamental instability of scientific meaning, based on case studies of how scientific theories have been received in different locales. Putting Science in Its Place powerfully concludes by examining the remarkable mobility of science and the seemingly effortless way it moves around the globe.

From the reception of Darwin in the land of the Maoris to the giraffe that walked from Marseilles to Paris, Livingstone shows that place does matter, even in the world of science.

A Geography of Science?
Site : Venus of Science
Region : Cultures of Science
Circulation : Movements of Science
Putting Science in its place

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	The University of Chicago Press
Auteur(s)	David N. Livingstone
Parution	12/12/2003
Nb. de pages	234
Format	14 x 21
Couverture	Relié
Poids	365g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780226487229
ISBN13	978-0-226-48722-9