New Publication- Dr. Matt Waldschlagel
Dr. Matt Waldschlagel was a Summer Archival Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science in Summer 2022. During his time at the Center, he pursued research on Carl Hempel at the University of Pittsburgh’s Archives of Scientific Philosophy.
His Pitt-supported research project culminated in the 2023 publication of a chapter in Springer’s Handbook for the Historiography of Science, edited by Mauro L. Condé and Marlon Salomon.
His title, “Historiography of Science and Philosophy of History: Toward a Rapprochement Between Disciplines that Never Ruptured” can be found as Chapter 28 of the print edition of the Handbook, as well as the 10th entry in the online edition.
To read his publication, click here
Abstract:
It has been observed that the history of science and the philosophy of science have largely gone in very different directions in recent decades. I argue that there is a parallel story to tell about the relationship between historiography, including the historiography of science, and the philosophy of history. This chapter puts historiography, including the historiography of science, in conversation with the philosophy of history. I contend that the lack of dialogue between the philosophy of history and historiography as such (including the historiography of science) parallels – in terms of its effects on each academic discipline – what has been, until more recently, the lack of dialogue between the philosophy of science and the history of science. The chapter charts the ways in which the historiography of science and the philosophy of history – despite what might be expectations to the contrary, rooted in an appreciation of these two fields’ common preoccupation with metalevel reflections on history – developed independently of each other and with surprisingly little interaction over the last 80 years. I begin the chapter by considering observations that philosopher of science Mary Hesse made in 1973 about the relationship between the historiography of science and the philosophy of history. After a brief discussion of historiography, I offer an account of the development of the historiography of science from Kuhn onward; I then provide an account of the development of the philosophy of history, with special attention to the contribution and influence of Carl G. Hempel. After returning to further examine themes in Hesse, I conclude by speculating about how a connection between the two areas may be achieved. I contend that the lessons we can glean by effecting cross-fertilization between the two areas is pregnant with possibility for a reinvigorated historiography of science and a resuscitated philosophy of history, which has languished on the sidelines of philosophy for roughly 60 years.