Continental Philosophy of Science

Continental Philosophy of Science provides an expert guide to the major twentieth-century French and German philosophical thinking on science.

• A comprehensive introduction by the editor provides a unified interpretative survey of continental work on philosophy of science.
• Interpretative essays are complemented by key primary-source selections.
• Includes previously untranslated texts by Bergson, Bachelard, and Canguilhem and new translations of texts by Hegel and Cassirer.
• Contributors include Terry Pinkard, Jean Gayon, Richard Tieszen, Michael Friedman, Joseph Rouse, Mary Tiles, Hans-Jöerg Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Axel Honneth, and Penelope Deutscher.

Notes on Contributors vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: What Is Continental Philosophy of Science 1
Gary Gutting

Hegel 17

1 Speculative Naturphilosophie and the Development of the Empirical Sciences: Hegel’s Perspective 19
Terry Pinkard

2 Naturphilosophie 35
G W F Hegel

Bergson 41

3 Bergson’s spiritualist metaphysics and the sciences 43
Jean Gayon

4 Psycho-physical parallelism and positive metaphysics 59
Henri Bergson

Cassirer 69

5 Ernst Cassirer and the Philosophy of Science 71
Michael Friedman

6 From Substance and Function 84
Ernst Cassirer

Husserl 91

7 Science as a Triumph of the Human Spirit and Science in Crisis: Husserl and the Fortunes of Reason 93
Richard Tieszen

8 From the Introduction to the Logical Investigations and from The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology 113
Edmund Husserl

Heidegger 121

9 Heidegger on Science and Naturalism 123
Joseph Rouse

10 From On “Time and Being” 142
Martin Heidegger

Bachelard 155

11 Technology, Science, and Inexact Knowledge: Bachelard’s Non-Cartesian Epistemology 157
Mary Tiles

12 From Essai sur la connaissance approchée 176
Gaston Bachelard

Canguilhem 185

13 Reassessing the Historical Epistemology of Georges Canguilhem 187
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger

14 The Object of the History of Sciences 198

Georges Canguilhem

Foucault 209

15 Foucault’s Philosophy of Science: Structures of Truth/Structures of Power 211
Linda Martín Alcoff

16 From The History of Sexuality, vol. I: An Introduction 224
Michel Foucault

Deleuze 237

17 Gilles Deleuze, Difference, and Science 239
Todd May

18 From What Is Philosophy 258
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari

Irigarary 263

19 On Asking the Wrong Question "In Science, Is the Subject Sexed?" 265
Penelope Deutscher

20 In Science, Is the Subject Sexed 283
Luce Irigaray

Habermas 293

21 Bisected Rationality: The Frankfurt School’s Critique of Science 295
Axel Honneth

22 Knowledge and Human Interest: A General Perspective 310
Jürgen Habermas

Index 322

“Continental philosophers in Britain and the United States have for the most part ignored the enormous contribution of continental philosophy to the philosophy of science, just as philosophers of science in Britain and the United States have done. Gary Gutting has long been a leading exponent of the importance of this contribution and his superb collection, with its many new translations, should go a long way toward turning the tide.” Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis

“This masterful collection of original texts and expert commentary demonstrates Continental philosophers’ rich and diverse engagement with science, dispelling the notion that significant philosophical thinking about science is the sole prerogative of ‘analytic’ philosophers.” Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University

“This book makes a welcome contribution to the secondary literature on the history and philosophy of modern science. Gary Gutting has assembled an impressive gallery of essays, which collectively advance a powerful, if relatively neglected, interpretation of the development of scientific method and practice. The pairing of influential historical figures with leading contemporary commentators is especially valuable.” Daniel W. Conway, The Pennsylvania State University

Gary Gutting holds the Notre Dame Chair in Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. His recent publications include Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity (1999), and French Philosophy in the Twentieth Century (2001). He is founder and editor of Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, an online book review journal Continental Philosophy of Science provides an expert guide to the major twentieth-century French and German philosophical thinking on science. The book refutes the view that twentieth-century continental thought is anti-scientific, and shows how continental thinkers offer distinctive perspectives that both complement and fruitfully interact with analytic philosophy of science.

Collected here are primary texts by Husserl, Heidegger, Foucault, Deleuze, Irigaray, and Habermas, along with previously untranslated essays by Bergson, Bachelard, and Canguilhem, and new translations of work by Hegel and Cassirer. Each primary text is paired with commentary by leading contemporary scholars, including Terry Pinkard, Jean Gayon, Michael Friedman, Richard Tieszen, Joseph Rouse, Mary Tiles, Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Penelope Deutscher, and Axel Honneth. Gary Gutting’s introduction, moreover, presents a unified interpretative survey of continental work on philosophy of science.

Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Penelope Deutscher, and Axel Honneth.