Introduction

Introduction

Carsten Reinhardt

September 1, 2018

Journal Article

Carsten Reinhardt

Journal Article

10.1086/699997

0021-1753

The linkages and interactions of scientific disciplines with industry, politics, and society have long been a staple in the history of science, the history of technology, and science studies. However, it is arguable that the impact of this intertwining on the epistemic and social core of scientific disciplines has not yet been sufficiently explored. Chemistry is an ideal case in point, given that it has emerged as one of the largest scientific disciplines while at the same time becoming one of the world’s most powerful technologies. Specifically, chemistry’s power lies in its ability to gain knowledge of the natural world by transforming it, along with the society in which it is embedded. The four contributions to this Focus section all address chemistry’s border permeability, based on its transformative powers; they focus on the feedback mechanisms that transformed chemistry and thereby altered the very concept of a scientific discipline. So successful has this “nonclassical approach” become that, in the opinion of the contributors to this Focus section, it is now both necessary and advisable to study the history of chemistry’s embeddedness and power in science and technology.

2018-09-27 08:24:08

September 1, 2018

3

Isis

journals.uchicago.edu (Atypon)

559-564

Isis

Introduction

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/699997

109