Publisher's Synopsis
Steve Fuller argues that the methods used in the emerging discipline of science and technology studies (STS) are potential tools for breaking down communication barriers that exist between disciplines within the academy, and between the academy and society. He contends that STS scholars have empirically established the "constructed" character of academic knowledge, and he calls for all scholars to acknowledge the rhetorical component of knowledge production. In this context, knowledge becomes a political entity that governs people and their effects, rather than a thing or a property. Fuller advocates and demonstrates the infusion of moral and political consideration into questions that had previously been confined to epistemology and the philosophy of science.;Fuller calls this position "social epistemology", and here he offers a positive agenda of research, teaching and political action to deal with the complex problems of academic knowledge today. His four case studies reveal the social epistemologist engaged in delicate interdisciplinary negotiations between philosophy and psychology, sociology and cognitive science, political science and economics, and humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of science itself. He shows that these negotiations have major implications, not only for the structure and function of the university, but also for the conduct of academics in science policy forums. In addition, Fuller challenges those sceptical of his programme, including cultural relativists in general, and Stanley Fish in particular. Finally, he includes descriptions of both a course of study and a projected utopia, to invite readers to participate in "the end of knowledge".
