Presentism and the Historian of Science: Reflections from the Coalface
To be a card-carrying historian of science is to be resolute in one’s determination to avoid present-projecting anachronism in dealing with the scientific past. Even so, an emerging historiographic consensus suggests that, whether we like it or not, some engagement with the scientific present is not merely inescapable but, in certain forms, intellectually and morally wholesome. In my recent book Disputed Inheritance: The Battle over Mendel and the Future of Biology (Chicago, 2023), I have sought to replace the familiar “winner’s history” narrative of the rise of Mendelism in the early twentieth century with a vigorously de-anachronized account. But the scientific present nevertheless pokes through that account at several points and in a number of ways. With help from the taxonomy of presentism proposed by the French historian-philosopher of science Laurent Loison, I’ll offer a practitioner’s reflections on some legitimate roles for present science in the enterprise of describing, explaining, and understanding past science.
Date:
4 March 2024, 16:00 (Monday, 8th week, Hilary 2024)
Venue:
Maison Francaise d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford OX2 6SE
Speaker:
Professor Gregory Radick (University of Leeds)
Organising department:
Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Part of:
Centre for the History of Science Medicine and Technology (OCHSMT) Seminars and Events
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Belinda Clark
