Social Theory and the Reconstruction of Science and Geography

Abstract

Whereas discussions in human geography about the social construction of scientific knowledge have focused on theoretical discussions of representation, sociologists of scientific knowledge have made close empirical studies of the practices by which scientific representations are actually produced. Their social constructivism is much more convincing but it too has become mired in epistemological discussions of representation per se. Such debates depend upon the great modern divide between nature and society. By turning away from these dualisms, it might be possible to think through the anxieties about science, knowledge and nature raised by social constructivism. Attention to those scientific practices producing particular scientific representations of the world promises a much more effective critique of science than postmodern critiques of representation, so easily dismissed as simply 'anti-science'.