Knowledge and Social Imagery

by David Bloor

Book Overview

The first edition of this book profoundly challenged and divided students of philosophy, sociology, and the history of science when it was published in 1976. In this second edition, Bloor responds in a substantial new Afterword to the heated debates engendered by his book.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0710083777
• ISBN13: 9780710083777
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul Books
• Length: 156 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Yet, The Book Has Become A Classic In Modern Science Studies

"Bloor's book came out as a broadside that announced a new approach to the history and philosophy science, an approach that became known as the 'strong programme'.... Now, any book published in history and philosophy of science must take Bloor and the strong programme into account." --- Robert J. Richard, University of Chicago "David Bloor's Knowledge and Social Imagery is, paradoxically, one of the most influential and the mose shamefully neglected book in the science studies/sociology of scientific knowledge fields. Everyone in these and related areas refers to the 'strong programme' in the sociology of knowledge; few represent the program's central contentions accurately; and it's likely that fewer still have actually read the book in which that program was first articulated. YET, THE BOOK HAS BECOME A CLASSIC IN MODERN SCIENCE STUDIES --- indeed, perhaps the first classic text." --- Steven Shapin, University of California, San Diego [from the back cover of the book] "The second edition of 'Knowledge and Social Imagery' has two parts: the text of the first edition plus a new and substantial Afterword in which reply to critics. I have resisted the temptation to alter the original presentation of the case for the sociology of knowledge, though I have taken the opportunity to correct minor mistakes such as spelling errors. I have also made a few stylistic alterations where the language of the book has become dated. Otherwise the first part is unchanged. As for the second part: attacks by critics have not convinced me of the need to give ground on any matter of substance. Indeed, their failure to make inroads has reinforced my belief in the value of a naturalistic understanding of knowledge in which sociology plays a central role. I hope that the arguments I offer in the Afterword show this to be a reasoned and justified response. Because of the volume of the criticism........" [from the book of the preface to the Second Edition (1991) by David Bloor, Science Studies Unit, Edinburgh]