Philosophy of Science

The Validity of Allan Franklin Rationality in Social Constructivism

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mohammad Mahdi Sadr Forati 1
Gholam Hossein Moghadam Heidari 2

1 M.A in Philosophy of Science, Amirkabir University

2 Assistance Professor of Philosophy of Science Department, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies

Abstract
 
Allan Franklin is a contemporary physicist and philosopher who take some sort of extremist opinion about the experiments in physics and the position of social constructivism. Proposing a philosophical model, which we call ‘Pragmatist Rationality’, Franklin wants to defend of a kind of logic of scientific discovery and the possibility of crucial experiments occurring and through which He wants to rebut the contingency thesis which is a vital characteristic of social constructivism.
Although he denies that he is proposing a kind of theory of rationality, such theory is evident throughout his works. In this paper we review and evaluate his claims and are going to measure its soundness compared to the contemporary social constructivism theories.

Keywords

Allan Franklin
pragmatic rationality
experiments in physics
constructivism
Barnes, B and Bloor, D. (1981). ‘Relativism, Rationalism, and the Sociology of Knowledge’, In Rationality and Relativism, Martin Hollis and Steven Lukes (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell.
Collins, H. M. (1981). ‘Stages in the Empirical Program of Relativism - Introduction’, Social Studies of Science.
Franklin, A. (1994). ‘How to Avoid the Experiments’ Regress?’, Studies of History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 25. No. 3.
Franklin, A. (2008 a). ‘Is Failure an Option? Contingency and Refutation’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 39.
Franklin, A. (2008 b). ‘Are The Laws of Physics Inevitable?’, Physics Perspective, Vol.10.
Hacking, I. (1999). The Social Construction of What?, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Philosophy of Science
Volume 4, Issue 7 - Serial Number 7
October 2014
Pages 157-165

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