Interests and Explanation in the Social Study of Science

Abstract

Recent applications of the 'strong programme' in the social study of science involve (I) appeals for a 'naturalistic' study of science and (II) the invocation of 'interests' as an explanatory resource. It is argued that the notion of 'naturalism' is insufficiently clear and that attempts to 'identify' interests neglect important features of scientific practice. Studies of the content of scientific knowledge have proceeded at the expense of attention to the character of argument Itself. A detailed examination of one example of the many recent case studies hrghlights a series of explanatory strategies used to gloss the fundamental difficulties of 'interests explanation'. It is argued that rather than unreflectively attempting to 'reveal' interests it is more appropriate to turn our attention to the management of explanatory strategies in the practice of scientific argument.