Scientific method

====Situated cognition and relativism====
{{See also|postpositivism|Relativism}}

On the idea of Fleck's ''thought collectives'' sociologists built the concept of "[[situated cognition]]": that the perspective of the researcher fundamentally affects their work; and, too, more radical views.<!--even writing out "Social constructivism" and "Solipsism" feels like assigning undue weight to fringe theories here-->

[[Norwood Russell Hanson]], [[Imre Lakatos]] and [[Thomas Kuhn]] have done extensive work on the [[perception|"theory-laden" character]] of observation. Hanson (1958) first coined the term for the idea that all observation is dependent on [[Situated cognition|the conceptual framework of the observer]], using the concept of [[gestalt psychology|gestalt]] to show how preconceptions can affect both observation and description.<ref>{{Citation
|last=Hanson
|first=Norwood
|title=Patterns of Discovery
|year=1958
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|isbn=978-0-521-05197-2
}}</ref> He opens Chapter 1 with a discussion of the [[Golgi apparatus|Golgi bodies]] and their initial rejection as an artefact of staining technique, and a discussion of [[Tycho Brahe|Brahe]] and [[Johannes Kepler|Kepler]] observing the dawn and seeing a "different" sunrise despite the same physiological phenomenon.{{efn|name= Kepler1604 }}{{efn|Brahe and Kepler are two different observers, [[intersubjectivity]] validates Hanson.}} Kuhn<ref>{{cite book |last=Kuhn |first=Thomas S. |title=The Structure of Scientific Revolutions |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago, IL |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4432-5544-8 |page=113 |title-link=The Structure of Scientific Revolutions}}<!--ISBN matches 2009 publication, not the 1962.-->
</ref> and Feyerabend<ref>Feyerabend, Paul K (1960) "Patterns of Discovery" The Philosophical Review (1960) vol. 69 (2) pp. 247–252</ref> acknowledge the pioneering significance of Hanson's work.{{clarify inline|reason=this paragraph does not do well explaining things and giving context/ the notes may need clarification as well|date=April 2024}} Criticisms such as Kuhn's and Feyerabend's led to the [[strong programme]], a radical approach to the [[sociology of science]]. 

The [[postmodernism|postmodernist]] critiques of science, especially in its extreme variants of "[[social constructivism]]" and "[[solipsism]]", have themselves been the subject of intense controversy. This ongoing debate, known as the [[science wars]], is the result of conflicting values and assumptions between the postmodernist and [[Scientific realism|realist]] camps. Whereas postmodernists assert that scientific knowledge is simply another discourse (this term has special meaning in this context) and not representative of any form of fundamental truth, [[Scientific realism|realists]] in the scientific community maintain that scientific knowledge does reveal real and fundamental truths about reality. Many books have been written by scientists which take on this problem and challenge the assertions of the postmodernists while defending science as a legitimate method of deriving truth.<ref>For example:
* ''Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science'', The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997
* ''Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science'', Picador. 1999
* ''The Sokal Hoax: The Sham That Shook the Academy'', University of Nebraska Press, 2000 {{ISBN|0-8032-7995-7}}
* ''A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science'', Oxford University Press, 2000
* ''Intellectual Impostures'', Economist Books, 2003</ref>
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