Experimental "localism" stresses the importance of context-specific knowledge, and the limitations of universal theories in science. I illustrate Latour's radical approach to localism and show that it has some unpalatable consequences, in particular the suggestion that problems of external validity (or how to generalize experimental results to nonlaboratory circumstances) cannot be solved. In the last part of the paper I try to sketch a solution to the problem of external validity by extending Mayo's error-probabilistic approach.
Experimental localism and external validity / F. Guala. - In: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE. - ISSN 0031-8248. - 70:5(2003), pp. 1195-1205.
Experimental localism and external validity
F. GualaPrimo
2003
Abstract
Experimental "localism" stresses the importance of context-specific knowledge, and the limitations of universal theories in science. I illustrate Latour's radical approach to localism and show that it has some unpalatable consequences, in particular the suggestion that problems of external validity (or how to generalize experimental results to nonlaboratory circumstances) cannot be solved. In the last part of the paper I try to sketch a solution to the problem of external validity by extending Mayo's error-probabilistic approach.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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