Extract
A Picture of Virtue
A PICTURE OF VIRTUE Michelle Henning Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, Objectivity, New York, Zone Books, 2007; 500pp. £25.99 hardback.
Scientific objectivity, Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison claim, is best conceived as a virtue. Their use of a concept of virtue is persuasive, as is their style of argument. They begin by anticipating sceptical readers who question their every turn: scientists who defend objectivity as a defining and trans-historical aim, as necessary, even if unachievable; cultural theorists who dismiss it as the myth of 'the view from nowhere', outmoded by contemporary understandings of subjectivity; and historians who expect them to identify the historical triggers of this powerful idea or to chronologically chart its development.Detailed descriptions of the practices of scientists, catching snowflakes before they melt, measuring the impact of liquids on surfaces, or trying to describe t...See the full content of this document
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