S2 Ep 11 - Hasok Chang on Epistemic Iteration

The HPS Podcast - Conversations from History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

"We get this instinct that true science must start from a firm foundation. Time and again, that's what I see NOT happening in the practice of science. We start from where we stand. The foundation is never indubitable, the foundation is provisional."
Our very special guest today is Hasok Chang. Hasok is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and his research focuses on 'taking the most obvious items of scientific knowledge and asking how we came to know such things. Usually, such a line of questioning reveals that even the most mundane piece of knowledge was hard won through the most challenging and fascinating investigations and debates.'

As well as being well know for his books, Inventing Temperature, Is Water H2O?, Realism for Realistic People, and his upcoming work How does a Battery Work? Hasok has taken a leading role in HPS, as both a founding member of the Committee for Integrated HPS and the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice.

In today’s episode we discuss Hasok’s notion of ‘Epistemic Iteration’ – the idea that we do not start our inquiries from a solid foundation, but rather begin from an imperfect position and then use the outcomes of our inquiry to refine and correct that original starting point.
Transcript of the episode available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/hasok-chang-transcript-s2-ep-11
Resources related to the episode:

• Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice
• The Committee for Integrated History and Philosophy of Science
• Inventing Temperature: Measurement and Scientific Progress | Oxford Academic
• Is Water H2O?: Evidence, Realism and Pluralism | SpringerLink
• Realism for Realistic People | Cambridge
• 'Epistemic iteration and natural kinds: Realism and pluralism in taxonomy' Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry IV: Classification of Psychiatric Illness | Oxford Academic
• 'The Rising of Chemical Natural Kinds through Epistemic Iteration' Natural Kinds and Classification in Scientific Practice

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with your current hosts, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. www.hpsunimelb.org