Trust me, I’m a Historian of Science

Authors

  • Christopher Hamlin University of Notre Dame

Abstract

This essay explores the role of the historian of science as a mediator in the current climate of distrust of science. I focus first on theories of trust before turning to the complicated evolution and ambiguous status of the history of science, first in postwar America, and then more broadly. Under the heading of the «chemists’ way» I then sketch, as way to defuse distrust, an approach to narrating the history of science to highlight particular but varied sites of expertise rather than universal philosophical authority. Using examples from Catalan science, the fourth section explores similarities and differences in political cultures of the history of science. I conclude by contrasting the impediments that make it impossible to trust the history of science as a discipline with the possibilities that historians of science have for promoting trust.

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Issue

Vol. 14 (2021)

Section

Reflections on the discipline

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