Cañas, Dubian (2025) Three epistemological desiderata for HPS practitioners. [Preprint]
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Abstract
In this paper, I outline an epistemology of evidential reasoning in the history and philosophy of science (HPS). Drawing upon some prominent works in HPS as case studies, I formulate three novel epistemological desiderata for using historical case studies as evidence for philosophical claims about science, to wit: independent historical evidence, metahistorical criticism, and disciplinary alignment. These desiderata pick out some epistemic qualities and contribute to the achievement of the primary goal of evidential reasoning, which is to confer justification upon philosophical conclusions on the basis of historical evidence. In this way, my proposed epistemology tackles the “methodological” problem of vicious circularity and the “metaphysical” problem of disciplinary unsuitability that allegedly jeopardise HPS practice, thereby vindicating its positive epistemic status.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | This paper is the winner of the 2025 IUHPST Essay Prize in History and Philosophy of Science. | ||||||
| Keywords: | Epistemology, evidential reasoning, historical case studies, integrated HPS, interdisciplinarity, metaphilosophy, methodology. | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Evidence General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Philosophers of Science |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Dubian Cañas | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 10 Sep 2025 13:02 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 10 Sep 2025 13:02 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26603 | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://iuhpst.org/pages/inter-division-commission... | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Evidence General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Philosophers of Science |
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| Date: | 2025 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26603 |
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