This thesis investigates the role of the natural world - the things studied by natural scientists - in historical accounts of science. It does so through the concepts of contingency and... Show moreThis thesis investigates the role of the natural world - the things studied by natural scientists - in historical accounts of science. It does so through the concepts of contingency and inevitability: it discusses the possibility that the world renders the final development of science inevitable, as well as several theoretical alternatives offered to this possibility. Notable among these alternatives are the Strong Programme in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK), Bruno Latour's Actor Network Theory (ANT), and the naturalistic, evolutionary invisible hand model proposed by David Hull. This discussion culminates in a proposal for a hermeneutic perspective on history of science and on the role of the world in it. Show less
Political philosophy is not only a form of theory, but also a practice. If we wish to learn something about politics, therefore, we should focus not only on its propositional content, but also on... Show morePolitical philosophy is not only a form of theory, but also a practice. If we wish to learn something about politics, therefore, we should focus not only on its propositional content, but also on its performative meaning. This dissertation offers a reconstruction of the propositional contents of the writings of Karl Popper, Leo Strauss, and Hannah Arendt while bringing these into discussion with their performative meanings, such as polemical forms of reasoning, analogical and metaphorical uses of language, and hidden assumptions that become manifest as soon as people start acting upon them. First, it is demonstrated that Popper prescribes a conception of politics that is modeled after science, while he performs a polemical conception of politics. Next, it is shown that Strauss is aware of the performative condition of philosophy, whereas his way of framing it in terms of the mutually hostile opposition between phi losophy and politics and his remedy of the art of writing amount to an unrealistic escape from it. Finally, it is argued that Arendt not only shows to be aware of the contingent character of human action, but also develops forms of political thinking that do justice to it. Show less
