The History of Ideas, Culture and Science

An integral part of the cultural and intellectual history of Europe is the development of ideas and concepts of science that guide action. Europe is a core area for the dynamism, export and differentiation of traditions of knowledge and ideas. Central to this interest is the influence of pre-modern models of interpretation upon the modern concept of science, and the transfer of knowledge within Europe and outside it. Also crucial is the concrete sociological and historical analysis of the emergence of modern natural, social and human sciences, and the relationship of these 'three cultures' to one another.

In recent years, the history of science has been the subject of intense methodological debate. Following the professionalization and internationalization of the history of science in the 1950s, various competing scientific-historiographical concepts developed. Following the debate initiated by Thomas S. Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), the history of science is today essentially studied using sociological, epistemological, pragmatic, culturalist as well as (socio-)historical methods and approaches. Now that the theory of the 'exceptionalism' of the natural sciences – propounded for a long time above all in the Anglo-Saxon space – is no longer tenable, the natural sciences are also perceived as cultural phenomena.

However, from a methodological-historiographical point of view, it is becoming increasingly clear that an any approach to the history of science, as well as to contemporary scientific research, must involve an interdisciplinary connection of competences, and ideally a cooperation between researchers working in the human, cultural, social and natural sciences. Moreover, the historiography of science has also opened up to globalization and now considers the emergence of scientific knowledge in the context of the global development of cultures and civilizations.

Coordinators
Simone De Angelis, Stephan Moebius