Andrew Pickering (1)

As he concisely summarizes late in the book, Pickering's purpose here is to establish a perspective on science he calls the "cultural studies of science." This work attempts to reconcile outlooks on science as a quest for objective truth via rigorous methodological practice or as a more subjectivist practice that is influenced (in success and failure) by social factors.

The key to Pickering's argument is "the mangle," which simultaneously invokes two seemingly contradictory senses of the show more word: the process of multilating or damaging and the process of smoothing (as with clothing via a mechanical "mangle"). The mangle is a process by which scientific ideas come into contact with the realities of technologies, equipment, media, people, institutions, and other concepts systems that don't work as expected or are incommensurable with that scientific idea. The underlying idea may not be testable due to shortcomings in technology or the biases of prevailing paradigms/institutions of thinking, or because of incompatibility with adjacent concepts. Where everything meets, the science is "mangled," becoming what it can become in a way that is commensurate with the data, with observations, with prevailing paradigms, with the cultures the shape it. Science is neither the product of a methodologically pure investigation of reality nor is it a completely relativistic outcome of social construction -- it is a workable outcome influenced by both. In this sense, Pickering's "mangle" is a modern pragmatist outlook on science.

Overall, the book was an interesting read, especially the early chapters offering case studies of scientific practice. The latter chapters on integrating a cultural studies of science back into the broader area of science and technology studies (STS) will appeal to far fewer readers. show less

I have to say that this is a truly outstanding book. Incredibly well researched and full of deep insight that has irrevocably changed how I see.

It's not really about the brain, but cybernetics and a way of seeing the world, as explained by some very interesting people and work. As a biology teacher I'm very interested in systems thinking and this advanced my understanding more than I could have imagined. When I wrote my own book about teaching biology 'Biology Made Real' I cited this book show more many times, showing just how much it has changed not just my understanding, but my performance as a teacher. show less

A model treatment and worthy classic of Science and Technology Studies (STS).