Science as Story Telling: Issues Arisen and Arising

Notes and forum related to discussion at a Tri-co Science Studies Group meeting, 16 November 2010

Starting place:

Paul Grobstein (2005) Revisiting science in culture: science as story telling and story revising.  Journal of Research Practice 1 (1), Article M1    http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/9/17

Issues:

• A need to clarify and/or alter the term "story"?

cf The Story of Science (updated lecture notes) and Science as Storytelling or Story Telling

• A need to clarify/strengthen the irrelevance of "mirror of nature" approach and of Popper's "reality" as necessary ingredient?
• A need to clarify/strengthen/expand on "generativity" as alternative essential criterion for science while remaining in spirit of "no truth"?
• A need to clarify/expand on relationship to the "demarcation problem"?  Argument is/should be about science or about inquiry with science as subset?

cf Adventures to the stars: telling tales of science and art and Science as story telling: its relevance to history

• A need to clarify/expand on science as "professional activity" as opposed to something engaged in by all people?

Engagement with "non-human" entitities/forms of interaction?
Commitment to maximizing "objectivity," ie widely shared stories?
Acceptance of need to invest time/energy in procedures/language aimed at that?
Unusual commitment to skepticism, including self-skepticism, unusual tolerance for uncertainty?