Science of Science and Reflexivity

Author: (French) Bourdieu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This is the teaching record of Bourdieu's final year at the Collège de France, summarizing his life's research and writing insights. It provides a rather objective and detailed exposition of the sociological turn in 20th-century Western philosophy, highlighting his own (positions), which is beneficial to the healthy development of the "scientific field," including natural sciences. The author believes that researchers who live only in books or within academic laboratory experiments cannot, like him, make "objectivity" grounded in historical depth and extensive social practice the highest goal of their research activities. Making one's research subjects objective is not enough; one must also make the research subject objective—this is what he emphasizes as "reflexivity." He takes science itself as the object of study, exploring how scientific activities operate within complex social structures, and allows science to reflect upon itself, thereby elevating this research to sociological and philosophical heights.