Weaving Self-Evidence : : A Sociology of Logic / / Claude Rosental.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Rosental, Claude,
• MitwirkendeR: Porter, Catherine,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2022]; ©2008
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology ; 13
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 p.)

The development of theorems in logic is generally thought to be a solitary and purely cerebral activity, and therefore unobservable by sociologists. In Weaving Self-Evidence, French sociologist Claude Rosental challenges this notion by tracing the history of one well-known recent example in the field of artificial intelligence--a theorem on the foundations of fuzzy logic. Rosental's analyses disclose the inherently social nature of the process by which propositions in logic are produced, disseminated, and established as truths. Rosental describes the different phases of the emergence of the theorem on fuzzy logic, from its earliest drafts through its publication and diffusion, discussion and reformulation, and eventual acceptance by the scientific community. Through observations made at major universities and scholarly conferences, and in electronic forums, he looks at the ways students are trained in symbolic manipulations and formal languages and examines how researchers work, interact, and debate emerging new ideas. By carefully analyzing the concrete mechanisms that lead to the collective development and corroboration of proofs, Rosental shows how a logical discovery and its recognition within the scholarly community are by no means the product of any one individual working in isolation, but rather a social process that can be observed and studied. Weaving Self-Evidence will interest students and researchers in sociology and the history and philosophy of science and technology, and anyone curious about how scientists work.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- PART ONE: ACCESSING THE WORLD OF PRODUCERS OF LOGICAL STATEM -- CHAPTER 1. HOW CAN WE GRASP WHAT LOGIC-MAKERS DO? QUESTIONS RAISED IN THE HUMAN SCIENCES AND PHILOSOPHY ABOUT LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS -- CHAPTER 2. SPACES AND TOOLS FOR EXCHANGE -- PART TWO: PRACTICES OF DE-MONSTRATION: DEBATING A THEOREM IN AN ELECTRONIC FORUM -- CHAPTER 3. BRINGING TO LIGHT: DEMONSTRATION PUT TO THE TEST OF ANTAGONISTIC LOGICAL PRACTICES -- CHAPTER 4. EVALUATING THE CORRECTNESS OF A THEOREM AND THE PROPERTIES OF A LOGIC AT THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN SEVERAL DE-MONSTRATIVE MODES -- PART THREE: MEDIATIONS USED TO ADVANCE A LOGICAL THEOREM -- CHAPTER 5. MEDIATIONS USED TO ADVANCE. A LOGICAL THEOREM -- CHAPTER 6. FEDERATING A COUNTER-DE-MONSTRATION OR PRODUCING HAND-TAILORED RESPONSES -- CHAPTER 7. THE EMERGENCE OF A QUASI-OBJECT AND A COLLECTIVE STATEMENT -- CONCLUSION. A SOCIOLOGY OF THE PRACTICES OF DE-MONSTRATION -- WORKS CITED -- INDEX