9 ms·

I've always wanted a good word for the 'science of studying science'. Never really got past 'Scientology', and that probably won't stick. What's a better term

by lbhnact 10y ago

I've always wanted a good word for the 'science of studying science'. Never really got past 'Scientology', and that probably won't stick. What's a better term than the vapid 'Metascience', or the clunky 'scientometrics'. How about 'Superscience'? That would be an awesome Doctorate to hang on the wall.

Retric 10y ago
Seems to fit under sociology quite well. Economics got it's own branch mostly for historical reasons.
- jylam 10y ago
  Sociology is already the science of everything social (that is, people, human society).
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- stdbrouw 10y ago
  The sociology of scientific knowledge is a thing. Some crackpots, some very interesting work as well, e.g. "The Baby Factory" about dodgy science in psychology labs http://srd.sagepub.com/content/2/2378023115625071.abstract http://srd.sagepub.com/content/2/2378023115625071.abstract
Malarkey73 10y ago
"Epistemology" is probably the best word.
- lbhnact 10y ago
  Yeah, maybe 'Quantitative Epistemology'. You'd probably be thrown right out of the Philosophy department though.
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    Isn't the goal exactly getting thrown out of every department?
  - johncolanduoni 10y ago
    Not really, many people who do philosophy of science/math have science/math PhDs as opposed to philosophy or other humanities.
  - fmoralesc 10y ago
    Only the name, the idea not at all. Formal Epistemology is actually a blooming subfield, Bayesian epistemology being a prominent example.
- pYQAJ6Zm 10y ago
  Noting that epistemology is concerned with the study of (the concept of) knowledge, and may (in principle) go beyond what’s involved in the purely scientific acquisition of such (if some non-scientific method for the acquisition of knowledge is to be accepted). “Philosophy of science,” already mentioned, is probably a better fit. Once you go meta on science, after all, you are (arguably) not doing science anymore, so there is no harm in naming it a kind of philosophy.
YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
There's always epistemology [1]. It's a branch of philosophy, but I don't think you can examine science on a theoretical basis without going there. There's no reason why not to mix theoretical and practical (as in data-driven) tools. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology
trentmb 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science
jsprogrammer 10y ago
Where does the 't' come from? Shouldn't it be sciology/scienceology/sciencology?

by lbhnact 10y ago

Retric 10y ago

Seems to fit under sociology quite well. Economics got it's own branch mostly for historical reasons.

jylam 10y ago
Sociology is already the science of everything social (that is, people, human society).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
stdbrouw 10y ago
The sociology of scientific knowledge is a thing. Some crackpots, some very interesting work as well, e.g. "The Baby Factory" about dodgy science in psychology labs http://srd.sagepub.com/content/2/2378023115625071.abstract http://srd.sagepub.com/content/2/2378023115625071.abstract

Malarkey73 10y ago

"Epistemology" is probably the best word.

lbhnact 10y ago
Yeah, maybe 'Quantitative Epistemology'. You'd probably be thrown right out of the Philosophy department though.
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  Isn't the goal exactly getting thrown out of every department?
- johncolanduoni 10y ago
  Not really, many people who do philosophy of science/math have science/math PhDs as opposed to philosophy or other humanities.
- fmoralesc 10y ago
  Only the name, the idea not at all. Formal Epistemology is actually a blooming subfield, Bayesian epistemology being a prominent example.
pYQAJ6Zm 10y ago
Noting that epistemology is concerned with the study of (the concept of) knowledge, and may (in principle) go beyond what’s involved in the purely scientific acquisition of such (if some non-scientific method for the acquisition of knowledge is to be accepted). “Philosophy of science,” already mentioned, is probably a better fit. Once you go meta on science, after all, you are (arguably) not doing science anymore, so there is no harm in naming it a kind of philosophy.

YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago

There's always epistemology [1]. It's a branch of philosophy, but I don't think you can examine science on a theoretical basis without going there. There's no reason why not to mix theoretical and practical (as in data-driven) tools. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

trentmb 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science

jsprogrammer 10y ago

Where does the 't' come from? Shouldn't it be sciology/scienceology/sciencology?