The fourth talk in the PhilPaleo “Roadshow” series will take place today at 11 AM (EDT). The speaker is Alison McConwell, and she’ll be talking about Extinct faves Stephen Jay Gould and George Simpson. (Follow the links for some recent Extinct content on these blokes.) Title and abstract comin’ at ya…
Organizing Principles in the Historical Sciences: Gould & Simpson on the Idiographic-Nomothetic Distinction
Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) proposed contingency as the organizing principle of history arguably in defense of the historical sciences and their analytic character, and thus of their epistemic value. In this talk, I detail a period of escalating tension in correspondence between Gould and paleontologist George G. Simpson (1902-1984), which began as cordial discussion about the relationship between (1) nomothetic or ‘law-producing’ sciences and (2) idiographic disciplines like history concerned with the analysis of particular unrepeatable events. This private discussion occurred in response to broader views in positivist philosophy concerning what counts as ‘proper’ scientific explanation, which rendered historical explanation, and thus the historical sciences, as problematic at the time. There exists critical scholarship on Gould’s relationship with Simpson (e.g., Cain 2009) and how Gould used Simpson’s concept of contingency (e.g., Beatty 2008). Building on that foundation, and through detailing features of their early and later exchanges, I explore Simpson’s influence on Gould concerning explanation in historical and ahistorical scientific disciplines. Gould’s concept of contingency as a disciplinary organizing principle—one of explanatory value—stems from these exchanges, which highlight its epistemic power through a different, philosophical, lens.
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