Returning to Scientific Practice; A New Reflection on Philosophy of Science
Wu Tong, Xu ZhuThis book is the result of a collective study of the philosophy of scien-
tific practice (PSP), which began around 2002 and is still ongoing. There
is an apparently increasing interest in scientific practice, influenced by the
historicistic philosophy of science and the sociology of scientific knowledge
(SSK). Prof. WU Tong and his research group believe that it is necessary for
PSP to turn from a theory-dominant position to practice dominance. PSP has
also brought forward the possibility of reinterpreting the epistemic status of
local knowledge in the Chinese tradition, which provides the most significant
motivation to participate in this study.
In this book, we have selected three main cases – namely, Chinese medi-
cine, Fengshui, and Ethnobotany – to examine the effect of PSP. The aim
of our collective studies is not merely a theoretical construction of PSP, but
also to consider the various applications of PSP, especially in re-interpreting
and demonstrating the variety of local knowledge from traditional China,
which seems to be a genuine contribution to the international enterprise of
philosophy of science, particularly when made by Chinese scholars.