Towards a Pluralistic and Pragmatic Conception of Scientific Methods
Abstract
The text rethinks and reformulates the idea of the scientific method in contrast to the most common perspectives: on the one hand, the traditional conception of the scientific method as something general and universal, which persists as an outdated and obsolete belief, maintained by the general public in the absence of a better alternative. On the other hand, the critical perspectives of specialists who either deny the existence of such a method or relativize it without proposing equivalent alternatives. The text highlights the limitations, misconceptions, and biases underlying these positions and proposes a pluralistic and pragmatic conception of scientific methods as an alternative. It offers a contemporary, revised, and critical perspective on these methods in light of the so-called “turn toward the study of scientific practices.”
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