History and Philosophy of Science versus Science and Technology Studies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the post-positivist programs of history and philosophy of science and science and technology studies. A comparative analysis of these programs is related to one of the key problems in current post-positivist research that has been identified as a “problem of context”. It is well known that post-positivist science studies historicize epistemology and, thus, subordinate the “context of justification” to the “context of discovery”. However the various and often contradictory interpretations of Reichenbach’s distinction force us to rethink theoretical assumptions, ontological premises and methodological principles of post-positivist approaches and reevaluate the role of philosophy and philosophical ontology in social constructivism, naturalism and relativism which are recognized as the hallmarks of contemporary science studies.