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An Observing Science

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Abstract

In this paper I make the arguments that I seesupporting a view of how we can come to knowthe world we live in.

I start from a position in second ordercybernetics which turns out to be a RadicalConstructivist position. This position isessentially epistemological, and much of thispaper is concerned with the act of knowing,crucial when we try to develop an understandingof what we mean when we discuss a field ofknowing (knowledge), which is at the root ofscience. The argument follows a path in which I discussthe essential role of the observer inobserving, the creation of constancies betweendifferent observings and their exteriorisationas objects which are then represented and usedin communication with and between otherobservers, each unique (and therefore eachobserving in its own way). This leads to theassertion that the qualities we associate withthe objects of our universes are attributes,rather than properties inherent in the objectsthemselves. At each step in the argument I exploreconsequences for how we understand the world,in particular through science. I showlimitations, new insights and understandings,and re-evaluate what we can expect to gain fromscience. One change is the shift from noun toverb in the consideration of processses – forinstance, the study of living rather than life.In this way, I intend to show not only thatRadical Constructivism is sensible, but that itdoes not preclude us having a science. Incontrast, it can enrich science by taking onboard the sensible.In the process, which science is seen to be themore basic is challenged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CybernEthics Research, 52 Lawrence Road, Southsea, Hants, PO5 1NY, UK

    Ranulph Glanville

  2. Faculty of the Constructed Environment, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia

    Ranulph Glanville

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  1. Ranulph Glanville
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Glanville, R. An Observing Science. Foundations of Science 6, 45–75 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011353225749

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