02/05/2019 David Bloor - Wikipedia

David Bloor
David Bloor (/blʊər/; born 1942) is a British sociologist. He is a professor
David Bloor
in, and a former director of, the Science Studies Unit at the University of
Edinburgh. He is a key figure in the Edinburgh School and played a major Born 1942 (age 76–77)
role in the development of the field of Science and Technology Studies.[1] Derby, United Kingdom
He is best known for advocating the Strong Programme in the Sociology of Scientific career
Scientific Knowledge, most notably in his book Knowledge and Social Fields Sociology
Imagery.
Influences Ludwig Wittgenstein

Contents
Biography
Publications
Books
Selected articles
References
External links

Biography
He was born in Derby. He started his academic career in philosophy and psychology. In 1972 he was awarded a PhD by
the University of Edinburgh for his thesis "Speech and the regulation of behaviour."[2] In the 1970s he and Barry
Barnes were the major figures of the strong programme, which put forward queries against philosophical a priorism
in the understanding of scientific knowledge. This is an approach, popular in the philosophy of science, that simply
precluded inquiries about science by treating successful scientific knowledge as simply true or rational without
empirically investigating how such knowledge has come to be accepted as true or rational. Bloor's book Knowledge
and Social Imagery (Routledge, 1976) is one of the key texts of the strong programme.

Bloor wrote extensively on the Kuhn/Popper debate, and is a representative figure of the sociology of scientific
knowledge. In the 1980s when French scholars like Bruno Latour developed the actor-network theory (partially based
on the strong programme), David Bloor strongly disagreed with the ANT camp when they argued that human and
non-humans should be treated in an equivalent manner, going so far as to write an article entitled "Anti-Latour".[3]

He was awarded the John Desmond Bernal Prize by the Society for Social Studies of Science in 1996 in recognition of
his distinguished contribution to the field.[4]

Publications

Books
Bloor, David (1983). Wittgenstein: a social theory of knowledge. Macmillan and Columbia.
Bloor, David (1991) [1976]. Knowledge and social imagery (2nd ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago
Press.
Bloor, David; Barnes, Barry; Henry, John (1996). Scientific knowledge: a sociological analysis. Athlone and
Chicago University Press.
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02/05/2019 David Bloor - Wikipedia

Bloor, David (1997). Wittgenstein: rules and institutions. Routledge.

Bloor, David (2011). The enigma of the aerofoil: rival theories in aerodynamics, 1909–1930. Chicago, Illinois:
University of Chicago Press.

Selected articles
Bloor, David (1970). "Is the Official Theory of Mind Absurd?". British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 21 (2):
167–183. doi:10.1093/bjps/21.2.167 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbjps%2F21.2.167).
Bloor, David (1970). "Explanation and Analysis in Strawson's 'Persons' ". Australasian Journal of Philosophy. 48
(1): 2–9. doi:10.1080/00048407012341411 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00048407012341411).
Bloor, David (1971). "Two Paradigms for Scientific Knowledge?". Science Studies. 1: 101–115.
doi:10.1177/030631277100100108 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F030631277100100108).
Bloor, David (1973). "Wittgenstein and Mannheim on the sociology of mathematics". Studies in History and
Philosophy of Science Part A. 4 (2): 173–191. doi:10.1016/0039-3681(73)90003-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F00
39-3681%2873%2990003-4).
Bloor, David (1981). "The strengths of the strong programme". Philosophy of Social Science. 11.
Bloor, David (1982). "Durkheim and Mauss revisited: classification and the sociology of knowledge". Studies in the
History and Philosophy of Science. 13 (4): 267–297. doi:10.1016/0039-3681(82)90012-7 (https://doi.org/10.101
6%2F0039-3681%2882%2990012-7).
Bloor, David; Barnes, Barry (1982), "Relativism, rationalism and the sociology of knowledge", in Hollis, Martin;
Lukes, Steven (eds.), Rationality and relativism, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, ISBN 9780262580618.
Bloor, David (1982). "Reply to Gerd Buchdahl". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 13 (4): 305–
311. doi:10.1016/0039-3681(82)90014-0 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0039-3681%2882%2990014-0).
Bloor, David (1982). "Reply to Steven Lukes". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 13 (4): 319–
323. doi:10.1016/0039-3681(82)90016-4 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0039-3681%2882%2990016-4).
Bloor, David (1992), "Left and Right Wittgensteinians", in Pickering, Andrew (ed.), Science as practice and
culture, Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, pp. 266–282, ISBN 9780226668017.
Bloor, David (1996). "Idealism and the sociology of knowledge". Social Studies of Science. 26 (4): 839–856.
doi:10.1177/030631296026004005 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F030631296026004005).
Bloor, David (1999). "Anti-Latour". Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science. 30 (1): 81–112.
doi:10.1016/s0039-3681(98)00038-7 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fs0039-3681%2898%2900038-7).
Bloor, David (2000). "Critical Notice on The Social Construction of What?". Canadian Journal of Philosophy. 30
(4): 597–608. doi:10.1080/00455091.2000.10717545 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00455091.2000.10717545).
Bloor, David (2004), "Sociology of scientific knowledge", in Niiniluoto, Ilkka; Woleński, Jan; Sintonen, Matti (eds.),
Handbook of epistemology, Dordrecht Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 919–962, ISBN 9781402019852.
Bloor, David (2005). "Toward a Sociology of Epistemic Things". Perspectives on Science. 13 (3): 285–312.
doi:10.1162/106361405774287982 (https://doi.org/10.1162%2F106361405774287982).
Bloor, David (2007). "Epistemic Grace. Antirelativism as Theology in Disguise". Common Knowledge. 13 (2–3):
250–280. doi:10.1215/0961754x-2007-007 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F0961754x-2007-007).
Bloor, David (2007). "Ideals and Monisms: Recent Criticisms of the Strong Programme in the Sociology of
Knowledge". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 38 (1): 210–234.
doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2006.12.003 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.shpsa.2006.12.003).
Bloor, David (2008), "Relativism at 30,000 feet", in Mazzotti, Massimo (ed.), Knowledge as Social Order:
Rethinking the Sociology of Barry Barnes, Ashgate Publishing.
Bloor, David (2011), "Relativism and the sociology of knowledge", in Hales, Steven D. (ed.), A companion to
relativism, Chichester, West Sussex, UK Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 433–455,
ISBN 9781405190213.

References
1. Latour, B. (1999). " 'For Bloor and Beyond' – a reply to David Bloor's 'Anti-Latour' ". Studies in History and
Philosophy of Science. 30 (1): 113–129.
2. C., Bloor, David (1972). "Speech and the regulation of behaviour" (http://hdl.handle.net/1842/22721).
3. Bloor, David (1999). "Anti-Latour" (https://philpapers.org/rec/BLOA-5). Studies in History and Philosophy of
Science Part A. 30 (1): 81–112.
4. List of winners of the John Desmond Bernal Prize http://www.4sonline.org/prizes/bernal

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External links
David Bloor's home page (http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/science_technology_and_innovation_studies/bloor_david)
at the University of Edinburgh.
Science Technology and Innovation Studies (http://www.stis.ed.ac.uk/), University of Edinburgh

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