„THE SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE“ (SSK) ZWISCHEN EPISTEMISCHEM SKEPTIZISMUS UND SOZIALER HERMENEUTIK DER WISSENSCHAFT. EINE KRITISCHE EINFÜHRUNG IN DAS SSK-FORSCHUNGSPROGRAMM

Rezumat

In this paper considerations are made regarding the question of whether the SSK (“Sociology of Scientific Knowledge”) research program represents a skeptical view of scientific knowledge. In this regard, I will try to defend the SSK against the objection of skepticism. The paper includes five parts. After a brief historical introduction about the development of the SSK research program, in the next two parts of the article the terms used here with reference to the SSK research program and epistemic skepticism are more precisely defined and critically discussed. In the fourth point, the attempt is made to illustrate the investigation undertaken here using the example of the so-called “regress of the experimenters”. The fifth part presents the basic theses of social hermeneutics that SSK proposes regarding scientific knowledge. The closing remarks offer me the opportunity to briefly summarize the most important points and, based on this, to make my suggestion for understanding the SSK.