søndag, desember 19, 2010

Method tweeting

http://kvalshaug.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/method-writing-om-a-ha-en-ekstra-karakter-pa-twitter/

onsdag, desember 15, 2010

Nomadisk politikk

Kanskje sløvt at eg ikkje har oppdaga den før, men i dag vart eg oppmerksom på denne bloggen av Ole Johan Moe, som eg kjenner litt frå filosofistudiet og Studentersamfunnet i Bergen. Han har rett og slett pakka snippeska og flytta til Øst-Timor, der han no bur i slummen og rapporterar for Urix. Og kven seier at det ikkje er eit jobbmarked for humanistar der ute?

Det er når ein ser slike historier at ein lurer på om ein gjer nok ut av livet sitt. Men til vinteren ventar det meg 6 månedar i Portugal, så då tenker eg at eg gjer ganske mykje ut av livet mitt allikevel.

Ole Johan sin blogg Nomadisk Politikk puttast uansett i blog-lista!

torsdag, desember 02, 2010

Opening and closing in scientific processes

Det puslast med ei masteroppgåve i filosofi. På verdsspråket engelsk til og med. Og no trur eg "Aims of study" byrjar dette på plass.

Aim of study.

Molecular medicine is today a major field of research. During the last 60 years, this companionship of medicine and molecular biology has yielded not only new types of diagnosis and therapy. It has also sparked many types of debates of ethical and philosophical kind, like what it is to be human, and what possibilities do we have for intervening with life.

Central in the process of molecular medicine is the research activity that is conducted by scientists, technicians, and students in research institutions. This research activty is at the same time a part of the society that it takes place in, and part of the more or less global research culture that can be defined as molecular biology and molecular medicine.

The aim of this study is to understand what are considered valid and relevant factors during the process of judgement and desicion in the scientific process. This is philosophically interesting as an investigation of how knowledge and facts are produced also will cast light upon both the nature of these facts, their episemological and ontological status, and of the process where they are produced.

In the first part of the assignment, I will first go through some central positions within epistemology and philosophy, before moving on to medicine and life science, where Claude Bernard and Georges Canguilhem will be adressed more thoroughly. Then, I will go through some of the positions of Bruno Latour and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and their work on experimental molecular biology and medicine.

In the second part of the assignment, I will describe a case study chosen within the field of experimental molecular medicine. Here, I will take what can be called a near-sighted approach, so to get a hold on the microprocesses that in the daily scientific conduct leads up to scientfic facts and knowlege.

In the third part I will introduce, and elaborate on, the terms openness and closedness, and use these as tools to understand which factors are considered relevant at a particular time or situation in the scientific process. In the final part I will address how the described dynamics of the scientific process have impact both on the decisions and judgments that are being done in the scientific process of fact production.


Stay tuned!