History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Petra Ahrweiler
Institute for Science and Technology Studies
University of Bielefeld
Box 10 01 31
D-33501 Bielefeld
phone +49-(0)521-106 4660
FAX: +49-(0)521-106 6033
e-mail: petra.ahrweiler@uni-bielefeld.de
Turing-Test and Social Science Hermeneutics - Some Software Aspects of "Verstehen"
The research work of scientists is often assisted and sometimes even substituted by computers that provide strategies for data mining and data combination, perform simulations to visualize scientific theories, or enable as communication devices close co-operation between locally separate research units. Whether or not using the computer to carry out the tasks of scientists most parts of scientific work seem to be conducted in a formal way; it is a methodological requirement to account for the procedure - the technique - which has lead to a scientific result. If this is true then performing science through algorithms on a computer is only consequent and the "computerization" of scientific work just a matter of time. However, some parts of the social sciences and humanities found their special additionality on operations and methods which seem to resist this technologization in science. Usually, these approaches follow the hermeneutics tradition and insist on special insights derived from a non-formal perspective. In this presentation, it will be shown that at least two representative theories, the concept of "Verstehen" introduced by Max Weber and the theory of "Objective Hermeneutics", do not principally object "computerization" - the latter can even provide the means for a qualitiative computer simulation approach. This is due to some over-all performances of science like observing its subject, using language to communicate its results, and constructing homogenous description frameworks within internally consistent word-views. The gap between "dense" and formal descriptions in social research seems to be not deep enough to secure even the reflexive sciences from technologization.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006