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Rory D. Kent

@feyerabender.bsky.social

1.7K followers 320 following 75 posts

Political philosopher of science. Trying to work on the ideology-critique of scientism and a materialist theory of scientific crises, while also holding down a desk job.

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · Apr 24

My PhD thesis is now openly available to read online :) www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/4aedae...

Feyerabend's Monster and the Critique of Scientism

In this dissertation, I identify and develop the social-democratic tendency within Paul Feyerabend’s political thought to lay the groundwork for a critical social theory of scientism. Across his polit...

www.repository.cam.ac.uk

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

(Btw if you want more details on the empirical and theoretical analyses that Latour and Woolgar conducted, I really would recommend reading the book--it's quite good!)

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

Perhaps you think knowledge based on models of of human social activity doesn't really count. You'd have to take a lot of other stuff down with you for that to be coherent. Or, if it's the modelling practice in particular you have issue with, lots of natural-scientific knowledge might have to go too

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

generations of science studies research, which now have an arsenal of anthropological techniques and paradigms for investigating science as a material phenomenon. Does a new discovery about Bach's childhood need to change the way science is done to count as a contribution to knowledge?

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

social negotiation, etc.). It gives us a better model of how science works that other accounts, which entirely ignore such dynamics.

To address your second Q: why would something need to change the way natural science is done in order to contribute to human knowledge? It's certainly shaped several

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

The answer to your first Q is already given in my response! It contributed to human knowledge about something that happens in the world – scientific research – by giving an improved model of the dynamics under which that phenomenon operates (e.g., that it operates in part according to processes of

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

instruments, institutional relationships, and strategic decisions. If you think this is all just sociological mumbo jumbo, perhaps you had already committed wholeheartedly to your beliefs before asking the question--fair enough but not a particularly scientific attitude

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

object *of* a science), rather than mystifying it as an abstract, almost magical process driven by the innate genius of scientists. Latour and Woolgar’s ethnographic approach, one of the most influential texts in social studies of science, shows that scientific knowledge is the product of labour,

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

even though its physiological presence in the body remained "unproven". To drive the wider point home: this kind of sociological analysis invites us to investigate science materially, as a real, situated phenomenon governed by identifiable and analysable dynamics (i.e., as something that can be the

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

through a complex sequence of experimental work, rhetorical negotiation, and inter-actor validation. They demonstrate how a statement like "TRF is Pyro-Glu-His-Pro-NH2" sheds its historical and social context to become a "fact" – a stable, uncontroversial reference point for other researchers,

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

If I must! Based on their anthropological studies of two research labs operating in the 1960s, Latour and Woolgar (1979) contributed to our knowledge of scientific research processes by showing that scientific facts, such as the structure of TRF(H), are not simply "discovered", but are constructed

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 5d

A nice micro case study in scientistic ideology!

quackometer.bsky.social @quackometer.bsky.social · 7d

Can you explain any advance in human knowledge that the sociology of science has provided us with?

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 9d

I can post you the certificate for my honours degree in natural sciences if you want, it's useless to me since I progressed to the nobler art of historical analysis anyway

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 10d

I want to thank Richard Dawkins for making my arguments about popular science writing as a vector for ideological scientism incredibly easy to develop

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Reposted by Rory D. Kent

sean guynes @guynes.bsky.social · 19d

Folks, get off of Academia[.]edu. Delete your accounts. Put your work on a faculty webpage, on hcommons, on your own webpage. But not on Academia[.]edu.
www.academia.edu/terms

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 22d

did you know Robert De Niro's father was the spitting image of Wittgenstein?

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 29d

I have a limited use link to a non-paywalled version of the article for those who want access (first come, first serve)

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · 29d

will DM you!

Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · Sep 8

My article in HOPOS, "Feyerabend, Freedom, and the Tyranny of Science" is now available ahead of print over at www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent

www.journals.uchicago.edu

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · Sep 3

For anyone attending MANCEPT 2025 this week, I'll be delivering my talk on ideological scientism at 16:30 today, as part of the "Integrating Politics and Philosophy of Science from Below" workshop. You can also hear grumble at length about the "Science & Values" paradigm :)

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · Jul 17

One of my employers has me supervising undergrad research projects on Aquinas on war, the Science of Logic, and Being & Time all at once

Reposted by Rory D. Kent

cordelia @cozyunoist.bsky.social · Jun 20

helen de cruz was fully who she was. her genuineness & humaneness was abundant in everything she did, including in dying, something we will all do, but few of us as honestly. in that she exemplified what you would hope a philosopher could be. i’m glad to have known her a little.

Justin Weinberg @dailynous.com · Jun 20

Philosopher Helen De Cruz has died.

Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) - Daily Nous

Helen De Cruz, professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. Professor De Cruz specialized in philosophy of religion and cognitive science. They were the author of Wonderstruck: How Won...

dailynous.com

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Reposted by Rory D. Kent

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · Jun 21

@helendecruz.net (1978-2025), RIP open.substack.com/pub/digressi...

Helen de Cruz (1978-2025), RIP

Please consider donating to this fundraising effort (here) to support Helen de Cruz’s family.

open.substack.com

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · Jun 21

This is sad news. I didn't know her well but from the times our paths crossed she seemed like a supremely kind and decent person

Justin Weinberg @dailynous.com · Jun 20

Philosopher Helen De Cruz has died.

Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) - Daily Nous

dailynous.com

Reposted by Rory D. Kent

Int Society for the History & Theory of Intellectual Property @ishtip.bsky.social · May 20

It is with profound sadness that we learned about the passing of our beloved friend, colleague, and mentor, Mario Biagioli.
Mario was a pre-eminent scholar in many fields of inquiry: history of science, science studies, media studies, and the interdisciplinary study of intellectual properties. 1/2

Mario Biagioli – ISHTIP.org

ishtip.org

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Rory D. Kent @feyerabender.bsky.social · May 21

So sad to hear news of Mario Biagioli's death. When I had just started my PhD, I tentatively reached out to Prof Biagioli to ask a few questions about Feyerabend's pedagogy. He didn't know me, but was so generous as to reply in vivid detail. Anyone interested in HPS must read Galileo, Courtier!