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1994-08-27
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Document 0684
DOCN M9480684
TI Dissent in science: styles of scientific practice and the controversy
over the cause of AIDS.
DT 9410
AU Fujimura JH; Chou DY; Department of Anthropology, Stanford University,
CA 94305.
SO Soc Sci Med. 1994 Apr;38(8):1017-36. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
MED/94317013
AB In this paper, we use a scientific controversy, and the efforts to
legitimize and undermine a theory, to examine the co-production of facts
and the rules for verifying facts over time. We discuss these processes
in terms of what we call 'styles of scientific practice.' In contrast to
the focus of idealist philosophers on theory production and validation
as forms of logic or ways of thinking, our styles of practice also
include the activities of hands and eyes and the discourses between
multiple actors in diverse situations. We discuss aspects of the
different styles of practice deployed by opponents in a current
controversy surrounding the etiology of AIDS to understand how the same
data are interpreted in different ways to support diametrically opposed
views. Our study describes and examines rules of confirmation used by
supporters of the theory that HIV causes AIDS. For example, we introduce
an 'epidemiological' style of practice used by AIDS researchers to
synthesize information to understand this disease. Styles of practice
stress the historically located collective efforts of scientists,
technicians, administrators, institutions, and various 'publics' as they
build and sustain ways of knowing. Yet, we also show that the 'history'
is also a contested construction, not a given in dusty archives. We
describe the different versions of history constructed by various
participants in the debate to validate their current constructions and
definitions of the disease AIDS. Finally, we discuss the politics behind
disease definitions and the consequences of different definitions.
DE Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*EPIDEMIOLOGY/*MICROBIOLOGY Attitude
to Health Causality Epidemiologic Methods Human *HIV Life Style
Logic *Philosophy, Medical Politics Research Science/*METHODS
Sociology, Medical Thinking JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW REVIEW, TUTORIAL
SOURCE: National Library of Medicine. NOTICE: This material may be
protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).