The diversity of the history of science

The bulk of international research in the history of science focuses on the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries. In contrast, the Centre for the History of Science at the University of Graz focuses on research into the early modern history of science, which overcomes an 'atomization' of the early modern period and starts from longue durée processes between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment (1500-1800). Accordingly, attention is given to the study of the history of scientific knowledge from antiquity to the modern period. This involves the analysis and elaboration of continuities and differences of bodies of knowledge in the respective historical-social context under consideration. From a methodological point of view, the research is oriented towards the concept of Historical Epistemology, which is to be distinguished from forms of Social Epistemology. In the center of Historical Epistemology as it is understood here, is the concept of the Epistemic Situation, which attempts to model the reconstruction of scientific knowledge claims.