反思科学史:过去、现状以及可能的未来（英文）

Reflections on the History of Science: The Past, The Present, and Possible Futures

科学史的未来如何?这并非我们历史学者常问的一个问题,因为我们并非先知或预言家,且我们研究的是过去而非未来。不过,通过审视科学史的过去和现状,也许可以一窥科学史未来的走向。本文首先回顾了西方科学史学科自上世纪80年代开始的由"内在主义"到"语境主义"的过渡,然后结合笔者自2004至2014主编《爱西斯》期刊以及编辑《科学史指南》的经历讨论了语境主义近15年来的发展。接着,笔者探讨了在语境主义继续发挥主导作用的条件下科学史的未来走向问题。在此,笔者强调了学者们对"全球科学史"的兴趣—-这种兴趣很有可能促生新的语境主义研究方向,从而促进中国科学史学者与其西方同行的合作。

What is the future of the history of science?This is an unusual question for historians to ask.We do not think of ourselves as seers or prophets.We study the past,not the future.But perhaps,by looking at the past history of the history of science,and its present,we can detect a trajectory that we can track into the future. In this paper I reflect back on how the discipline of the history of science in the west moved from "internalism" to "contextualism,"beginning in the 1980's.Drawing on my experiences editing the journal 1sis from 2004to 2014,and editing a massive introduction to the history of science,I discuss how contextualism has developed over the past fifteen years.Then I examine possible futures for the history of science if contextualism continues to dominate the field.Here I emphasize the growing interest in what has been labeled "global history of science," and how that has the potential to push the contextualist approach in new directions that will help to bring together historians of science in China with their colleagues in the west.