From: "Simon Beesley" <simonb-AT-beesleys.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Bourdieu and Objectivity
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 14:03:45 +0100


> > what Bourdieu is saying, i.e., that science is a system of dispostions
> > (habitus) that is transmitted to individuals through socialization in to a
> > scientific community....
>
> I think George sums this up very well.
>

No chance at this late date, I suppose, of getting my original conceptual
problem sorted out, is there? Something to do with the concept of a disposition
and my blind spot over how you can transmit a system of dispositions through
socialization. Is that all there is to it (to the inculcation of true scientific
practice)? How then do you explain scientific practices that go wrong --
Lamarkism, Behaviourism, etc. Was the socialization faulty?

I am sure I am not completely barking up the wrong gum tree in thinking that
there are still one or two anomalies in the notion of a system of dispositions,
especially one that is supposed to confer universality on scientific knowledge.
Or is it just the craft of the sociologist that gains universality and then
secures universality for what it produces? This is the first time I've come
across the idea of system of dispositions in the context of the philosophy of
science. I would be very grateful for any references to a non-Bourdieusian
source for this idea.

No chance either, I suppose, of anyone taking up my challenge to provide a rough
idea of what these dispositions might consist in. Any takers? I am not asking
for a precise or comprehensive account. A loose, even gestural, indication of
what sort of dispositions this system would include will be enough. Again,
imagine I am one of your dimmer students, who has been puzzled by the phrase "a
system of dispositions". He knows that dispositions are unconscious, embodied
things, but still doesn't understand what they dispose the sociologist to do or
think. After the seminar, he takes you aside and asks for a little explanation.
What would you say?


> Switching tack a little, it is possible that the notion of an inculcation of
> 'Bourdieuian scientific habitus' is part of the 'scientific city' project
> Bourdieu alludes to in 'Invitation...' (p.178:
>
> "... we must work to consitutie a Scientific City in which the most
> anavowable intentions have to sublimate themselves into scientific
> expression... We can raise the level of scientific censorship by a series of
> actions designed to upgrade the level of training, the minimum amount of
> scientific competency required to enter the field, etc."
>
> So here's your scientific habitus: nothing more sinister than an call for
> the 'scientification' of the more idle thoughts of the scientist. Whilst I
> agree with whomever it was that pointed to Feyerabend's work in underlining
> the 'anything goes' of the actual scientific process, nevertheless such a
> project as Bourdieu's is doubtless designed to eradicate the time-wasters
> and idle speculators (Parsons?) from the 'scientific' game.

But who's the time-waster and idle speculator? Resonant phrases about raising
"the level of scientific censorship by a series of actions designed to upgrade
the level of training, the minimum amount of scientific competency required to
enter the field" are no more contentful (capable of being unpacked, explicated,
given some empirical application, translated into a practical programme, etc.)
than talk of transmitting a system of dispositions. Other than expressing some
worthy sentiments, is Bourdieu saying anything of substance? If not, what's the
purpose of all this talk about universality? Is this all he is saying? That
the royal road to securing universality for sociology is to upgrade the level of
training and the minimum amount of scientific competency required? This is
Bourdieu's answer to longstanding questions about the status of the social
sciences and the status of his own brand of sociology vis a vis rival schools?

Regards
Simon










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