Harry Collins, (born 13 June 1943),
is a British
sociologist of science at the School of Social Sciences,
Cardiff University, Wales. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
.
Career
While at the
University of Bath
(Virgil, Georgics II)
, mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind
, established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...
Professor Collins developed the Bath School approach to the
sociology of scientific knowledge
The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." The sociolog ...
.
In ''Changing Order: Replication and Induction in Scientific Practice'', Collins outlines a general theory of
sociology of science
The sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is the study of science as a social activity, especially dealing with "the social conditions and effects of science, and with the social structures and processes of scientific activity." The sociolog ...
. Drawing from the concepts of "Language Game" and "Forms of Life", derived from the philosopher
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...
, he seeks an explanation for how scientists follow rules and patterns when performing experiments and scientific practice. Collins' perspective is usually called a
relativist
Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assessed. Ther ...
position, although this is a strong
oversimplification
The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...
.
Collins has written for over 30 years on the sociology of
gravitational wave physics. His publications in this area include: "The Seven Sexes: Study in Sociology of a Phenomenon, or Replication of Experiments in Physics" "Son of Seven Sexes: The Social Destruction of a Physical Phenomenon". He has traced the search for gravitational waves, and has shown how scientific data can be subject to interpretative flexibility, and how social or 'non-scientific' means can be sometimes used to close
scientific controversies
Controversies involving science exists in all aspects. Sometimes defined as a "''persistent disagreement''" over knowledge, the contrasting opinions of certain topics leaves individuals in a tense setting.
A scientific controversy is a substanti ...
.
At the beginning of the two thousands, Collins along with Dr Robert Evans, also of Cardiff University, has published works on what they term the "Third Wave of Science Studies" and, in particular, the idea of
interactional expertise
Interactional expertise is part of a more complex classification of expertise developed by Harry Collins and Robert Evans (both based at Cardiff University). In this initial formulation interactional expertise was part of a threefold classificatio ...
. This aims to address questions of legitimacy and extension and public involvement in scientific decision-making. They continue to research and publish on this topic.
Selected works
Books
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**Explains the nature and limits of intelligent machines, especially expert systems.
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** ''Big Dog'', Collins' next book on LIGO, was published as part of the paperback edition of ''Gravity's Ghost'' (2011), with a combined title.
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Chapters in books
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Journal articles
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References
External links
Web page at University of CardiffThe Expertise NetworkHarry Collins's Gravitational Wave Project
H. M. Collins
at Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
Authorities — with 16 catalogue records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Harry
1943 births
Academics of Cardiff University
Academics of the University of Bath
British sociologists
Living people
People from Penarth
Place of birth missing (living people)
Sociologists of science
Fellows of the British Academy