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Split and Splice: A Phenomenology of Experimentation
An esteemed historian of science explores the diversity of scientific experimentation.
The experiment has long been seen as a test bed for theory, but in Split and Splice , Hans-Jörg Rheinberger makes the case, instead, for treating experimentation as a creative practice. His latest book provides an innovative look at the experimental protocols and connections that have made the life sciences so productive.
Delving into the materiality of the experiment, the first part of the book assesses traces, models, grafting, and note-taking—the conditions that give experiments structure and make discovery possible. The second section widens its focus from micro-level laboratory processes to the temporal, spatial, and narrative links between experimental systems. Rheinberger narrates with accessible examples, most of which are drawn from molecular biology, including from the author’s laboratory notebooks from his years researching ribosomes.
A critical hit when it was released in Germany, Split and Splice describes a method that involves irregular results and hit-or-miss connections—not analysis, not synthesis, but the splitting and splicing that form a scientific experiment. Building on Rheinberger’s earlier writing about science and epistemology, this book is a major achievement by one of today’s most influential theorists of scientific practice.
The experiment has long been seen as a test bed for theory, but in Split and Splice , Hans-Jörg Rheinberger makes the case, instead, for treating experimentation as a creative practice. His latest book provides an innovative look at the experimental protocols and connections that have made the life sciences so productive.
Delving into the materiality of the experiment, the first part of the book assesses traces, models, grafting, and note-taking—the conditions that give experiments structure and make discovery possible. The second section widens its focus from micro-level laboratory processes to the temporal, spatial, and narrative links between experimental systems. Rheinberger narrates with accessible examples, most of which are drawn from molecular biology, including from the author’s laboratory notebooks from his years researching ribosomes.
A critical hit when it was released in Germany, Split and Splice describes a method that involves irregular results and hit-or-miss connections—not analysis, not synthesis, but the splitting and splicing that form a scientific experiment. Building on Rheinberger’s earlier writing about science and epistemology, this book is a major achievement by one of today’s most influential theorists of scientific practice.
- GenresPhilosophy
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 26, 2023
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November 5, 2023
This book presents an ambitiously comprehensive yet concise philosophy of experimental practice in the modern sciences. I will keep it brief, and say it’s not an introductory text. It’s one of those texts that compresses a lot of theory and covers a lot of ground in very few words, leading to jargon-riddled passages that honestly just made me feel stupid at times for having to do a double or triple take. That being said, the book is filled with lots of useful one-liners that you can drop into your next history or philosophy of science essay, and the breadth of the topics covered means there’s probably something in it for anyone already working in those fields. However, the more you already work with this kind of language, the more you’ll probably get out of it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review