Alirio Rosales of the UBC Department of Philosophy delivers an STS colloquium talk entitled “Scientific Theories as Narratives” on Thurs, October 18, 5:00-6:30 in Buchanan Tower 1197.
Scientific theories are often contrasted with narratives. Theories are general; narratives are particular. But narratives can also be general and play constitutive roles in theoretical representations of the world. I will argue that some scientific theories are irreducibly narrative. My examples come from evolutionary biology. Recognizing the essentially narrative character of certain evolutionary theories helps, I argue, to solve some otherwise perplexing issues in the history of evolutionary biology.
