Luca Guzzardi

The Logic That Governs Each Step of Scientific Research

answers by means of zones of rules. The structure of questions and answers is historically situated because the zones of rules are historically given and are modified by a historical process that involves all dictionaries: an experiment by Vesalius and one by Millikan are not historical examples of the absolute category of experiment as the Galilean explanation of the free fall and the quantum explanation of the atomic structure are not historical examples of the absolute category of scientific explanation. In other words, historical processes are not a repository of edifying examples. A theory of knowledge indulging in absolute categories would be nothing but a catechism in need of a false history. [Pp. 178–179]