Historical Variability of the Self in the Scientific Landscape

Abstract

The article is a review of «Objectivity» by L. Daston and P. Gallison. The authors reject the timeless understanding of objectivity and demonstrate on a series of examples of specific practices of creating, using and reading scientific images in Atlases from the XVIII century that objectivity has its moment of birth - XIX century and its own history. The authors assume the definition of objectivity as a desire to get rid of subjectivity in the creation of a scientific image. Objectivity functions as one of the epistemological virtues, along with truth and certainty. Daston and Gallison describe several regimes of scientific practices and show their relation to the formation of scientific “selves” and connection with changing conceptions of subjectivity.