El naturalismo científico en la obra de John Tyndall: Fragments of science

El análisis de los ensayos de John Tyndall, Fragments of Science, permite identificar la teoría atómica, el principio de conservación de la energía y el evolucionismo darwinista como los elementos constitutivos del andamiaje teórico del naturalismo científico. Así, en su ensayo “On the Study of Physics” se resumen sus brillantes facetas como educador y divulgador científico, desarrolladas fundamentalmente en el seno de la Royal Institution. En la lectura “On Force”, Tyndall da por finalizada la controversia Joule- Mayer sobre la primacía del descubrimiento del principio de conservación de la energía, a la vez que plantea algunas de las claves de la lucha por el liderazgo en el seno de la comunidad científica. El discurso presidencial ante la British Association de 1874 en Belfast ejemplifica el coraje de Tyndall en su empeño por demarcar los territorios de la ciencia y la religión, a la luz de los nuevos desafíos científicos. En el trasfondo subyacen los procesos de secularización de la sociedad y de profesionalización de una comunidad científica heterogénea. El compromiso cívico que Tyndall demuestra en “The Belfast Address” es digno corolario de una vida y obra que permite situarlo como paradigma de lo que, en la terminología de Turner, se ha dado en denominar científico público.

Pathological science.

Review of the book : The undergrowth of science: delusion, self-deception and human frailty, by W. Gratzer, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

On the use of IRMS in forensic science: proposals for a methodological approach.

The flourishing number of publications on the use of isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) in forensicscience denotes the enthusiasm and the attraction generated by this technology. IRMS has demonstratedits potential to distinguish chemically identical compounds coming from different sources. Despite thenumerous applications of IRMS to a wide range of forensic materials, its implementation in a forensicframework is less straightforward than it appears. In addition, each laboratory has developed its ownstrategy of analysis on calibration, sequence design, standards utilisation and data treatment without aclear consensus.Through the experience acquired from research undertaken in different forensic fields, we propose amethodological framework of the whole process using IRMS methods. We emphasize the importance ofconsidering isotopic results as part of a whole approach, when applying this technology to a particularforensic issue. The process is divided into six different steps, which should be considered for a thoughtfuland relevant application. The dissection of this process into fundamental steps, further detailed, enablesa better understanding of the essential, though not exhaustive, factors that have to be considered in orderto obtain results of quality and sufficiently robust to proceed to retrospective analyses or interlaboratorycomparisons.

Une pensée économique russe?: présentation, traduction et annotation de l'article "Science Economique" (1899) de Mikhail Ivanovich Tugan-Baranovskij

L'économiste russe Tugan-Baranovskij (1865-1919) a publié en 1899 une notice sur le développement de la « science économique russe » pour la première encyclopédie universelle russe, le Brockhaus-Efron. Sous la forme d'un catalogue chronologique des économistes russes et de leurs ouvrages tout au long du XIXe siècle, le récit de Tugan-Baranovskij représente une des premières tentatives d'écrire une histoire de la pensée économique russe. L'intérêt du texte se manifeste lorsqu'on s'interroge sur l'existence d'une telle science « nationale » de l'économie politique. Nous présentons ici en traduction française ce récit jamais encore traduit du russe, et nous l'accompagnons de notes sur les auteurs et les ouvrages qui y sont signalés.

Girls like pink: explaining sex-typed occupational aspirations amongst young children

There is a high degree of sex-typing in young children's occupational aspirations and this has consequences for subsequent occupational segregation. Sociologists typically attribute early sex-differences in occupational preferences to gender socialization. Yet we still know surprisingly little about the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of sex-typical preferences and there is considerable theoretical controversy regarding the role of individual agency in the process of preference formation. This study analyzes the determinants of sex-typed occupational aspirations amongst British children aged between 11 and 15. We specify different mechanisms involved in the transmission of sex-typical preferences and propose an innovative definition of individual agency that is anchored in observable psychological traits linked to self-direction. This allows us to perform a simultaneous test of socialization and agency predictors of occupational sex-typing. We find that parental influences on occupational preferences operate mainly through three distinctive channels: 1) the effect that parental socio-economic resources have on the scope of children's occupational aspirations, 2) children's direct imitation of parental occupations, and 3) children's learning of sex-typed roles via the observation of parental behavior. We also find a strong net effect of children's own psychological predispositions -self-esteem in particular- on the incidence of sex-typical occupational preferences. Yet large differences in the occupational aspirations of girls and boys remain unexplained.