Neuverzauberung im Gestus der Wissenschaftlichkeit

Abstract

Taking the example of research on biological diversity in the 20th century, this article analyzes the social practices that are entailed in the emergence, stabilization, and circulation of scientific knowledge. It stresses that scientific knowledge also depends on processes of recognition and that very often a special aura is constructed that goes beyond what can be substantiated on a sheer technical level. We refer to this as »the re-enchantment of science«. The field of biological diversity offers particularly telling cases to demonstrate this dimension of knowledge production. In conclusion, a history of science and knowledge should thus take broader cultural and social factors into account not only as contexts of knowledge production but also as constitutive factors