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The Co-Evolution of Different Sciences
FIGURE 2.7 Consultation with the ancestors prior to adopting a new technology, Ghana. (Photo credit:
author’s own.)
FIGURE 2.8 Group of farmers burying cow horns, Staffordshire, UK. (Photo credit: Alysoun Barrett
Bolger.)
THE TRANS-CULTURAL NOTION OF SCIENCE AND ITS CO-EVOLUTION
Modern philosophers of science such as Popper, Kuhn, Latour and Feyerabend have each on their
own, but especially in their combination, challenged the foundations of mainstream science and
dismantled the idea of exclusive claims to universality. It goes beyond the scope of this chapter to
delve deep into these (postmodern) notions of science. But in a very brief way, one can refect on the
following generalisations:
• Scientifc knowledge is only an approximation to the truth. This approximation can be
pursued by trial and error only (Popper, 1980, 1965).
• Scientifc development should be as a social process in which the worldviews held by
scientists and the social process of developing scientifc activities should be understood.