{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T16:30:53Z","timestamp":1753893053129,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]],"date-time":"2023-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1690934400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Res. Metr. Anal."],"abstract":"<jats:p>In the book <jats:italic>Laboratory Life<\/jats:italic> Latour and Woolgar present an account of how scientific \u201cfacts\u201d are formed through a process of microsocial interactions among individuals and \u201cinscription devices\u201d in the lab initially described as social construction. The process moves through a series of steps during which the details and nature of the object become more and more certain until all qualifications are dropped, and the \u201cfact\u201d emerges as secure scientific knowledge. An alternative to this account is described based on a Bayesian probabilistic framework which arrives at the same end point. The motive force for the constructivist approach appears to involve social processes of convincing colleagues while the Bayesian approach relies on the consistency of theory and evidence as judged by the participants. The role of social processes is discussed in Bayesian terms, the acquisition and asymmetry of information, and its analogy to puzzle solving. Some parallels between the Bayesian and constructivist accounts are noted especially in relation to information theory.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frma.2023.1214512","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]],"date-time":"2023-08-02T11:31:05Z","timestamp":1690975865000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Is scientific knowledge socially constructed? A Bayesian account of Laboratory Life"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Henry","family":"Small","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1016\/S0039-3681(98)00038-7","article-title":"Anti-latour","author":"Bloor","year":"1999","journal-title":"Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1016\/0006-291X(69)90868-7","article-title":"The identity and clinical and hormonal properties of the thyrotropin releasing hormones and pyroglutamyl-histidine-proline amide","volume":"37","author":"Boler","year":"1969","journal-title":"Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1063\/1.3057866","volume-title":"Science and Information Theory","author":"Brillouin","year":"1962"},{"key":"B4","first-page":"1870","article-title":"Structure mol\u00e9culaire du facteur hypothalamique hypophysiotrope TRF d'origine ovine","volume":"269","author":"Burgus","year":"","journal-title":"Comptes Rendus des scances de l'Academie des Sciences"},{"key":"B5","first-page":"226","article-title":"D\u00e9riv\u00e9s polypeptidiques de synth\u00e8se dou\u00e9s d'activit\u00e9 hypophysiotrope TRF: Nouvelles observations","volume":"269","author":"Burgus","year":"","journal-title":"Comptes Rendus des scances de l'Academie des Sciences"},{"volume-title":"Making Science: Between Nature and Society","year":"1992","author":"Cole","key":"B6"},{"volume-title":"Elements of Information Theory, 2nd Edn","year":"2006","author":"Cover","key":"B7"},{"key":"B8","first-page":"390","article-title":"\u201cPeptides in the brain: the new endocrinology of the neuron,\u201d","volume-title":"Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1971-1980","author":"Guillemin","year":"1977"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-physiol-082712-104641","article-title":"A conversation with Roger Guillemin","volume":"75","author":"Guillemin","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ann. Rev. Physiol"},{"volume-title":"Neural Control of the Pituitary Gland","year":"1955","author":"Harris","key":"B10"},{"volume-title":"Vincent du Vigneaud 1901-1978","year":"1987","author":"Hofmann","key":"B11"},{"key":"B12","first-page":"103","article-title":"\u201cBayesianism,\u201d","volume-title":"The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science","author":"Howson","year":"2008"},{"volume-title":"Probabilistic Graphical Model: Principles and Techniques","year":"2009","author":"Koller","key":"B13"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9781139171434.009","article-title":"\u201cFalsification and the methodology of scientific research programmes,\u201d","volume-title":"Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge","author":"Lakatos","year":"1970"},{"volume-title":"Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts","year":"1979","author":"Latour","key":"B15"},{"volume-title":"Why Trust Science?","year":"2019","author":"Oreskes","key":"B16"},{"key":"B17","first-page":"18","article-title":"\u201cAspects of hypothalamic regulation of the pituitary gland with major emphasis on its implications for the control of reproductive processes,\u201d","volume-title":"Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1971-1980","author":"Schally","year":"1977"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1162\/qss_a_00233","article-title":"Bayesian history of science: the case of Watson and Crick and the structure of DNA","volume":"4","author":"Small","year":"2023","journal-title":"Quant. Sci. Stud"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1177\/030631285015001006","article-title":"Can scientists rationally assess conditional inferences?","volume":"15","author":"Tweney","year":"1985","journal-title":"Soc. Stud. Sci"},{"volume-title":"The Nobel Duel","year":"1981","author":"Wade","key":"B20"},{"key":"B21","article-title":"\u201cRelevance theory,\u201d","volume-title":"Handbook of Pragmatics","author":"Wilson","year":"2008"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frma.2023.1214512\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]],"date-time":"2023-08-02T11:31:19Z","timestamp":1690975879000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frma.2023.1214512\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]},"references-count":21,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frma.2023.1214512"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frma.2023.1214512","relation":{},"ISSN":["2504-0537"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2504-0537"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,8,2]]},"article-number":"1214512"}}