Project

Laboratory Learning: Epistemic Virtues and Teaching Practices in 19th-Century Experimental Chemistry

Code
1219226N
Duration
01 November 2025 → 31 October 2028
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Humanities and the arts
    • History of science
    • Epistemology
    • General philosophy of science
    • Philosophy of natural sciences
Keywords
Epistemic virtues and vices Integrated history and philosophy of science History and philosophy of chemistry (education)
 
Project description
This project is situated in the fields of integrated history and philosophy of science and philosophy of scientific practice. It aims to provide an epistemological analysis of the role of teaching practices in 19th-century experimental chemistry and their relationship to research. Historiographical accounts have repeatedly called attention to the importance of pedagogical innovations in experimental chemistry during the 19th century. A philosophical analysis of these innovations however remains lacking. This project uses virtue epistemology as a framework to provide such an analysis and to show how teaching practices played a role in the production and justification of knowledge in 19th-century experimental chemistry. There are three main objectives in the project. First, identifying which epistemic virtues and vices were deemed relevant in 19th-century experimental chemistry teaching. Second, providing a detailed reconstruction of specific teaching practices and the way in which these allowed students to acquire relevant epistemic virtues. Third, assessing the role that epistemic virtues and the related teaching practices played in controversies in chemistry.