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Constructing a Social Science for Postwar America

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Steve Heims presents to us a historical account of the series of conferences, supported by the Macy foundation and held between 1946 and 1953, that dealt with what would eventually be called cybernetics. He approached the topic as an outsider –as a physicist–, with an interest awakened during the Vietnam War era, to "gain a broader perspective on the practice of the sciences and the direction they had taken into the postwar world."(viii) In the process, Heims sets out to "acknowledge fully that science is a human activity, not only a body of knowledge" (ibid). To pursue his task, he started by analyzing the proceedings of the conferences. Years later, as he continued his project, he took a historical, interpretive approach to describe and understand the meanings of documents and conversations. Through historical analysis of direct and secondary sources, as well as interviews with conference participants, we are presented with an account of the conversations and processes that the "tribe" or the "cluster" of cyberneticians held, created, and promoted during the Macy conferences.

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Publisher

: ., 2001

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1-8

Language

English

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NONE

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Constructing a Social Science for Postwar America

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