The Language of Science: What it Means to Know Something

Science is what scientists do. More specifically, it is what they say about the world they study and about how they study it. Science is a way of talking about the world that enables the listener to behave more effectively with respect to what is described. When we refer to "science," we are referring primarily to the verbal practices of scientists, which are shaped by a particular kind of verbal community that differs in important ways from the verbal communities of everyday life. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior has clear implications for scientific philosophy and practice, and, even more broadly, for a radical approach to epistemology. This talk will not necessarily introduce new ideas or analyses, but I will attempt to refine and expand Skinner’s analysis of scientific language, including the implications for how we know, what we can know, and what it means to know anything at all.