Obvious Decisions: Decision-making among French Ponts-et-Chaussées Engineers around 1800.  

Oleh:

Graber, Frédéric

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Social Studies of Science vol. 37 no. 6 (Dec. 2007), page 935.
Topik: consensus; French state engineers; public works; technical assembly; vot
Fulltext: 935.pdf (280.65KB)

Isi artikel

This paper investigates the decision-making procedures in a technical assembly, the assemblée des Ponts et Chaussées, at the turn of the 19th century. The assemblée was the central institution of a French public-works administration, in which projects were discussed and adopted. The paper describes the transformations of this institution, its routine functioning, and focuses especially on a very controversial case during the Consulate, the Saint-Quentin canal, where conflicting opinions about the use of the vote emerged. The paper studies the engineers’ preference for a consensus procedure and their mistrust for the vote. It analyses the epistemological justifications of such a consensus, especially the references to different forms of ‘obviousness’, and its practical social forms, especially the importance (and ambiguous meaning) of silence.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali