Logology (science)

Logology (science) is the study of the sciences broadly construed, of their various histories, of the psychology and sociology of science, and of policies regarding scientific research and the education and support of scientists.

Inception

Between the World Wars, sociologists proposed the founding of a science devoted to study of science itself. In a 1935 paper, Maria Ossowska and Stanisław Ossowski first introduced the term "science of science". They claimed that the new term subsumed more standard ones such as epistemology, the philosophy of science, the psychology of science, and the sociology of science. Their vision of a "science of science" program was that it would address practical questions like the organization of institutions of higher learning and research institutes, the education and promotion of scientific workers, as well as the history of science and of the various scientific disciplines.

The science of science from the start had programmatically been emancipated from its sociology forebear. However, an offshoot of the science of science has continued to be conceived of in sociological terms. This is exemplified by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's book Science of Science and Reflexivity and by several books by sociologist Barry Sandywell, three of which bear the same subtitle, "Logological Investigations".