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A philosophical framework holding that natural science knowledge is context-dependent—that what counts as good science, valid experiment, acceptable theory varies with historical, technological, and social contexts. Contextualism challenges the image of science as a timeless, context-free pursuit of truth. The experiments possible in one era depend on available technology; the theories accepted depend on what questions seem important; the methods considered rigorous evolve over time. Contextualism doesn't deny that science discovers real features of the world, but insists that discovery is always discovery-in-context. It demands that natural scientists and historians attend to the conditions that make scientific knowledge possible.
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