Schinkel Willem
Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Soc Stud Sci. 2016 Jun;46(3):374-395. doi: 10.1177/0306312716633537.
This article foregrounds comparison as a key practice in science by discussing the case of chronological comparability in paleoclimatology. Based on an ethnographic study of a paleoclimate research project, I illustrate how paleoclimatologists are able to produce comparative data on and images of past climates through the use of 'proxies'. I focus on the calibration of a type of algae as a proxy for climate variables. Such comparability is one illustration of the myriad ways in which relatively standardized forms of comparison underlie conceptions of 'climate change' and of 'climate' itself. The work of comparison discussed here has relevance for a variety of practices of qualification, quantification, monitoring, and evaluation.
本文通过讨论古气候学中年代学可比性的案例，将比较作为科学中的一项关键实践置于突出位置。基于对一个古气候研究项目的人种志研究，我阐述了古气候学家如何通过使用“代用指标”来生成关于过去气候的比较数据和图像。我重点关注一种藻类作为气候变量代用指标的校准。这种可比性是相对标准化的比较形式构成“气候变化”和“气候”本身概念基础的众多方式之一。这里讨论的比较工作与各种鉴定、量化、监测和评估实践相关。
