David Bloor

David Bloor

David Bloor (born 1942 in Derby) is a professor and former director of the Science Studies Unit at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

He began his academic career in the study of philosophy and psychology. In the 1970s, he and Barry Barnes were the leading figures in the so-called "Strong Program in the Sociology of Sciences" (also translated as "Radical Program in the Sociology of Science"), which held positions contrary to positivism in science, attributing this position to the "Edinburgh School". His book 'Knowledge and Social Imagery' (Routledge, 1976) is one of the frameworks of reference for the strong programme.
Bloor wrote extensively about the Kuhn/Popper debate, and is an important figure in the sociology of science. In the 1980s, when French theorists such as Bruno Latour developed actor-network theory (based in part on the strong program), David Bloor strongly disagreed with its foundations, arguing that it was a mistake to treat humans and non-humans as equally empowered entities to act as agents in the world. Bloor went so far as to write an article called "Anti-Latour," which heated up the already agitated debate among contemporary currents of the sociology of science.