Thematic Analysis and its Interdisciplinary Interest: Advantage or a Disadvantage for Holton’s Purpose?


Published: Jun 30, 2023
Keywords:
thematic analysis interdisciplinary interest themata Holton method
Georges Alahou
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3375-4012
Abstract

The term “thematic analysis” abounds in research articles and appears in the titles of books, without the authors of these writings being primarily concerned with defining what thematic analysis is. Thematic analysis is present in the current vocabulary of several disciplines and is presented as a working method of choice in psychology, sociology, or linguistics, to name but a few. This article seeks to situate thematic analysis in the thinking of Holton Gerald, who introduced it into the philosophy of science as a rational approach that can account for scientific discovery and progress. The aim of this article is to see whether the attested interdisciplinary interest nature of thematic analysis argues in favour or against Holton’s claim of making it a credible and acceptable tool in philosophy of science.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Georges Alahou, Centre Saint-Augustin de Dakar, Senegal

Lecturer in philosophy at Centre Saint-Augustin de Dakar (CSA)/ Senegal

References
“Thème.” In Dictionnaire de La Langue Française. Paris: Le Robert, 2005.
“Thème.” In Dictionnaire Français. 2021. https://www.linternaute.fr/dictionnaire/fr/definition/theme/.
Adorno, Theodor, and Karl Popper. De Vienne à Francfort: la querelle allemande des sciences sociales. Brussels: Complexe, 1979.
Alfonsi, Philippe. Au Nom de La Science. Paris: Bernard Barrault, 1989.
Bachelard, Gaston. The Philosophy of No: A Philosophy of the New Scientific Mind. Translated by G. C. Waterston. New York: The Orion Press, 1968.
Brannigan, Augustine. The Social Basis of Scientific Discoveries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Broad William J., and Nicholas Wade. Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science. London: Century Publishing, 1983.
Holton, Gerald. Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein. Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 1988.
Holton, Gerald. “Über die Hypothesen, welche der Naturwissenschaft zu Grunde liegen.” Erano-Jahrbuch 31 (1963): 351-425.
Holton, Gerald. Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The Rebellion against Science at the End of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Holton, Gerald. L’imagination scientifique. Translated by Jean-François Roberts. Paris: Gallimard, 1981.
Holton, Gerald. L’invention Scientifique: Themata et Interprétation. Translated by Paul Scheurer. Paris: Gallimard, 1982.
Legary Jean-Marie, and Anne-Françoise Schmid. Philosophie de l’interdisciplinarité. Paris: Petra, 2004.
Marková, Ivana. “Themata in Science and in Common Sense.” Kairos 19, no. 1 (2017): 68-92. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/kjps-2017-0011.
Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London, and New York: Routledge, 2005.
Quidu, Matthieu. “Les thêmata dans la recherche en STAPS: motivations et modalites d' intérvention.” STAPS 84, no. 2 (2009): 7-25. doi: https://doi.org/10.3917/sta.084.0007.
Reichenbach, Hans. Experience and Prediction: An Analysis of the Foundations and the Structure of Knowledge. Chicago, and London: Phoenix Books, The University of Chicago, 1961.
Schaeffer, Jean-Marie. “Thème.” Encyclopédie Philosophique (M-Z): Les Notions Philosophiques. Tome 2. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1990.
Weber, Jean-Paul. “L’ analyse thématique: hier, aujourd’hui, demain.” Études françaises 2, no. 1 (1966): 29-72.