A new article published in the summer 2007 issue of Perspectives on Science examines the relationship between science, philosophy, and self-reflective disciplinary history:
The distinction between science and philosophy plays a central role in methodological, programmatic and institutional debates. Discussions of disciplinary identities typically focus on boundaries or else on genealogies, yielding models of demarcation and models of dynamics. Considerations of a discipline’s self-image, often based on history, often plays an important role in the values, projects and practices of its members.
The article also uses Gestalt psychology as a case study.
In this paper and two sequels, I focus on the human sciences and argue that their role in the history of philosophy of science is just as important and it also involves a close involvement of the history of philosophy. The focus is on Gestalt psychology and it points to some lessons for philosophy of science.
Cat, J. (2007). Switching Gestalts on Gestalt Psychology: On the Relation between Science and Philosophy. Perspectives on Science, 15(2), 131-177.