ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to compare the notion of local knowledge in anthropology with the one in philosophy of scientific practice (PSP), in characterizing the relationship between both notions. It explains the role and significance of the notion of local knowledge for PSP, which demonstrates the ‘locality’ as a basic feature of all knowledge recognized according to a view of western philosophy. PSP claims that locality is the nature of knowledge. Local knowledge in PSP imposes direct impacts on the academic background, for instance, the practice of sociology of scientific knowledge. On the contrary, the PSP, according to Rouse, maintains that scientific knowledge is local, contextual, and subjective indexical. Traditional philosophy of science in the past claims theoretical priority too much therefore it distorts the real image of science, ignoring the participating and opportunistic characteristics in scientific research, or even simply not considering the nature of contextuality in scientific theories.
