EPISTEMOLOGIES OF SPACES AND PLACES: AN INTRODUCTION.

Th e article introduces a special themed issue of Theory of Science on epistemologies of spaces and places. It provides a disciplinary context of the theme and reviews some of the key arguments that led to the so-called spatial turn in social sciences and the humanities. Science studies in the broad sense (including social studies of science and technology, history and philosophy of science) have also been affected by this shift of research interest to spatial aspects of science at both micro- and macrolevels. Scientific knowledge has been subject to analyses that stress its local contingencies, mobility and dependencies on spatial arrangements. Th e ensuing new epistemologies require novel concepts or reconsideration of the older terms, such as universality or objectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]