Abstract: Using the details of the case study as an illustration, offers a picture of the scientist as a cognitive subject, and introduces the key notion of a scientific practice. Instead of thinking of a corpus of beliefs, it is suggested that the state of science at a time can best be represented by a multidimensional entity, among whose components are the language used, the questions hailed as significant, the answers accepted, the methodological and experimental lore, and so forth. Both individual practices and the consensus practice (the practice that represents the view of the community) are considered.

Keywords: naturalism, science, scientific community, scientific progress,