A propos an earlier reference to Reichenbach, philosopher of science Brad Wray shared this interesting quote from Chapter 1 of Experience and Prediction (1938; 2006 for the University of Notre Dame edition from which the reference comes):

Every theory of knowledge must start from knowledge as a given sociological fact.  The system of knowledge as it has been built up by generations of thinkers, methods of acquiring knowledge …

all are given to us in the same way as any other sociological fact, such as social customs or religious habits or political institutions. …

Knowledge, therefore, is a very concrete thing; and the examination into its properties means studying the features of a sociological phenomenon.

We shall call the first task of epistemology its descriptive task – the task of giving a description of knowledge as it really is.  It follows, then, that epistemology in this respect forms a part of sociology” (p. 3).

As Professor Bray remarked, this is not a view one usually associates with logical positivists, although it has echoes of more radical views like those of Karl Mannheim from the 1920s.

Curious to hear from those more knowledgeable what they make of this passage.