Science & Anti–Science - Hardcover

Holton, Gerald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067479298X ISBN 13: 9780674792982

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1993

Synopsis

What is good science? What goal - if any - is the proper end of scientific activity? Is there a legitimizing authority that scientists may claim? These questions have long been debated but, as Gerald Holton points out, every era must offer its own responses. This book sets out to examine these questions, not in the abstract, but showing their historic roots and the answers emerging from the scientific and political controversies of the past century. Employing the case-study method and the concept of scientific themata that he has proposed, Holton displays the broad scope of his insight into the workings of science: from the influence of Ernst Mach on 20th-century physicists, biologists, psychologists, and other thinkers, to the rhetorical strategies used in the work of Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and others; from the bickering between Thomas Jefferson and the US Congress over the proper form of federal sponsorship of scientific research, to philosophical debates since Oswald Spengler over whether our scientific knowledge will ever be complete. In his final chapter, Holton scrutinizes the "anti-science phenomenon". This he defines as the world views and political ambitions of the proponents of science as it is practised today; and on the other hand, those of the critics of "establishment science" (animal rights activists, environmentalists, feminists and social-constructionists, and those worried that science might overwhelm the individual in the postmodern world) and the adherents of "alternative science" (creationists, New Age healers and astrologers). Science and Anti-Science will be of great interest not only to scientists and scholars in the field of science studies but also to educators, policymakers, and all those who wish to gain a fuller understanding, of challenges to and doubts about the role of science in our lives today.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

What is good science? What goal - if any - is the proper end of scientific activity? Is there a legitimating authority that scientists may claim? How serious a threat are the anti-science movements? These questions have long been debated but, as Gerald Holton points out, every era must offer its own responses. This book examines these questions not in the abstract but shows their historic roots and the answers emerging from the scientific and political controversies of this century. Employing the case-study method and the concept of scientific themata that he has pioneered, Holton displays the broad scope of his insight into the workings of science: from the influence of Ernst Mach on twentieth-century physicists, biologists, psychologists, and other thinkers to the rhetorical strategies used in the work of Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and others; from the bickering between Thomas Jefferson and the U.S. Congress over the proper form of federal sponsorship of scientific research to philosophical debates since Oswald Spengler over whether our scientific knowledge will ever be "complete". In a masterful final chapter, Holton scrutinizes the "anti-science phenomenon", the increasingly common opposition to science as practiced today. He approaches this contentious issue by examining the world views and political ambitions of the proponents of science as well as those of its opponents - the critics of "establishment science" (including even those who fear that science threatens to overwhelm the individual in the postmodern world) and the adherents of "alternative science" (Creationists, New Age "healers", astrologers). Through it all runs the thread of the author's deep historical knowledgeand his humanistic understanding of science in modern culture. Science and Anti-Science will be of great interest not studies but also to educators, policymakers, and all those who wish to gain a fuller understanding of challenges to and doubts about the role of science in our lives today.

About the Author:

Gerald Holton is Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics, and Research Professor of History of Science, Harvard University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 067479298X
• ISBN 13: 9780674792982
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216