Download or read book The Truth of Science written by Roger G. Newton and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's not a scientific truth that has come into question lately but the truth--the very notion of scientific truth. Bringing a reasonable voice to the culture wars that have sprung up around this notion, this book offers a clear and constructive response to those who contend, in parodies, polemics and op-ed pieces, that there really is no such thing as verifiable objective truth--without which there could be no such thing as scientific authority. A distinguished physicist with a rare gift for making the most complicated scientific ideas comprehensible, Roger Newton gives us a guided tour of the intellectual structure of physical science. From there he conducts us through the understanding of reality engendered by modern physics, the most theoretically advanced of the sciences. With its firsthand look at models, facts, and theories, intuition and imagination, the use of analogies and metaphors, the importance of mathematics (and now, computers), and the "virtual" reality of the physics of micro-particles, The Truth of Science truly is a practicing scientist's account of the foundations, processes, and value of science. To claims that science is a social construction, Newton answers with the working scientist's credo: "A body of assertions is true if it forms a coherent whole and works both in the external world and in our minds." The truth of science, for Newton, is nothing more or less than a relentless questioning of authority combined with a relentless striving for objectivity in the full awareness that the process never ends. With its lucid exposition of the ideals, methods, and goals of science, his book performs a great feat in service of this truth.
Download or read book Making Truth written by Theodore L. Brown and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new perspective on how scientists reason about the world, design and interpret experiments and communicate with one another and with the larger society outside science.
Download or read book An Instinct for Truth written by Robert T. Pennock and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the scientific mindset—such character virtues as curiosity, veracity, attentiveness, and humility to evidence—and its importance for science, democracy, and human flourishing. Exemplary scientists have a characteristic way of viewing the world and their work: their mindset and methods all aim at discovering truths about nature. In An Instinct for Truth, Robert Pennock explores this scientific mindset and argues that what Charles Darwin called “an instinct for truth, knowledge, and discovery” has a tacit moral structure—that it is important not only for scientific excellence and integrity but also for democracy and human flourishing. In an era of “post-truth,” the scientific drive to discover empirical truths has a special value. Taking a virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity, skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and vices. He explains that curiosity is the most distinctive element of the scientific character, by which other norms are shaped; discusses the passionate nature of scientific attentiveness; and calls for science education not only to teach scientific findings and methods but also to nurture the scientific mindset and its core values. Drawing on historical sources as well as a sociological study of more than a thousand scientists, Pennock's philosophical account is grounded in values that scientists themselves recognize they should aspire to. Pennock argues that epistemic and ethical values are normatively interconnected, and that for science and society to flourish, we need not just a philosophy of science, but a philosophy of the scientist.
Download or read book The Way of Science written by Dennis R. Trumble and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2013-07-16 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How science can convey a profound sense of wonder, connectedness, and optimism about the human condition. This book makes a compelling case that now more than ever the public at large needs to appreciate the critical-thinking tools that science has to offer and be educated in basic science literacy. The author emphasizes that the methods and facts of science are accessible to everyone, and that, contrary to popular belief, understanding science does not require extraordinary intelligence. He also notes that scientific rationality and critical thinking are not only good for our physical well-being but also are fully in sync with our highest moral codes. He illustrates the many ways in which the scientific worldview offers a profound sense of wonder, connectedness, and optimism about the human condition, an inspiring perspective that satisfies age-old spiritual aspirations. At a time of daunting environmental challenges and rampant misinformation, this book provides a welcome corrective and reason to hope for the future.
Download or read book Betrayers of the Truth written by William J. Broad and published by Touchstone. This book was released on 1983 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines instances of scientific fraud in research areas ranging from astronomy and physics to biology and medicine, and assesses the influence of huge monetary rewards and enormous research organizations on corruption in science
Download or read book Truth and Tension in Science and Religion written by Varadaraja V. Raman and published by Beech River Books. This book was released on 2009 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An examination of the frameworks of science and religion that provides a multi-cultural view of how they affect our perception of the truth"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Science Truth And Meaning From Wonder To Understanding written by Benjamin L J Webb and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2022-04-07 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science, Truth, and Meaning presents a scientific and philosophical examination of our place in the world. It also celebrates how diverse, scientific knowledge is interconnected and reducible to common foundations.The book focuses on aspects of scientific truth that relate to our understanding of reality, and confronts whether truth is absolute or relative to what we are. Hence, it assesses the meaning of the scientific deductions we have made and how they have profoundly influenced our conception of life and existence.The subtitle is 'From Wonder to Understanding', which is a paraphrased quote from Einstein, who said that the search for scientific truth is ' ... a continual flight from wonder to understanding'.In addressing the goal of advancing our understanding of our place in the world, this book also reveals the development and details of diverse sciences, their connections and achievements, and that while perhaps the same fundamental questions exist, they are seen in the light of an ever-refined scientific perspective on reality.Why the book is needed: many popular science books have been written, aimed at different levels of subject expertise, and nearly all treat their specific subject in isolation. Few attempt to link different sciences to their common foundations, and those that do are written by physicists. Since human knowledge is derived by, and relates to, the biological organism that human beings are, then such a book written from a biological perspective represents a novel perspective on the integration of science, and addresses new questions. This is such a book.Impressive aspects: the depth, breadth, consistency, and clarity of the work.
Download or read book Science Secrets written by Alberto A. Martinez and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2011-05-29 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Accessibly written in an engaging style, this book examines classic popular stories in the history of science. Some of the myths discussed include Franklin's Kite, Newton's Apple, and Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom. Martn̕ez successfully holds readers' attention by relying on rich documentation from primary sources to debunk speculations that have become reified over time. He argues that although scientists have disagreed with one another, the disagreements have been productive. Features includes extensive primary source documentation and detailed explanations of how to compare contradictory sources in order to determine which accounts are truly valid"-- Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Science and Religion in Quest of Truth written by John Polkinghorne and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the vantage point of eighty years, a highly regarded scientist and theologian surveys the full spectrum of critical issues between science and theologyJohn Polkinghorne, an international figure known both for his contributions to the field of theoretical elementary particle physics and for his work as a theologian, has over the years filled a bookshelf with writings devoted to specific topics in science and religion. In this new book, he undertakes for the first time a survey of all the major issues at the intersection of science and religion, concentrating on what he considers the essential insights for each. Clearly and without assuming prior knowledge, he addresses causality, cosmology, evolution, consciousness, natural theology, divine providence, revelation, and scripture. Each chapter also provides references to his other books in which more detailed treatments of specific issues can be found.For those who are new to what Polkinghorne calls "one of the most significant interdisciplinary interactions of our time," this volume serves as an excellent introduction. For readers already familiar with John Polkinghorne's books, this latest is a welcome reminder of the breadth of his thought and the subtlety of his approach in the quest for truthful understanding.
Download or read book Faith in Science written by Mark Richardson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-07-05 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through intimate conversations with some of the world's most distinguished scientists (including two Nobel Laureates), Faith in Science invites us to explore the connections between scientific and religious approaches to truth. Subjects range from the existence and nature of God to the role of spirituality in modern science. The result is a clear account of how two major cultural forces can work together to offer unique insights into questions of existence.
Download or read book Theory and Reality written by Peter Godfrey-Smith and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-07-16 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is “really” like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the reader on a grand tour of more than a hundred years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science. Examples and asides engage the beginning student, a glossary of terms explains key concepts, and suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter. Like no other text in this field, Theory and Reality combines a survey of recent history of the philosophy of science with current key debates that any beginning scholar or critical reader can follow. The second edition is thoroughly updated and expanded by the author with a new chapter on truth, simplicity, and models in science.
Download or read book The Matter of Facts written by Gareth Leng and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-03-18 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How biases, the desire for a good narrative, reliance on citation metrics, and other problems undermine confidence in modern science. Modern science is built on experimental evidence, yet scientists are often very selective in deciding what evidence to use and tend to disagree about how to interpret it. In The Matter of Facts, Gareth and Rhodri Leng explore how scientists produce and use evidence. They do so to contextualize an array of problems confronting modern science that have raised concerns about its reliability: the widespread use of inappropriate statistical tests, a shortage of replication studies, and a bias in both publishing and citing “positive” results. Before these problems can be addressed meaningfully, the authors argue, we must understand what makes science work and what leads it astray. The myth of science is that scientists constantly challenge their own thinking. But in reality, all scientists are in the business of persuading other scientists of the importance of their own ideas, and they do so by combining reason with rhetoric. Often, they look for evidence that will support their ideas, not for evidence that might contradict them; often, they present evidence in a way that makes it appear to be supportive; and often, they ignore inconvenient evidence. In a series of essays focusing on controversies, disputes, and discoveries, the authors vividly portray science as a human activity, driven by passion as well as by reason. By analyzing the fluidity of scientific concepts and the dynamic and unpredictable development of scientific fields, the authors paint a picture of modern science and the pressures it faces.
Download or read book A Social History of Truth written by Steven Shapin and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-11-18 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we come to trust our knowledge of the world? What are the means by which we distinguish true from false accounts? Why do we credit one observational statement over another? In A Social History of Truth, Shapin engages these universal questions through an elegant recreation of a crucial period in the history of early modern science: the social world of gentlemen-philosophers in seventeenth-century England. Steven Shapin paints a vivid picture of the relations between gentlemanly culture and scientific practice. He argues that problems of credibility in science were practically solved through the codes and conventions of genteel conduct: trust, civility, honor, and integrity. These codes formed, and arguably still form, an important basis for securing reliable knowledge about the natural world. Shapin uses detailed historical narrative to argue about the establishment of factual knowledge both in science and in everyday practice. Accounts of the mores and manners of gentlemen-philosophers are used to illustrate Shapin's broad claim that trust is imperative for constituting every kind of knowledge. Knowledge-making is always a collective enterprise: people have to know whom to trust in order to know something about the natural world.
Download or read book Defenders of the Truth written by Ullica Christina Olofsdotter Segerstråle and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2000 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the last twenty-five years, sociobiologists have come under continuous attack by a group of left-wing academics, who have accused the former of dubious and politically dangerous science. Many have taken the critics' charges at face value. But have the critics been right? And what are their own motivations? This book strives to set the record straight. It shows that the criticism has typically been unfair. Still, it cannot be dismissed as 'purely politically motivated'. It turnsout that the critics and the sociobiologists live in different worlds of taken-for-granted scientific and moral convictions. The conflict over sociobiology is best interpreted as a drawn-out battle about the nature of 'good science' and the social responsibility of the scientist, while it touches on such grand themes as the unity of knowledge, the nature of man, and free will and determinism. The author has stepped right into the hornet's nest of claims and counterclaims, moral concerns, metaphysical beliefs, political convictions, strawmen, red herrings, and gossip, gossip, gossip. She listens to the protagonists - but also to their colleagues. She checks with 'arbiters'. She plays the devil's advocate. And everyone is eager to tell her the truth - as they see it. The picture that emerges is a different one from the standard view of the sociobiology debate as a politically motivated nature-nurture conflict. Instead, we are confronted with a world of scientific and moral long-term agendas, for which the sociobiology debate became a useful vehicle. Behind the often nasty attacks, however, were shared Enlightenment concerns for universal truth, morality and justice. The protagonists were all defenders of the truth - it was just that everyone's truth was different. Defenders of the Truth provides a fascinating insight into the world of science. It follows the sociobiology controversy as it erupted at Harvard in 1975 until today, both in the US and the UK. But the story goes more deeply, for instance in its account of the circumstances surrounding W.D. Hamilton's famous 1964 paper on inclusive fitness, and on the connections of the sociobiology debate to the Human Genome project and the Science Wars. General readers and academics alike will find much to savour in this book.
Download or read book Science Fictions written by Stuart Ritchie and published by Arrow. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Toward the Habit of Truth written by Mahlon B. Hoagland and published by W W Norton & Company Incorporated. This book was released on 1994 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hoagland, who had a major hand in solving the biological puzzle of DNA, evokes in this memoir the adventure and excitement of the search to discover how the language of DNA is translated into the substance of life. Photographs.
Download or read book The History of Science written by Massimo Mazzotti and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 2400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science is one of the main features of the contemporary world, and shapes our lives to an extent that has no precedents in history. Yet science as we know it today is the outcome of contingent social processes, and its global success is far from self-explanatory. How did it happen? How did science emerge in history and became the most authoritative source of knowledge available in late modern societies? This set of volumes addresses these crucial questions through a selection of exemplary publications spanning antiquity to the present day. The reader will find an effective survey of the best scholarship in this rapidly growing field, and a map of the main revolutions as well as the long-term continuities that have characterized our understanding the world and our attempts to control it. The collection brings together areas of inquiry that have become increasingly distant and specialized, such as the history of antique science or Cold War studies, within broader narratives of the making of the modern world. They also reassess the traditional assumption of the exclusively Greek and Western origins of modern science, situating relevant knowledge, practices, and artefacts within the global networks that sustained them: in ancient as well as in modern times. The gathered materials address key historiographical issues, such as the relationship between science, magic, and religion; the role of science in nation-building processes; and the relationship between science and technology.
