Who Rules in Science

by Brown, James Robert

• ISBN13: 9780674013643
• ISBN10: 0674013646
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-03-30
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

What if something as seemingly academic as the so-called science wars were to determine how we live? This eye-opening book reveals how little we've understood about the ongoing pitched battles between the sciences and the humanities--and how much may be at stake. James Brown's starting point is C. P. Snow's famous book, Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, which set the terms for the current debates. But that little book did much more than identify two new, opposing cultures, Brown contends: It also claimed that scientists are better qualified than nonscientists to solve political and social problems. In short, the true significance of Snow's treatise was its focus on the question of who should rule--a question that remains vexing, pressing, and politically explosive today. In Who Rules in Science? Brown takes us through the various engagements in the science wars--from the infamous "Sokal affair" to angry confrontations over the nature of evidence, the possibility of objectivity, and the methods of science--to show how the contested terrain may be science, but the prize is political: Whoever wins the science wars will have an unprecedented influence on how we are governed. Brown provides the most comprehensive and balanced assessment yet of the science wars. He separates the good arguments from the bad, and exposes the underlying message: Science and social justice are inextricably linked. His book is essential reading if we are to understand the forces making and remaking our world.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xiii
I. SCENES FROM THE SCIENCE WARS	1	(28)
2. THE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE	29	(20)
3. How WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE	49	(26)
4. THE NIHILIST WING OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM	75	(21)
5. THREE KEY TERMS	96	(19)
6. THE NATURALIST WING OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM	115	(29)
7. THE ROLE OF REASON	144	(25)
8. THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SCIENCE	169	(20)
9. SCIENCE WITH A SOCIAL AGENDA	189	(18)
AFTERWORD	207	(8)
NOTES	215	(4)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	219	(12)
INDEX	231