Scientism: The New Orthodoxy

by Robinson, Daniel N.; Williams, Richard N.

• ISBN13: 9781472571106
• ISBN10: 147257110X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-01-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Scientism: The New Orthodoxy is a comprehensive philosophical overview of the question of scientism, discussing the role and place of science in the humanities, religion, and the social sciences.

Clarifying and defining the key terms in play in discussions of scientism, this collection identifies the dimensions that differentiate science from scientism. Leading scholars appraise the means available to science, covering the impact of the neurosciences and the new challenges it presents for the law and the self. Illustrating the effect of scientism on the social sciences, and the humanities, Scientism: the New Orthodoxy addresses what science is and what it is not. This provocative collection is an important contribution to the social sciences and the humanities in the 21st century.

Contributors include: Peter Hacker, Bastiaan van Fraassen, Daniel N. Robinson, Kenneth Schaffner, Roger Scruton, James K.A. Smith, Richard Swinburne, Lawrence Principe and Richard N. Williams.

Author Biography

Richard N. Williams is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, USA.

Daniel N. Robinson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, USA.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Scientism: The New Orthodoxy, Richard Williams (Brigham Young University, USA)
2. The Scientific Image: Real or Fabricated?, Bastian van Fraassen (San Francisco State University, USA)
3. How Do Explanations “Work”? Daniel N. Robinson (Oxford University, UK)
4. What Does Neuroscience Explain? Peter Hacker (Oxford University, UK)
5. Neuroethics: New Challenges for the Law and the Self, Kenneth Schaffner (University of Pittsburgh
6. Science and the Religion of Science, Lawrence Principe (Johns Hopkins, USA)
7. The Implausibility of Physical Determinism, Richard Swinburne (Oxford University, UK)
8. Science and the Humanities, Roger Scruton (Oxford University, UK)
9. Science as Cultural Performance: Leveling the Playing Field in the Theology/Science Conversation, James K.A. Smith (Calvin College, USA)
Index