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Science and the End of Ethics
by S. MorrisScience and the End of Ethics examines some of the most important positive and negative implications that science has for ethics. On the basis of strong scientific reasons for abandoning traditional notions of right and wrong, it endorses a new ethical approach that focuses on achieving some of the key practical goals shared by ethicists.
Science and the Good: The Tragic Quest for the Foundations of Morality (Foundational Questions in Science)
by James Davison Hunter Paul NedeliskyWhy efforts to create a scientific basis of morality are neither scientific nor moral In this illuminating book, James Davison Hunter and Paul Nedelisky trace the origins and development of the centuries-long, passionate, but ultimately failed quest to discover a scientific foundation for morality. The “new moral science” led by such figures as E. O. Wilson, Patricia Churchland, Sam Harris, Jonathan Haidt, and Joshua Greene is only the newest manifestation of that quest. Though claims for its accomplishments are often wildly exaggerated, this new iteration has been no more successful than its predecessors. But rather than giving up in the face of this failure, the new moral science has taken a surprising turn. Whereas earlier efforts sought to demonstrate what is right and wrong, the new moral scientists have concluded, ironically, that right and wrong don’t actually exist. Their (perhaps unwitting) moral nihilism turns the science of morality into a social engineering project. If there is nothing moral for science to discover, the science of morality becomes, at best, a feeble program to achieve arbitrary societal goals. Concise and rigorously argued, Science and the Good is a definitive critique of a would-be science that has gained extraordinary influence in public discourse today and an exposé of that project’s darker turn.
Science and the Life-World: Essays on Husserl's <I>Crisis of European Sciences</I>
by David Hyder, Hans-Jörg RheinbergerThis book is a collection of essays on Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences by leading philosophers of science and scholars of Husserl. Published and ignored under the Nazi dictatorship, Husserl's last work has never received the attention its author's prominence demands. In the Crisis, Husserl considers the gap that has grown between the "life-world" of everyday human experience and the world of mathematical science. He argues that the two have become disconnected because we misunderstand our own scientific past—we confuse mathematical idealities with concrete reality and thereby undermine the validity of our immediate experience. The philosopher's foundational work in the theory of intentionality is relevant to contemporary discussions of qualia, naive science, and the fact-value distinction. The scholars included in this volume consider Husserl's diagnosis of this "crisis" and his proposed solution. Topics addressed include Husserl's late philosophy, the relation between scientific and everyday objects and "worlds," the history of Greek and Galilean science, the philosophy of history, and Husserl's influence on Foucault.
Science and the Public (Elements in the Philosophy of Science)
by null Angela PotochnikScience is a product of society: in its funding, its participation, and its application. This Element explores the relationship between science and the public with resources from philosophy of science. Chapter 1 defines the questions about science's relationship to the public and outlines science's obligation to the public. Chapter 2 considers the Vienna Circle as a case study in how science, philosophy, and the public can relate very differently than they do at present. Chapter 3 examines how public understanding of science can have a variety of different goals and introduces philosophical discussions of scientific understanding as a resource. Chapter 4 addresses public trust in science, including responding to science denial. Chapter 5 considers how expanded participation in science can contribute to public trust of science. Finally, Chapter 6 casts light on how science might discharge its obligations to the public.
Science and the Quest for Reality (Main Trends of the Modern World)
by Alfred I. TauberScience and the Quest for Reality is an interdisciplinary anthology that situates contemporary science within its complex philosophical, historical, and sociological contexts. The anthology is divided between, firstly, characterizing science as an intellectual activity and, secondly, defining its social role. The philosophical and historical vicissitudes of science's truth claims has raised profound questions concerning the role of science in society beyond its technological innovations. The deeper philosophical issues thus complement the critical inquiry concerning the broader social and ethical influence of contemporary science. In the tradition of the 'Main Trends of the Modern World' series, this volume includes both classical and contemporary works on the subject.
Science and the Riddle of Consciousness: A Solution
by Jeffrey E. FossConsciousness has become a major topic of scientific interest, and dozens of books have been written in recent years to explain it, yet it still remains a mystery. Science and the Riddle of Consciousness explains why consciousness is a riddle for science, and demonstrates how this riddle can be solved. The questions examined in the book speak directly to neuroscientists, computer scientists, psychologists, and philosophers.
Science and the Self: Animals, Evolution, and Ethics: Essays in Honour of Mary Midgley (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by Ian James Kidd Liz McKinnellMary Midgley is one of the most important moral philosophers working today. Over the last thirty years, her writings have informed debates concerning animals, the environment and evolutionary theory. The invited essays in this volume offer critical reflections upon Midgley’s work and further developments of her ideas. The contributors include many of the leading commentators on her work, including distinguished figures from the disciplines of philosophy, biology, and ethology. The range of topics includes the moral status of animals, the concept of wickedness, science and mythology, Midgley’s relationship to modern moral philosophy, and her relationship with Iris Murdoch. It also includes the first full bibliography of Midgley’s writings. The volume is the first major study of its kind and brings together contributions from the many disciplines which Midgley’s work has influenced. It provides a clear account of the themes and significance of her work and its implications for ongoing debates about our understanding of our place within the world.
Science and the Self: Animals, Evolution, and Ethics: Essays in Honour of Mary Midgley (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)
by Ian James Kidd Liz McKinnellMary Midgley is one of the most important moral philosophers working today. Over the last thirty years, her writings have informed debates concerning animals, the environment and evolutionary theory. The invited essays in this volume offer critical reflections upon Midgley’s work and further developments of her ideas. The contributors include many of the leading commentators on her work, including distinguished figures from the disciplines of philosophy, biology, and ethology. The range of topics includes the moral status of animals, the concept of wickedness, science and mythology, Midgley’s relationship to modern moral philosophy, and her relationship with Iris Murdoch. It also includes the first full bibliography of Midgley’s writings. The volume is the first major study of its kind and brings together contributions from the many disciplines which Midgley’s work has influenced. It provides a clear account of the themes and significance of her work and its implications for ongoing debates about our understanding of our place within the world.
Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty: How the Personal Perspective Discovers Creation (Routledge Science and Religion Series)
by Robert GilbertWhen scientists describe their results or insights as 'beautiful', are they using the term differently from when they use it of a landscape, music or another person? Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty re-examines the way in which seeing beauty in the world plays the key role in scientific advances, and argues that the reliance on such a personal point of view is ultimately justified by belief that we are made in the 'image of God', as Christian and Jewish believers assert. It brings a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about faith and science, and suggests that scientists have as much explaining to do as believers when it comes to the ways they reach their conclusions.
Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty: How the Personal Perspective Discovers Creation (Routledge Science and Religion Series)
by Robert GilbertWhen scientists describe their results or insights as 'beautiful', are they using the term differently from when they use it of a landscape, music or another person? Science and the Truthfulness of Beauty re-examines the way in which seeing beauty in the world plays the key role in scientific advances, and argues that the reliance on such a personal point of view is ultimately justified by belief that we are made in the 'image of God', as Christian and Jewish believers assert. It brings a fresh voice to the ongoing debate about faith and science, and suggests that scientists have as much explaining to do as believers when it comes to the ways they reach their conclusions.
Science and the Written Word: Science, Technology, and Society
by Lou MassaIn order to meet the growing scientific requirements of an increasingly complex society, it is essential for us to have an appreciation of the power and breadth of science. Science and the Written Word is a collection of interviews featuring some of the world's greatest scientists and Nobel Prize winners. The interviews examine topics related to the nature of science and technology, making them more accessible to the general reader, and emphasize the relationship of various scientific disciplines to one another. Through this book, readers learn from the "inside" how science is done, what motivates it, and why it is of importance to society as a whole. The book offers insights into scientific personalities and dispels common misconceptions regarding the popular image of scientists. The interviews in this book examine standards of behavior and ethics and demonstrate the relationships between science and social values. They delve into topics such as the utility of science in application to war, the importance of science in the educational curriculum, cost benefits of fundamental research in consideration of the national budget, and the public controversy of evolution versus intelligent design. Cumulatively, the discussions in this book give rise to an awareness of both the reality of science and technology and its profound impact upon the well being of society.
Science and the Written Word: Science, Technology, and Society
by Lou MassaIn order to meet the growing scientific requirements of an increasingly complex society, it is essential for us to have an appreciation of the power and breadth of science. Science and the Written Word is a collection of interviews featuring some of the world's greatest scientists and Nobel Prize winners. The interviews examine topics related to the nature of science and technology, making them more accessible to the general reader, and emphasize the relationship of various scientific disciplines to one another. Through this book, readers learn from the "inside" how science is done, what motivates it, and why it is of importance to society as a whole. The book offers insights into scientific personalities and dispels common misconceptions regarding the popular image of scientists. The interviews in this book examine standards of behavior and ethics and demonstrate the relationships between science and social values. They delve into topics such as the utility of science in application to war, the importance of science in the educational curriculum, cost benefits of fundamental research in consideration of the national budget, and the public controversy of evolution versus intelligent design. Cumulatively, the discussions in this book give rise to an awareness of both the reality of science and technology and its profound impact upon the well being of society.
Science And Theology: The New Consonance (Routledge Science And Religion Ser.)
by Ted PetersHow can we think about God's action in a quantum world of indeterminacy? in a world that began with a Big Bang? in a world in which life evolved and is continually evolving? in a world governed by entropy and heading toward its eventual heat death? These are some of the most perplexing questions that have arisen from the rapid scientific and techno
Science And Theology: The New Consonance
by Ted PetersHow can we think about God's action in a quantum world of indeterminacy? in a world that began with a Big Bang? in a world in which life evolved and is continually evolving? in a world governed by entropy and heading toward its eventual heat death? These are some of the most perplexing questions that have arisen from the rapid scientific and techno
Science and Virtue: An Essay on the Impact of the Scientific Mentality on Moral Character (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy)
by Louis CaruanaCharting new territory in the interface between science and ethics, Science and Virtue is a study of how the scientific mentality can affect the building of character, or the attainment of virtue by the individual. Drawing on inspiration from virtue-ethics and virtue-epistemology, Caruana argues that science is not just a system of knowledge but also an important factor determining a way of life. This book goes beyond the normal strategy evident in the science-ethics realm of examining specific ethical dilemmas posed by scientific innovations. Here Caruana deals with more fundamental issues, uncovering morally significant tendencies within the very core of the scientific mentality and explaining how science, its method, history and explanatory power can shape a conception of the good life.
Science and Virtue: An Essay on the Impact of the Scientific Mentality on Moral Character (Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Philosophy)
by Louis CaruanaCharting new territory in the interface between science and ethics, Science and Virtue is a study of how the scientific mentality can affect the building of character, or the attainment of virtue by the individual. Drawing on inspiration from virtue-ethics and virtue-epistemology, Caruana argues that science is not just a system of knowledge but also an important factor determining a way of life. This book goes beyond the normal strategy evident in the science-ethics realm of examining specific ethical dilemmas posed by scientific innovations. Here Caruana deals with more fundamental issues, uncovering morally significant tendencies within the very core of the scientific mentality and explaining how science, its method, history and explanatory power can shape a conception of the good life.
Science and Whig Manners: Science and Political Style in Britain, c. 1790–1850 (Studies in Modern History)
by Joe BordApproaching the intersection of politics and science from the perspective of political history, this book looks at how nineteenth-century British Whigs used the themes of natural science to signal their identities, and how their devotion to a culture of liberality helped to define them. Offers a fresh take on a central theme in Victorian politics.
SCIENCE & ART OF INTERVIEWING C
by Kathleen Gerson Sarah DamaskeQualitative interviewing is among the most widely used methods in the social sciences, but it is arguably the least understood. In The Science and Art of Interviewing, Kathleen Gerson and Sarah Damaske offer clear, theoretically informed and empirically rich strategies for conducting interview studies. They present both a rationale and guide to the science-and art-of in-depth interviewing to take readers through all the steps in the research process, from the initial stage of formulating a question to the final one of presenting the results. Gerson and Damaske show readers how to develop a research design for interviewing, decide on and find an appropriate sample, construct a questionnaire, conduct probing interviews, and analyze the data they collect. At each stage, they also provide practical tips about how to address the ever-present, but rarely discussed challenges that qualitative researchers routinely encounter, particularly emphasizing the relationship between conducting well-crafted research and building powerful social theories. With an engaging, accessible style, The Science and Art of Interviewing targets a wide range of audiences, from upper-level undergraduates and graduate methods courses to students embarking on their dissertations to seasoned researchers at all stages of their careers.
Science as Practice and Culture
by Andrew PickeringScience as Practice and Culture explores one of the newest and most controversial developments within the rapidly changing field of science studies: the move toward studying scientific practice—the work of doing science—and the associated move toward studying scientific culture, understood as the field of resources that practice operates in and on. Andrew Pickering has invited leading historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to prepare original essays for this volume. The essays range over the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and are divided into two parts. In part I, the contributors map out a coherent set of perspectives on scientific practice and culture, and relate their analyses to central topics in the philosophy of science such as realism, relativism, and incommensurability. The essays in part II seek to delineate the study of science as practice in arguments across its borders with the sociology of scientific knowledge, social epistemology, and reflexive ethnography.
Science as Practice and Culture
by Andrew PickeringScience as Practice and Culture explores one of the newest and most controversial developments within the rapidly changing field of science studies: the move toward studying scientific practice—the work of doing science—and the associated move toward studying scientific culture, understood as the field of resources that practice operates in and on. Andrew Pickering has invited leading historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to prepare original essays for this volume. The essays range over the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and are divided into two parts. In part I, the contributors map out a coherent set of perspectives on scientific practice and culture, and relate their analyses to central topics in the philosophy of science such as realism, relativism, and incommensurability. The essays in part II seek to delineate the study of science as practice in arguments across its borders with the sociology of scientific knowledge, social epistemology, and reflexive ethnography.
Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and its Meaning
by Mary MidgleyWhat is the role of scientists in society? What should we think when they talk about more than just science? Mary Midgley discusses the high spiritual ambitions which tend to gather around the notion of science.
Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and its Meaning
by Mary MidgleyWhat is the role of scientists in society? What should we think when they talk about more than just science? Mary Midgley discusses the high spiritual ambitions which tend to gather around the notion of science.
Science as Social Existence: Heidegger And The Sociology Of Scientific Knowledge
by Jeff KochanIn this bold and original study, Jeff Kochan constructively combines the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) with Martin Heidegger’s early existential conception of science. Kochan shows convincingly that these apparently quite different approaches to science are, in fact, largely compatible, even mutually reinforcing. By combining Heidegger with SSK, Kochan argues, we can explicate, elaborate, and empirically ground Heidegger’s philosophy of science in a way that makes it more accessible and useful for social scientists and historians of science. Likewise, incorporating Heideggerian phenomenology into SSK renders SKK a more robust and attractive methodology for use by scholars in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Kochan’s ground-breaking reinterpretation of Heidegger also enables STS scholars to sustain a principled analytical focus on scientific subjectivity, without running afoul of the orthodox subject-object distinction they often reject. Science as Social Existence is the first book of its kind, unfurling its argument through a range of topics relevant to contemporary STS research. These include the epistemology and metaphysics of scientific practice, as well as the methods of explanation appropriate to social scientific and historical studies of science. Science as Social Existence puts concentrated emphasis on the compatibility of Heidegger’s existential conception of science with the historical sociology of scientific knowledge, pursuing this combination at both macro- and micro-historical levels. Beautifully written and accessible, Science as Social Existence puts new and powerful tools into the hands of sociologists and historians of science, cultural theorists of science, Heidegger scholars, and pluralist philosophers of science.
Science as Social Existence: Heidegger and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (PDF)
by Jeff KochanIn this bold and original study, Jeff Kochan constructively combines the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) with Martin Heidegger’s early existential conception of science. Kochan shows convincingly that these apparently quite different approaches to science are, in fact, largely compatible, even mutually reinforcing. By combining Heidegger with SSK, Kochan argues, we can explicate, elaborate, and empirically ground Heidegger’s philosophy of science in a way that makes it more accessible and useful for social scientists and historians of science. Likewise, incorporating Heideggerian phenomenology into SSK renders SKK a more robust and attractive methodology for use by scholars in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Kochan’s ground-breaking reinterpretation of Heidegger also enables STS scholars to sustain a principled analytical focus on scientific subjectivity, without running afoul of the orthodox subject-object distinction they often reject. Science as Social Existence is the first book of its kind, unfurling its argument through a range of topics relevant to contemporary STS research. These include the epistemology and metaphysics of scientific practice, as well as the methods of explanation appropriate to social scientific and historical studies of science. Science as Social Existence puts concentrated emphasis on the compatibility of Heidegger’s existential conception of science with the historical sociology of scientific knowledge, pursuing this combination at both macro- and micro-historical levels. Beautifully written and accessible, Science as Social Existence puts new and powerful tools into the hands of sociologists and historians of science, cultural theorists of science, Heidegger scholars, and pluralist philosophers of science.