Our world is inconceivable without science. Its discoveries benefit us – antibiotics, computers, space travel, gene mapping – and reveal the secrets of human evolution, the cosmos and our place in it. Science also threatens us with the risk of nuclear holocaust, eugenics and the pollution of our ecosystem. How do we reconcile the advantages of science “value free”? How has science evolved and where is it leading us?
Introducing Philosophy of Science explores these troubling questions. It reveals how science itself and our approach to studying science have changed radically over the last few decades. The development of Science Studies is traced from its origins in the ideas of Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper, Paul Feyerabend and others. Sociological , feminist and postcolonial criticisms reveal that uncertainty and ignorance tend to increase with changes in the production of knowledge. We have arrived at the threshold of post-normal science.
Introducing Science is a clear and incisively illustrated anatomy of science. It is essential reading for students, ordinary citizens and scientists themselves.