Overview

This volume of contributed essays, a follow-up to Noretta Koertge's successful book on the science wars, A House Built on Sand, takes an affirming, positive view of the relationship between the values embodied in science, and the nature of a civil society. It argues that recent attacks on the probity of science undermine the possibility of rational discourse in the political arena. While science has traditionally been viewed as incorporating intellectual virtues like honesty and precision of language, the contributors to this volume point to additional benefits, examining the idea that science can serve as a source of, and inspiration for, civic virtues--in the need to be well-informed about the way the world works, in tolerating the viewpoints of others, and in functioning as a fully global enterprise dedicated to the public good. The contributors--who include philosophers, political scientists, physicists, biologists and engineers--look at examples of scientific virtues in action and how they might be used as inspirations and practical resources for improving civic society. The volume will appeal to a similarly broad audience interested in the relationship between science and society.

Full Product Details

Author:   Noretta Koertge (Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University (Emeritus))
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.10cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 15.50cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780195172249

ISBN 10:   0195172248
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   25 August 2005
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Noretta Koertge, Indiana University: What Science Can Offer Contemporary Democracy PART 1: The Nexus Between Scientific Values and Civic Virtues 1: Noretta Koertge: A Bouquet of Scientific Values 2: Steven M. DeLue, Miami University: Public Reason and Democracy: The Place of Science in Maintaining Civic Friendship 3: Edward Grant, Indiana University: Reason and Authority in the Middle Ages: the Latin West and Islam 4: John C. Moore, Hofstra University: Civic Virtue and Science in Pre-Revolutionary Europe 5: Rose-Mary Sargent, Merrimack College: Virtues and the Scientific Revolution PART II: Values Revealed in the Work of Scientists 6: Gerald Holton, Harvard University: Candor and Integrity in Science 7: Michael Ruse, Florida State University: Evolutionary Biology an the Question of Trust 8: Allan Franklin, University of Colorado: The Rise and Fall of Emil Konopinski's Theory of Decay 9: Frederick B. Churchill, Indiana University: The Evolutionary Ethics of Alfred C. Kinsey PART III: Sites of Struggle: Downgrading Science while Weakening Democracy 10: Keith Parsons, University of Houston, Clear Lake: Defending the Radical Center 11: Philip A. Sullivan, University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies: Are Universities and Scholarship Now Undermining Modern Democracy? 12: Barbara Forrest, Southeastern Louisiana University, and Paul R. Gross, University of Virginia: The Wedge of Intelligent Design: Retrograde Science, Schooling, and Society 13: Pervez Hoodbhoy, Quaid-e-Azum University: When Science Teaching Becomes a Subversive Activity 14: Meera Nanda, Columbia University: Postmodernism, Hindu Nationalism and 'Vedic Science'

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Author Information

Noretta Koertge is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University and editor of A House Built on Sand (OUP, 1998).

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