Prometheus Bedeviled: Science and the Contradictions of Contemporary Culture - Hardcover

Levitt, Norman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813526523 ISBN 13: 9780813526522

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 1999

Synopsis

In this lucid critique, Norman Levitt examines the strained relations between science and contemporary society. For the most part, Levitt states, we idolize musicians and cheer on athletes, yet we view scientists with a mixture of awe and unease. Significantly, too, we are unsure how scientific discovery actually fits into the broader schemes of politics, and policy.  Even beyond pragmatic questions, we remain anxious about the implications of science for our basic understanding of human values and purpose.

One result of this uncertainty about scientific work is an ill-informed crusade to “democratize” science.  It has become fashionable lately, Levitt states, for non-scientists to attempt to intervene in science policy, which often results in methodologically unsound decisions.  The embrace of "alternative medicine" is a particularly ominous example.

Levitt suggests that science, by virtue of its accuracy and reliability, deserves to be at the top of the hierarchy of knowledge, and that our social institutions ought to take this fact strongly into account. Levitt hopes that Americans will become aware of the limitations of unchecked populism and will be willing to yield a bit of “democratic” control over certain questions in order to minimize the danger that sound science will be ignored or overridden.  However, this trust in scientific methodology must be part of a broader understanding.  Science must not only act responsibly toward our democratic institutions; it must also concede that our society has the right to decide what kinds of research are most consistent with larger goals and therefore deserve the most support.

About this title

About the Author

NORMAN LEVITT is professor of mathematics at Rutgers University. He has co-authored Higher Superstition (with Paul R. Gross), and has co-edited The Flight from Science and Reason. He has written many articles on science and society for leading journals.

From the Inside Flap

In this lucid critique, Norman Levitt examines the strained relations between science and contemporary society. For the most part, Levitt states, we idolize musicians and cheer on athletes, yet we view scientists with a mixture of awe and unease. Significantly, too, we are unsure how scientific discovery actually fits into the broader schemes of politics and policy. Even beyond these pragmatic questions, we remain anxious about the implications of science for our basic understanding of human values and purpose.

One result of this uncertainty about scientific works is an ill-informed crusade to "democratize" science. It has become fashionable lately, Levitt states, for non-scientists to attempt to intervene in science policy, which often results in methodologically unsound decisions. The embrace of "alternative medicine" is a particularly ominous example.

Levitt suggests that science, by virtue of its accuracy and reliability, deserves to be at the top of the hierarchy of knowledge, and that our social institutions ought to take this fact strongly into account. Levitt hopes that Americans will become aware of the limitations of unchecked populism and will be willing to yield a bit of "democratic" control over certain questions in order ot minimize the danger that sound science will be ignored or overridden. However, this trust in scientific methodology must be part of a broader understanding. Science must not only act responsibly toward our democratic institutions; it must also concede that our society has the right to decide what kinds of research are most consistent with larger goals and therefore deserve the most support.

Reviews

A self-proclaimed socialist and "unabashed Whig," Rutgers mathematician Levitt (Higher Superstition) believes that history is "a march of progress, leading steadily to a more enlightened social order and to an increasingly accurate grasp of the principles underlying the natural world." Here, he analyzes the role that science plays in American society. Taking particular aim at postmodernists and proponents of "science studies"Awho, he claims, believe that science offers no more insight than any other belief systemALevitt attempts to assert the primacy and value of the scientific method. While he articulates superbly the importance of science and makes critical distinctions between science and pseudoscience, especially in chapters focused on health and journalism, his attack on postmodernism falls short of the mark because of his overblown style and his refusal to present more than a caricature of his intellectual opponents (postmodernism "seems to provoke its adherents to the most galling kind of snobberyAobnoxious, self-infatuated, and comically hierophantic"). Nonetheless, there is a great deal of thoughtful material here addressing the tension between democratic principles and a scientific worldview. In the end, however, Levitt provides many more questions than answers. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813526523
• ISBN 13: 9780813526522
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 430