The No-Nonsense Guide to Science - Softcover

Ravetz, Jerome

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1896357989 ISBN 13: 9781896357980

Publisher: Between the Lines, 2005

Synopsis

Science is still the great intellectual adventure, but now it is also seen as an instrument of profit, power, and privilege. Wrongly used, it might yet make the 21st century our last.To make sense of all this, we need to let go of old ideas and assumptions.

In the No-Nonsense Guide to Science, Jerome Ravetz introduces the “post-normal” way of thinking about science. We are to transcend the old simplistic ideas of perfect certainty and objectivity in science–they have failed to protect people and the environment when science has gone wrong and they have enabled flat, dogmatic teaching in our schools. We must now accept that value-loading, uncertainty, and ignorance are very real parts of science, and that citizens must participate in the policies that shape its evolution.

The book also includes a refreshing new look at the history of science, and concludes with a series of questions that anyone can use to start their own exploration of the present and future of science.

About this title

About the Author

Jerry Ravetz was formerly Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Leeds University. He is the author of the classic study Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems, among other publications.

Review

A splendid new series of pocketable guides to issue politics...rigorously clear. -- The Guardian

Small and affordable...ideal for anyone who wishes to intelligently address and debate the important issues of our time. -- Orion

The No-Nonsense Guides target those topics that a large army of voters cares about, but that politicos evade. -- The Independent

The most accessible and enjoyable means for people with hurried lives to find out how the world really works. -- George Monbiot, environmental campaigner and author of Captive State

Edition details

• Publisher: Between the Lines
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1896357989
• ISBN 13: 9781896357980
• Binding: Paperback