Understanding Scientific Reasoning

Not everything that claims to be science is. UNDERSTANDING SCIENTIFIC REASONING shows you easy-to-use principles that let you distinguish good science from bad information you encounter in both textbooks and the popular media. And because it uses the same processes that scientists use (but simplified), you'll know you're getting the most reliable instruction around. You'll also learn how to reason through case studies using the same informal logic skills employed by scientists.

Ronald N. Giere is Professor of Philosophy and a former Director of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota. In addition to many papers in the philosophy of science he is author of EXPLAINING SCIENCE: A COGNITIVE APPROACH (1988); and SCIENCE WITHOUT LAWS (1999). He has also edited several volumes of papers in the philosophy of science, including, most recently, COGNITIVE MODELS OF SCIENCE (1992) and ORIGINS OF LOGICAL EMPIRICISM (1996). Prof. Giere is a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, a long-time member of the editorial board of the journal PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, and a Past President of the Philosophy of Science Association. His current research focuses on scientific cognition as a form of distributed cognition and on the perspectival nature of scientific knowledge.