Real Science What It Is and What It Means

John Ziman9780521772297, 0-521-77229-X

Unlike most other similar books, this systematic, carefully reasoned, non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge opens the way to reconciliation in the ‘science wars’. By describing how academic scientists actually undertake research and communicate their findings, it shows that the philosophy, psychology and sociology of science are inextricably entwined, and that ‘realism’ and ‘relativism’ are just two sides of the same coin. The writing is well-informed, down-to-earth and lucid.

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Table of contents :
EEn……Page 1
Contents……Page 6
Preface……Page 10
1: A peculiar institution……Page 14
2: Basically, it’s purely academic……Page 25
3: Academic science……Page 41
4: New modes of knowledge production……Page 69
5: Community and communication……Page 96
6: Universalism and unification……Page 130
7: Disinterestedness and objectivity……Page 168
8: Originality and novelty……Page 195
9: Scepticism and the growth of knowledge……Page 259
10: What, then, can we believe?……Page 302
Endnotes……Page 344
Bibliography and author index……Page 369
Index……Page 398