Find a copy online
Links to this item
Find a copy in the library
Finding libraries that hold this item...
Details
| Material Type: | Internet resource |
|---|---|
| Document Type: | Book, Internet Resource |
| All Authors / Contributors: |
Gregory Neil Derry |
| ISBN: | 0691058776 9780691058771 |
| OCLC Number: | 40693869 |
| Awards: | Runner-up for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 2000. |
| Description: | xi, 311 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. |
| Contents: | Exploring the frontiers of science: how new discoveries are made in the sciences -- Mental tactics: some distinctively scientific approaches to the world -- Larger questions: the context of science -- Common ground: some unifying concepts in the sciences. |
| Responsibility: | Gregory N. Derry. |
| More information: |
Abstract:
Reviews
Publisher Synopsis
[There is] no better contemporary book to convey the unity of science and at the same time to stimulate further study. Choice Part textbook, part manifesto, Derry's book offers both entertainment and food for thought for readers inclined to learn the ways of science. gory McNamee, Amazon.com How does a scientist go about solving problems? How do scientific discoveries occur? How is mainstream science different from borderland science and pseudoscience? In this lively and wide-ranging book, Gregory Derry discusses these and other questions as he introduces readers to the scientific way of thinking... Readers of this book will come away with an enriched appreciation of how scientists operate, and how science connects with our daily lives. -- Robert J. Deltete The Quarterly Review of Biology Read more...
WorldCat User Reviews (1)
Nice current overview of the nature of science
This book is written for the general reader. It reviews the current philosophy of science. While it gives a passing nod to "science studies," it is in a more traditional school of understanding of science. The book gives good examples of where a change in the assumptions upon which observation is...
Read more...
This book is written for the general reader. It reviews the current philosophy of science. While it gives a passing nod to "science studies," it is in a more traditional school of understanding of science. The book gives good examples of where a change in the assumptions upon which observation is based changed the scientific knowledge considered correct. It gives more emphasis on instruments and practice than other general surveys of science, such as Chalmers "What is this thing called science," which deals with science in the abstract. Derry spends time defining science in terms of how it is practiced, such as by using models, quantifying in order to predict, etc. It discusses the ethics of scientific research.
"Science Studies" are roughly a school of post-modern sociology that rejects that scientific knowledge is any closer to Truth than any other form of belief. Scientific knowledge is socially constructed by agreement among scientists. This book is more in the tradition of viewing scientific research as moving our understanding of the observable world closer to an objective Truth, though we can never fully arrive at that omniscient point of view.
Derry stays at a popular writing level, but he carefully argues his way through the philosophical landscape underlying science.
- Was this review helpful to you?
Tags
All user tags (1)
- philosophy of science (by 1 person)
- 1 items are tagged withphilosophy of science
Similar Items
Related Subjects:(8)
- Science.
- Sciences.
- CIÊNCIA.
- Wetenschapsbeoefenaars.
- Wetenschappelijke technieken.
- Wetenschapsgeschiedenis (wetenschap)
- Forschung.
- Naturwissenschaften.
User lists with this item (1)
- Books reviewed(158 items)
by vleighton updated about 3 weeks ago


