Lorraine Code
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195159431
- eISBN:
- 9780199786411
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195159438.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
Taking its point of departure from the suppression of research findings by a Canadian drug company with a vested interest in keeping them from the public eye, this chapter reads the ambiguous ...
More
Taking its point of departure from the suppression of research findings by a Canadian drug company with a vested interest in keeping them from the public eye, this chapter reads the ambiguous gendered implications of the positioning of Dr. Nancy Olivieri, a scientist and physician, as the principal player in the story. Issues of credibility, answerability, academic freedom, and the role of trust in knowledge figure centrally in the analysis. It shows how ecological thinking allows for the development of a productive reading of responsibility, rooted neither in individualism nor in an implausible voluntarism; and attentive to the climatic conditions in which much scientific research in the 21st century takes place. It extends the discussion of collective responsibility that begins in chapter six to raise questions about ecologically sound research practices, justice, and citizenship.Less
Taking its point of departure from the suppression of research findings by a Canadian drug company with a vested interest in keeping them from the public eye, this chapter reads the ambiguous gendered implications of the positioning of Dr. Nancy Olivieri, a scientist and physician, as the principal player in the story. Issues of credibility, answerability, academic freedom, and the role of trust in knowledge figure centrally in the analysis. It shows how ecological thinking allows for the development of a productive reading of responsibility, rooted neither in individualism nor in an implausible voluntarism; and attentive to the climatic conditions in which much scientific research in the 21st century takes place. It extends the discussion of collective responsibility that begins in chapter six to raise questions about ecologically sound research practices, justice, and citizenship.
Jochen Gläser
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199590193
- eISBN:
- 9780191723445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590193.003.0012
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Public Management, Knowledge Management
This chapter considers how the preceding chapters reinterpret research on governance in the sciences by focusing on changing patterns of authority. Thus, rather than summarizing and integrating the ...
More
This chapter considers how the preceding chapters reinterpret research on governance in the sciences by focusing on changing patterns of authority. Thus, rather than summarizing and integrating the findings of the chapters, it uses some of the findings to discuss the utility of analysing the impact of governance changes on scientific research through the study of shifting authority relations.Less
This chapter considers how the preceding chapters reinterpret research on governance in the sciences by focusing on changing patterns of authority. Thus, rather than summarizing and integrating the findings of the chapters, it uses some of the findings to discuss the utility of analysing the impact of governance changes on scientific research through the study of shifting authority relations.
Carola M. Frege
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199208067
- eISBN:
- 9780191709159
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208067.003.0006
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR
This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different ...
More
This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different state policies on higher education and scientific research. These scientific traditions matter, in particular, when seeking explanations for cross-national methodological and epistemological differences in employment studies.Less
This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different state policies on higher education and scientific research. These scientific traditions matter, in particular, when seeking explanations for cross-national methodological and epistemological differences in employment studies.
Farhad Khosrokhavar
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195378481
- eISBN:
- 9780199852345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195378481.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter discusses the tormented history of scientific production in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution of 1979, its ups and downs, the negative aspects of the cultural revolution in ...
More
This chapter discusses the tormented history of scientific production in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution of 1979, its ups and downs, the negative aspects of the cultural revolution in the Iranian universities in the first half of the 1980s, and the underlying anti-elitist ideology that led, in the first decade of the Revolution, to the decline of scientific activity in Iran. After a period of relative stagnation immediately after the Revolution, Iran witnessed significant advances in scientific research and activity during 1995–2005. This should be considered as a new trend and departure rather than a mere continuation of the projects left over from the Pahlavi period.Less
This chapter discusses the tormented history of scientific production in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution of 1979, its ups and downs, the negative aspects of the cultural revolution in the Iranian universities in the first half of the 1980s, and the underlying anti-elitist ideology that led, in the first decade of the Revolution, to the decline of scientific activity in Iran. After a period of relative stagnation immediately after the Revolution, Iran witnessed significant advances in scientific research and activity during 1995–2005. This should be considered as a new trend and departure rather than a mere continuation of the projects left over from the Pahlavi period.
Adil E. Shamoo and David B. Resnik
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368246
- eISBN:
- 9780199867615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368246.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
There is a growing recognition among scientists, government officials, research institutions, and the public that ethical conduct is essential to scientific research. Ethical conduct is important for ...
More
There is a growing recognition among scientists, government officials, research institutions, and the public that ethical conduct is essential to scientific research. Ethical conduct is important for fostering collaboration, cooperation, and trust among scientists; for advancing the goals of research; for fulfilling scientists' social responsibilities; and for avoiding or minimizing damaging scandals resulting from unethical or illegal behavior. This chapter discusses the importance of ethics in research and the nature of scientific professionalism.Less
There is a growing recognition among scientists, government officials, research institutions, and the public that ethical conduct is essential to scientific research. Ethical conduct is important for fostering collaboration, cooperation, and trust among scientists; for advancing the goals of research; for fulfilling scientists' social responsibilities; and for avoiding or minimizing damaging scandals resulting from unethical or illegal behavior. This chapter discusses the importance of ethics in research and the nature of scientific professionalism.
Aitor Anduaga
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199562725
- eISBN:
- 9780191721755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562725.003.0003
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
The development of radio and ionospheric physics in Australia is inseparable from that of the Empire. But specific circumstances of time and place, however, coloured local advances in different ways. ...
More
The development of radio and ionospheric physics in Australia is inseparable from that of the Empire. But specific circumstances of time and place, however, coloured local advances in different ways. As in Britain, two deep-seated research traditions converged in Australia. The British influence on these fields reached its peak in the early stages and then suffered a continued decline. But in this regression the Australian community showed a mixture of longing for rivalry and a certain traditional veneration for British scientific authority, in contrast to increasingly profound respect for American technological expertise. Before nationhood was achieved in Australia, the modest community of radiophysicists managed to reconcile a sense of nationality with the openness to international stimulus, beyond the imperial horizon. The transit from a dependent Dominion towards independence had, therefore, its scientific echoes.Less
The development of radio and ionospheric physics in Australia is inseparable from that of the Empire. But specific circumstances of time and place, however, coloured local advances in different ways. As in Britain, two deep-seated research traditions converged in Australia. The British influence on these fields reached its peak in the early stages and then suffered a continued decline. But in this regression the Australian community showed a mixture of longing for rivalry and a certain traditional veneration for British scientific authority, in contrast to increasingly profound respect for American technological expertise. Before nationhood was achieved in Australia, the modest community of radiophysicists managed to reconcile a sense of nationality with the openness to international stimulus, beyond the imperial horizon. The transit from a dependent Dominion towards independence had, therefore, its scientific echoes.
DAVID PAPINEAU
- Published in print:
- 1979
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198245858
- eISBN:
- 9780191680908
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245858.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter turns away from meanings and considers Lakatos's ‘methodology of scientific research programmes’. After making various criticisms and corrections, it is argued that the resulting ...
More
This chapter turns away from meanings and considers Lakatos's ‘methodology of scientific research programmes’. After making various criticisms and corrections, it is argued that the resulting methodology is, and can be justified as, a satisfactory account of how to choose between scientific views. However, this account is not so much independent of meanings as implicitly committed to a holist view thereof.Less
This chapter turns away from meanings and considers Lakatos's ‘methodology of scientific research programmes’. After making various criticisms and corrections, it is argued that the resulting methodology is, and can be justified as, a satisfactory account of how to choose between scientific views. However, this account is not so much independent of meanings as implicitly committed to a holist view thereof.
Stefan Helmreich, Sophia Roosth, and Michele Friedner
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164809
- eISBN:
- 9781400873869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164809.003.0009
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter reports on an oceanographic conference held in Goa, India, just after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. It describes the various kinds of time—of the ocean, of ...
More
This chapter reports on an oceanographic conference held in Goa, India, just after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. It describes the various kinds of time—of the ocean, of scientific research, of disaster, of governance—through which scientists and others grappled with the disaster and its implications. A last-minute addition to the conference schedule, a talk, “The Recent Seismic Event off Sumatra,” was delivered by Satish Singh, a geoscientist from the Institute de Physique du Globe in Paris. In a setting in which “geological time” had been the organizing catchphrase— and an epistemological mooring for scientific objectivity— Singh's talk came closest to summoning up the uncertainties in scale that characterize oscillating ocean time, the at-sea feeling that attention to watery time can engender.Less
This chapter reports on an oceanographic conference held in Goa, India, just after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. It describes the various kinds of time—of the ocean, of scientific research, of disaster, of governance—through which scientists and others grappled with the disaster and its implications. A last-minute addition to the conference schedule, a talk, “The Recent Seismic Event off Sumatra,” was delivered by Satish Singh, a geoscientist from the Institute de Physique du Globe in Paris. In a setting in which “geological time” had been the organizing catchphrase— and an epistemological mooring for scientific objectivity— Singh's talk came closest to summoning up the uncertainties in scale that characterize oscillating ocean time, the at-sea feeling that attention to watery time can engender.
Alan G. Padgett
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269854
- eISBN:
- 9780191600517
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269854.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
In his presentation Alan Padgett analyses and rejects a powerful and attractive ideology (‘myth’) in academia, viz. that the best approach to biblical and religious studies is one that brackets‐off ...
More
In his presentation Alan Padgett analyses and rejects a powerful and attractive ideology (‘myth’) in academia, viz. that the best approach to biblical and religious studies is one that brackets‐off our own faith, an assumption that religious faith corrupts scientific research. He suggests as a replacement a post‐modern method that is holistic, humble, and accepting of different faiths, using the Resurrection of Jesus as a focused example.Less
In his presentation Alan Padgett analyses and rejects a powerful and attractive ideology (‘myth’) in academia, viz. that the best approach to biblical and religious studies is one that brackets‐off our own faith, an assumption that religious faith corrupts scientific research. He suggests as a replacement a post‐modern method that is holistic, humble, and accepting of different faiths, using the Resurrection of Jesus as a focused example.
Mary Croarken
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198508410
- eISBN:
- 9780191708831
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198508410.003.0010
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was established in 1831 to promote the public understanding of science, an activity in which it is still has an important role today. By the ...
More
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was established in 1831 to promote the public understanding of science, an activity in which it is still has an important role today. By the 1870s it had come to play a central part in scientific life in England. This chapter discusses the creation of the Mathematical Tables Committee, which was prompted by the increasing amount of computation being required in scientific research especially in the physical sciences. Mathematical tables were the main computing tool for physicists, engineers, and mathematicians during the 19th century and had become increasingly numerous and diverse.Less
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was established in 1831 to promote the public understanding of science, an activity in which it is still has an important role today. By the 1870s it had come to play a central part in scientific life in England. This chapter discusses the creation of the Mathematical Tables Committee, which was prompted by the increasing amount of computation being required in scientific research especially in the physical sciences. Mathematical tables were the main computing tool for physicists, engineers, and mathematicians during the 19th century and had become increasingly numerous and diverse.
B. Alan Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195173109
- eISBN:
- 9780199849833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173109.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
During his late twenties, William James fell victim to a sense of utterly debilitating depression that was catalyzed by his medical training at Harvard University. Specifically, this despair was ...
More
During his late twenties, William James fell victim to a sense of utterly debilitating depression that was catalyzed by his medical training at Harvard University. Specifically, this despair was brought on by the view that all our mental experiences are produced solely by brain states and there is no causal efficacy in conscious states as such. In this state of acedia, James felt that “we have powers, but no motives”; in light of scientific materialism, all things seemed insignificant, and he was overcome by a sense of the utter insecurity of life. After months of suffering from such despair, his recovery was inspired by the French philosopher Charles Renouvier, whose writings persuaded him that mental causation was indeed possible. This chapter discusses scientific materialism and the pursuit of happiness, and argues that scientific materialism's taboo against subjectivity has curtailed scientific research into the nature, origins, and potentials of consciousness.Less
During his late twenties, William James fell victim to a sense of utterly debilitating depression that was catalyzed by his medical training at Harvard University. Specifically, this despair was brought on by the view that all our mental experiences are produced solely by brain states and there is no causal efficacy in conscious states as such. In this state of acedia, James felt that “we have powers, but no motives”; in light of scientific materialism, all things seemed insignificant, and he was overcome by a sense of the utter insecurity of life. After months of suffering from such despair, his recovery was inspired by the French philosopher Charles Renouvier, whose writings persuaded him that mental causation was indeed possible. This chapter discusses scientific materialism and the pursuit of happiness, and argues that scientific materialism's taboo against subjectivity has curtailed scientific research into the nature, origins, and potentials of consciousness.
Philip Kitcher
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195096538
- eISBN:
- 9780199833351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195096533.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Ends with an attempt to construct a formal model of knowledge for scientists working together in a community of inquiry. It is shown how the questions of social epistemology can be conceived in terms ...
More
Ends with an attempt to construct a formal model of knowledge for scientists working together in a community of inquiry. It is shown how the questions of social epistemology can be conceived in terms of optimal strategies for the attainment of the goals of science, and how particular social schemes for organizing research approximate the optimal results. Specific problems considered include those of the division of cognitive labour and of the role of authority in scientific research.Less
Ends with an attempt to construct a formal model of knowledge for scientists working together in a community of inquiry. It is shown how the questions of social epistemology can be conceived in terms of optimal strategies for the attainment of the goals of science, and how particular social schemes for organizing research approximate the optimal results. Specific problems considered include those of the division of cognitive labour and of the role of authority in scientific research.
Holger Droessler
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781781381724
- eISBN:
- 9781781382257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781381724.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter traces the postwar battle for scientific authority and political influence between the older guard of physical anthropologists and the rising group of social scientists in a ...
More
This chapter traces the postwar battle for scientific authority and political influence between the older guard of physical anthropologists and the rising group of social scientists in a transatlantic context. The charged terrain on which these battles over the meaning of race, science, and politics were fought was conditioned by the legitimizing role that the science of race played in the extermination of millions of human beings deemed ‘racially inferior’ by the German National Socialists. Both racial and social scientists employed an array of rhetorical and visual strategies to make their case in the debates about race, science, and politics. These strategies helped establish truth claims about their objects of study and defend a notion of science as an ‘objective’ endeavour, isolated from the broader historical and political debates of the time. Contrary to this belief in the putative objectivity of science, scientific research is always already embedded in the particular cultural, social, and political contexts of its time. The transatlantic debates between racial and social scientists after the Second World War serve as a powerful illustration of this fundamental interdependence between the construction of scientific objectivity and the political uses to which scientific research can be put. The chapter also highlights the longevity and malleability of racial science which have been generally neglected by scholars of racism and science.Less
This chapter traces the postwar battle for scientific authority and political influence between the older guard of physical anthropologists and the rising group of social scientists in a transatlantic context. The charged terrain on which these battles over the meaning of race, science, and politics were fought was conditioned by the legitimizing role that the science of race played in the extermination of millions of human beings deemed ‘racially inferior’ by the German National Socialists. Both racial and social scientists employed an array of rhetorical and visual strategies to make their case in the debates about race, science, and politics. These strategies helped establish truth claims about their objects of study and defend a notion of science as an ‘objective’ endeavour, isolated from the broader historical and political debates of the time. Contrary to this belief in the putative objectivity of science, scientific research is always already embedded in the particular cultural, social, and political contexts of its time. The transatlantic debates between racial and social scientists after the Second World War serve as a powerful illustration of this fundamental interdependence between the construction of scientific objectivity and the political uses to which scientific research can be put. The chapter also highlights the longevity and malleability of racial science which have been generally neglected by scholars of racism and science.
Abigail C Saguy
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199857081
- eISBN:
- 9780199315925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199857081.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Drawing on two different paired samples of scientific studies of obesity and news reporting on those studies, this chapter examines the respective roles played by scientific research and the news ...
More
Drawing on two different paired samples of scientific studies of obesity and news reporting on those studies, this chapter examines the respective roles played by scientific research and the news media in framing fat and assessing blame and responsibility for the “obesity epidemic.” It further examines how the news media evaluate the credibility of specific claims and the scientists and activists making those claims.Less
Drawing on two different paired samples of scientific studies of obesity and news reporting on those studies, this chapter examines the respective roles played by scientific research and the news media in framing fat and assessing blame and responsibility for the “obesity epidemic.” It further examines how the news media evaluate the credibility of specific claims and the scientists and activists making those claims.
Deepak Kumar
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195687149
- eISBN:
- 9780199081684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195687149.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
Although science in the metropolis had undergone significant professionalization and specialization, this was not beneficial to India's educational system. As a result, few Indians were able to ...
More
Although science in the metropolis had undergone significant professionalization and specialization, this was not beneficial to India's educational system. As a result, few Indians were able to participate in research activities under British rule. Research remained an exclusive governmental exercise for a long time, which had a major effect on the nature and scope of scientific research in the country. The government's excessive control of scientific undertakings naturally hampered the logical development of modern science in India. Most organizations were pressured by the government to work only along economically beneficial lines. This chapter explores the status of scientific research in British India, focusing on areas such as agriculture, geology, medicine, meteorology, and zoology.Less
Although science in the metropolis had undergone significant professionalization and specialization, this was not beneficial to India's educational system. As a result, few Indians were able to participate in research activities under British rule. Research remained an exclusive governmental exercise for a long time, which had a major effect on the nature and scope of scientific research in the country. The government's excessive control of scientific undertakings naturally hampered the logical development of modern science in India. Most organizations were pressured by the government to work only along economically beneficial lines. This chapter explores the status of scientific research in British India, focusing on areas such as agriculture, geology, medicine, meteorology, and zoology.
Richard Swedberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155227
- eISBN:
- 9781400850358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155227.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This introductory chapter begins with a description of a crime solved in the summer of 1879 to shed some light on the importance of theory in social science. The victim of the crime, and also the ...
More
This introductory chapter begins with a description of a crime solved in the summer of 1879 to shed some light on the importance of theory in social science. The victim of the crime, and also the person who solved it, was philosopher and scientist Charles S. Peirce. In a letter to his friend, he described what had happened as an instance of the “theory why it is so that people so often guess right.” Guessing, in Peirce's view, plays a crucial role in scientific research. It is precisely through guessing that the most important part of the scientific analysis is produced—namely, the explanation. The term that Peirce most often used in his work for the guess of a hypothesis is abduction. Human beings, as he saw it, are endowed by nature with a capacity to come up with explanations. They have a “faculty of guessing,” without which science would not be possible in the first place.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a description of a crime solved in the summer of 1879 to shed some light on the importance of theory in social science. The victim of the crime, and also the person who solved it, was philosopher and scientist Charles S. Peirce. In a letter to his friend, he described what had happened as an instance of the “theory why it is so that people so often guess right.” Guessing, in Peirce's view, plays a crucial role in scientific research. It is precisely through guessing that the most important part of the scientific analysis is produced—namely, the explanation. The term that Peirce most often used in his work for the guess of a hypothesis is abduction. Human beings, as he saw it, are endowed by nature with a capacity to come up with explanations. They have a “faculty of guessing,” without which science would not be possible in the first place.
Noretta Koertge (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195172256
- eISBN:
- 9780199835546
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195172256.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This anthology explores the nexus between scientific values and civic virtues, arguing that both scientific norms and scientific institutions can provide badly needed resources for improving the ...
More
This anthology explores the nexus between scientific values and civic virtues, arguing that both scientific norms and scientific institutions can provide badly needed resources for improving the rationality of public deliberation in democratic society. In response to the growing cynicism about corruption and the influence of special interest groups, political scientists have placed more emphasis on the importance to civil society of traditional civic virtues such as justice, fairness, honesty, tolerance, and intellectual pluralism. But where are the good exemplars for such attributes? In this volume, philosophers of science show how the scientific values of truthfulness, trust, candor, integrity, empirical adequacy, and critical thinking are exemplified in scientific research. Essays by historians explore the common roots of science and democracy. Other chapters show how fundamentalist religions and postmodernist critiques of rationality can undermine both science and civil society.Less
This anthology explores the nexus between scientific values and civic virtues, arguing that both scientific norms and scientific institutions can provide badly needed resources for improving the rationality of public deliberation in democratic society. In response to the growing cynicism about corruption and the influence of special interest groups, political scientists have placed more emphasis on the importance to civil society of traditional civic virtues such as justice, fairness, honesty, tolerance, and intellectual pluralism. But where are the good exemplars for such attributes? In this volume, philosophers of science show how the scientific values of truthfulness, trust, candor, integrity, empirical adequacy, and critical thinking are exemplified in scientific research. Essays by historians explore the common roots of science and democracy. Other chapters show how fundamentalist religions and postmodernist critiques of rationality can undermine both science and civil society.
Leendert P. Louwe Kooijmans
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264140
- eISBN:
- 9780191734489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264140.003.0015
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research finances a research programme directed towards a new synthesis of the transition to farming in the Netherlands, viewed in its wider geographical ...
More
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research finances a research programme directed towards a new synthesis of the transition to farming in the Netherlands, viewed in its wider geographical context, profiting from the new wealth of data made available by modern large-scale field research. The programme encompasses various projects: a critical approach to the sitebound evidence by Luc Amkreutz, a regional approach by Bart Vanmontfort (Leuven), the first physical anthropological and isotopic study of the area by Liesbeth Smits, the acquisition and distribution of raw materials and prestigious items by Leo Verhart, and a re-evaluation of the various sources of palaeobotanical evidence from the delta district by Welmoed Out. This chapter serves as a short interim report, anticipating the synthetic volume planned for the year 2008. Comments are made especially on the seemingly parallel developments at the other end of the North German Plain in the Baltic coastal area.Less
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research finances a research programme directed towards a new synthesis of the transition to farming in the Netherlands, viewed in its wider geographical context, profiting from the new wealth of data made available by modern large-scale field research. The programme encompasses various projects: a critical approach to the sitebound evidence by Luc Amkreutz, a regional approach by Bart Vanmontfort (Leuven), the first physical anthropological and isotopic study of the area by Liesbeth Smits, the acquisition and distribution of raw materials and prestigious items by Leo Verhart, and a re-evaluation of the various sources of palaeobotanical evidence from the delta district by Welmoed Out. This chapter serves as a short interim report, anticipating the synthetic volume planned for the year 2008. Comments are made especially on the seemingly parallel developments at the other end of the North German Plain in the Baltic coastal area.
Ronnee Schreiber
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195331813
- eISBN:
- 9780199851829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331813.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter demonstrates how the CWA and IWF articulate issues central to the conservative movement—abortion and scientific research and development—in terms of women's health. By showing how CWA ...
More
This chapter demonstrates how the CWA and IWF articulate issues central to the conservative movement—abortion and scientific research and development—in terms of women's health. By showing how CWA and IWF gender conservative policy priorities, it illuminates the role of women's organizations in constructing the broader conservative movement as one that takes women's interests seriously. Specifically, CWA frames debates about abortion and family planning in terms of their effects on women's physical and emotional well-being, thereby promoting the idea that those opposed to abortion care about women as well as fetuses. This is meant to address critics who charge antiabortion activists with disregarding women's well-being in their quest for making abortion illegal.Less
This chapter demonstrates how the CWA and IWF articulate issues central to the conservative movement—abortion and scientific research and development—in terms of women's health. By showing how CWA and IWF gender conservative policy priorities, it illuminates the role of women's organizations in constructing the broader conservative movement as one that takes women's interests seriously. Specifically, CWA frames debates about abortion and family planning in terms of their effects on women's physical and emotional well-being, thereby promoting the idea that those opposed to abortion care about women as well as fetuses. This is meant to address critics who charge antiabortion activists with disregarding women's well-being in their quest for making abortion illegal.
B. Alan Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195173109
- eISBN:
- 9780199849833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173109.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Scientific materialists commonly regard introspection as being inadequate to the task of providing reliable data that can generate anything approximating scientific consensus. They argue that ...
More
Scientific materialists commonly regard introspection as being inadequate to the task of providing reliable data that can generate anything approximating scientific consensus. They argue that scientific research requires systematic methods of observation capable of revealing phenomena and dynamics that are often inaccessible to unaided observation. Although the presence of mental phenomena can be inferred on the basis of third-person evidence, they can be observed by one means only: mental perception. However, this mode of observation, like all others, is fallible. If introspection is to become a reliable means of investigating the mind, researchers must be able to observe mental phenomena with a high degree of attentional stability and vividness. In this regard, the importance of sustained, voluntary attention cannot be overemphasized. William James placed the issue of sustained, voluntary attention in the broader context of education and human life as a whole. He rejects the notion that we can introspectively “capture our consciousness life-like, as a pure spiritual activity, neglecting almost completely the materials which consciousness illuminates at any given moment”.Less
Scientific materialists commonly regard introspection as being inadequate to the task of providing reliable data that can generate anything approximating scientific consensus. They argue that scientific research requires systematic methods of observation capable of revealing phenomena and dynamics that are often inaccessible to unaided observation. Although the presence of mental phenomena can be inferred on the basis of third-person evidence, they can be observed by one means only: mental perception. However, this mode of observation, like all others, is fallible. If introspection is to become a reliable means of investigating the mind, researchers must be able to observe mental phenomena with a high degree of attentional stability and vividness. In this regard, the importance of sustained, voluntary attention cannot be overemphasized. William James placed the issue of sustained, voluntary attention in the broader context of education and human life as a whole. He rejects the notion that we can introspectively “capture our consciousness life-like, as a pure spiritual activity, neglecting almost completely the materials which consciousness illuminates at any given moment”.
