Why trust science? Why should science have more authority than "other ways of knowing?" Is science merely a social construct? Or even worse: a tool of oppression? This book boldly takes on these and other explosive questionsโlodged by ideologues on the left and the rightโand offers readers a well researched defense of science and a polemic addressed to its detractors.
Why Itโs OK to Trust Science critically examines the recent history of critiques of science, including those in academia from scholars like Bruno Latour, Simon Schaffer, and Thomas Kuhn. It then presents case studies drawn from recent advances in the field of dinosaur paleontology, showing how science generates objective knowledge, even during revolutionary episodes. The book next looks at how that same objective knowledge can be gained even when researching extremely complex issues, using climate science to distinguish between genuine skepticism โupon which science dependsโfrom dogmatic denial.
The book is for anyone who needs thoughtful, razor sharp responses to the detractors of scienceโwhether they be anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, profit-seeking businessmen, or published relativists in the knowledge-making industries.
Key Features
Highly readable and accessible without oversimplifying the complexities of scientific research
Exposes the many flaws of the "undertermination thesis"โthe argument that indefinitely many hypotheses are compatible with any body of evidence
Explores whether moral and other value-laden questions can be answered by science
Includes three appendixes online: (1) Summary of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; (2) Rorty on Losing the World; (3) 21 Facts in Support of Human-Caused Climate Change