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Why Trust Science? - Hardcover | Diverse Reads

Why Trust Science?

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Why the social character of scientific knowledge makes it trustworthy

Do doctors really know what they are talking about when they tell us vaccines are safe? Should we take climate experts at their word when they warn us about the perils of global warming? Why should we trust science when our own politicians don't? In this landmark book, Naomi Oreskes offers a bold and compelling defense of science, revealing why the social character of scientific knowledge is its greatest strength—and the greatest reason we can trust it.

Tracing the history and philosophy of science from the late nineteenth century to today, Oreskes explains that, contrary to popular belief, there is no single scientific method. Rather, the trustworthiness of scientific claims derives from the social process by which they are rigorously vetted. This process is not perfect—nothing ever is when humans are involved—but she draws vital lessons from cases where scientists got it wrong. Oreskes shows how consensus is a crucial indicator of when a scientific matter has been settled, and when the knowledge produced is likely to be trustworthy.

Based on the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University, this timely and provocative book features critical responses by climate experts Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Kowarsch, political scientist Jon Krosnick, philosopher of science Marc Lange, and science historian Susan Lindee, as well as a foreword by political theorist Stephen Macedo.

ISBN-13: 9780691179001

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication Date: 10-22-2019

Pages: 376

Product Dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.30(d)

Series: University Center for Human Values #1

Naomi Oreskes is professor of the history of science and affiliated professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University. Her books include The Collapse of Western Civilization: A View from the Future and Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Twitter @NaomiOreskes

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Naomi Oreskes's Why Trust Science? should be read by progressives, conservatives, and everyone in between. It's an important, timely, and utterly compelling book."—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback ix

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction Stephen Macedo 1

Chapter 1 Why Trust Science? Perspectives from the History and Philosophy of Science 15

Chapter 2 Science Awry 69

Coda: Values in Science 147

Comments

Chapter 3 The Epistemology of Frozen Peas: Innocence, Violence, and Everyday Trust in Twentieth-Century Science Susan Lindee 163

Chapter 4 What Would Reasons for Trusting Science Be? Marc Lange 181

Chapter 5 Pascal's Wager Reframed: Toward Trustworthy Climate Policy Assessments for Risk Societies Ottmar Edenhofer Martin Kowarsch 191

Chapter 6 Comments on the Present and Future of Science, Inspired by Naomi Oreskes Jon A. Krosnick 202

Response

Chapter 7 Reply 215

Afterword 245

Notes 257

References 297

Contributors 335

Index 337