Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #940996 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 700 pages

Synopsis
The authors identify that the major advances in science stem from changes in three distict areas of society: the social institutions that promote science; the sensibilities of scientists themselves and the goal of the scientific enterprise. The book begins by examining the institutions that have shaped science: the academics of Ancient greece, universities, the growth of museums of science, technology and natural history, botanical and zoological gardens and the advent of popular specialized research laboratories. It is equally comprehensive when it analyzes changing scientific sensibilities - for example the relationship between religion and science, or the interplay between the growth of democracy and the growth of scientifc knowledge. The final section of the book on the changing nature of scientific enterprise, considers how the goals of science have evolved, from the earliest examples of the written word, to the increasingly cosy relationships between scientists, militarists and industrialists in the modern world.

Customer Reviews

worn-out methodology
The authors of this book begin by asserting that "we fly no philosophical, political, or methodological colours." They then immediately give the lie to this claim by launching into an attack of postmodernism and the work of Shapin and Latour. Such high-handed critiques of postmodernism would be a little more reasonable if the authors could display at least a small amount of evidence that they had read and understood the works they were attacking. Make no mistake, this book definitely does fly philosophical, political, and methodological colors, and those colors appear to be fairly conservative ones.

AWSOME!!!
I think this was one of the best science books out there. I think everybody should read this awsome book. Read it and you will know what I mean!!