Thinking About Science: Essays on the Nature of Science - Volume I: 2003-2008 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Start reading Rationally Speaking on your Kindle in under a minute. Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
|
|
| ||
No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
| ||||
|
Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
| ||||
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
A collection of essays by Professor Massimo Pigliucci (currently at Stony Brook University in new York), on topics ranging from science to philosophy, from politics to religion. Rationally Speaking originated in 2000 as a monthly online column, eventually to be syndicated on more than 50 web sites worldwide. It was the beginning of a regular online presence, which evolved in 2006 into the more agile and open-ended form of a blog (rationallyspeaking.org).
Why would a professional scientist who spends most of his time working on fairly specific scientific puzzles concerning gene-environment interactions (what is often referred to as “nature-nurture” questions) spend a considerable amount of time and emotional energy writing electronic “messages in a bottle” to be entrusted to the capricious currents of the Internet?
Because Pigliucci firmly believes that academics have a duty to society to be public intellectuals. Of course, the word “intellectual” has, at best, a dubious reputation in the United States (as opposed to Europe, where it is not uncommon to see philosophers, sociologists and scientists appearing on tv talk shows). Indeed, anti-intellectualism as a phenomenon characteristic of American society almost from its inception, has been the object of much study by sociologists who have identified its various components (from disdain for “theoretical” pursuits because they are not in line with the capitalist ethos to religious fundamentalist attacks on evolution). Nonetheless, and indeed precisely because of the widespread anti-intellectualism, the U.S. desperately needs intellectuals, from the academic world as much from outside of it (artists, journalists, authors, etc.).
Democracy, Winston Churchill once said, is the worst form of government except for every other one. Plato wasn’t a friend of democratic government, especially after he saw the Athenian democracy kill his mentor, Socrates. If we want to have a truly liberal democracy, and not the kind of mob rule that Plato disdained, we need educated people. Education, in turn, is not just an accumulation of factual knowledge, nor is it the acquisition of skills useful to the large corporations who now run the world. It is, at its essence, the ability to think critically about anything that is relevant to our lives. We hope, therefore, that you will enjoy these essays in the spirit they were written, to provide good food for thinking and further discussion.
Why would a professional scientist who spends most of his time working on fairly specific scientific puzzles concerning gene-environment interactions (what is often referred to as “nature-nurture” questions) spend a considerable amount of time and emotional energy writing electronic “messages in a bottle” to be entrusted to the capricious currents of the Internet?
Because Pigliucci firmly believes that academics have a duty to society to be public intellectuals. Of course, the word “intellectual” has, at best, a dubious reputation in the United States (as opposed to Europe, where it is not uncommon to see philosophers, sociologists and scientists appearing on tv talk shows). Indeed, anti-intellectualism as a phenomenon characteristic of American society almost from its inception, has been the object of much study by sociologists who have identified its various components (from disdain for “theoretical” pursuits because they are not in line with the capitalist ethos to religious fundamentalist attacks on evolution). Nonetheless, and indeed precisely because of the widespread anti-intellectualism, the U.S. desperately needs intellectuals, from the academic world as much from outside of it (artists, journalists, authors, etc.).
Democracy, Winston Churchill once said, is the worst form of government except for every other one. Plato wasn’t a friend of democratic government, especially after he saw the Athenian democracy kill his mentor, Socrates. If we want to have a truly liberal democracy, and not the kind of mob rule that Plato disdained, we need educated people. Education, in turn, is not just an accumulation of factual knowledge, nor is it the acquisition of skills useful to the large corporations who now run the world. It is, at its essence, the ability to think critically about anything that is relevant to our lives. We hope, therefore, that you will enjoy these essays in the spirit they were written, to provide good food for thinking and further discussion.
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images?
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
 |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy
- Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Evolution
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Atheism
- Books > Science > Essays & Commentary
- Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > General
- Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Evolution > General
- Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Religion & Spirituality > Spirituality > Atheism
- Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Science > Essays & Commentary
Look for Similar Items by Subject
Feedback
|
If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
