The Meaning of Science: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

by Tim Lewens

Overview

A philosopher of science examines the biggest ethical and moral issues in science today, and explains why they matter for all of us -- scientist and layman alike

Science has produced explanations for everything from the mechanisms of insect navigation to the formation of black holes and the workings of black markets. But how much can we trust science, and can we actually know the world through it? How does science work and how does it fail? And how can the work of scientists help -- or hurt -- everyday people? These are not questions that science can answer on its own. This is where philosophy of science comes in. Studying science without philosophy is, to quote Einstein, to be "like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest." Cambridge philosopher Tim Lewens shows us the forest. He walks us through the theories of seminal philosophers of science Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn and considers what science is, how far it can and should reach, and how we can determine the nature of its truths and myths.

These philosophical issues have consequences that stretch far beyond the laboratory. For instance: What role should scientists have in policy discussions on environmental issues such as fracking? What are the biases at play in the search for a biological function of the female orgasm? If brain scans can be used to demonstrate that a decision was made several seconds before a person actually makes a conscious choice, what does that tell us about the possibility of free will?

By examining science through this philosophical lens, Lewens reveals what physics can teach us about reality, what biology teaches us about human nature, and what cognitive science teaches us about human freedom. A masterful analysis of the biggest scientific and ethical issues of our age, The Meaning of Science forces us to confront the practical, personal, and political purposes of science -- and why it matters to all of us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465097487
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	01/26/2016
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Timothy Lewens is a professor of philosophy of science at Cambridge University and a fellow of Clare College. He has written four books on biology and bioethics and contributes to the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. He lives in Barton, near Cambridge, England.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Wonder of Science

Part One: What We Mean By Science
1. How Science Works
2. Is That Science?
3. The "Paradigm" Paradigm
4. But Is It True?

Part Two: What Science Means for Us
5. Value and Veracity
6. Human Kindness
7. Nature—Beware!
8. Freedom Dissolves?
Epilogue: The Reach of Science

Editorial Reviews

12/21/2015
Lewens (Cultural Evolution: Conceptual Challenges), a philosopher of science at Cambridge University, asks “a series of questions about the broad significance of scientific work” in this accessible and engaging introductory volume. The book’s first half deals with the nature of science: “how science works,” why and under what conditions it might make sense to trust the findings of science, and how one might differentiate science from nonscience. Lewens explores the ideas of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn, bringing clarity to the work of both, and uses the examples of economics, homeopathy, and intelligent design to seek the point of demarcation between scientific and nonscientific ideas. He concludes with the somewhat unsettling position that there is no single characteristic that will permit the two to be distinguished. In the book’s second half, Lewens examines a range of current controversies in an attempt to demonstrate how science confronts complex ideas and is unable to disentangle itself from deep philosophical issues. Lewens concludes by placing science in a broader human context: “Although science tells us much that is important, there is no chance that it will ever tell us all that we need to know if we are to understand our world, to live well, and to make wise decisions.” (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"[An] accessible and engaging introductory volume."—Publishers Weekly

"The Meaning of Science is a wonderful example of how a so-called introduction can in fact be a brilliant summation of all that matters."—Guardian, Best Books of 2015

"[An] excellent introduction to the philosophy of science.... The Meaning of Science provides not only a compact and accessible survey of the philosophy of science as it used to be, but a glimpse of what it may become."—Literary Review

"[The Meaning of Science] raises provocative questions."—Kirkus Reviews

"This is a book that you can come back to time and time again as you discover how much remains unanswered in our age of advanced scientific knowledge.... [A] fascinating and thought-provoking book."—Lincolnshire Echo

"The Meaning of Science is a comprehensive, accessible introduction to contemporary philosophy of science. Engaging, lively, and insightful, Tim Lewens's book is a gem. Highly recommended."—Martin Curd, co-editor of Philosophy of Science: The Central Issues and of The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science

From the Publisher

2015-11-04
What is science? In this sporadically interesting primer, Lewens (Philosophy of Science/Cambridge Univ.; Cultural Evolution: Conceptual Challenges, 2015, etc.) mostly answers by saying what science isn't."What is the meaning of science? This is not a question that science will answer on its own." Look closely at the formulation as Wittgenstein might, and you have a justification for why philosophers of science should draw a paycheck—after all, the scientists can't tell you what it all means, and someone has to. That's all to the good, but some of what Lewens explores isn't really the province of science. The ancient question of whether humans possess free will is not one that science as such bothers with, though it has some bearing on cognitive research. The author's answer is characteristically hedged. "Neuroscience," he writes, "has not yet shown freedom to be an illusion." Not yet, but come the singularity, watch out. The issue of what constitutes an appropriate problem for science is material, for, as Lewens notes toward the end of the book, there is much debate among philosophers of science—less among scientists, of course—whether "the facts revealed by chemistry, biology, and psychology are all, in some fundamental sense, facts of physics." To his credit, on the matter of domains of inquiry, the author notes that science can generally do without theories of "human nature," which again fall to the social sciences and, yes, philosophy. At its best, the book raises provocative questions, but all too often, those questions are—well, in the form of questions, too many piled atop one another: "What do we mean when we say that a theory is simple? Do we mean it is easy to work with? Do we mean it asserts the existence of very few new theoretical entities?" The constant grilling is an annoying professorial tic, and one wishes for less of it. Readers seeking a more humane, more direct orientation would do well to dust off Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man (1974), dated but still valuable.

Kirkus Reviews