Why I Am Not a Scientist: Anthropology and Modern Knowledge

by Jonathan Marks

Overview

This lively and provocative book casts an anthropological eye on the field of science in a wide-ranging and innovative discussion that integrates philosophy, history, sociology, and auto-ethnography. Jonathan Marks examines biological anthropology, the history of the life sciences, and the literature of science studies while upending common understandings of science and culture with a mixture of anthropology, common sense, and disarming humor. Science, Marks argues, is widely accepted to be three things: a method of understanding and a means of establishing facts about the universe, the facts themselves, and a voice of authority or a locus of cultural power. This triple identity creates conflicting roles and tensions within the field of science and leads to its record of instructive successes and failures. Among the topics Marks addresses are the scientific revolution, science as thought and performance, creationism, scientific fraud, and modern scientific racism. Applying his considerable insight, energy, and wit, Marks sheds new light on the evolution of science, its role in modern culture, and its challenges for the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520259607
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/23/2009
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Marks is Professor of Anthropology at University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the author of What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People, and their Genes.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Science as a Culture and as a “Side”
2. The Scientific Revolution
3. Normative Science
4. Science as Practice
5. The Problem of Creationism
6. Bogus Science
7. Scientific Misconduct
8. The Rise and Fall of Colonial Science
9. Racial and Gendered Science
10. Nature/Culture

Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Lively and forcefully written book."—Journal Royal Anthro
Inst

"This book is well written, interesting, and establishes the broad context of knowledge."—Quarterly Review of Biology

Editorial Reviews

Lively and forcefully written book.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

This book is well written, interesting, and establishes the broad context of knowledge.

Quarterly Review of Biology

It serves as a survey of major trends in biological anthropology and the anthropology of science, and is presented in an informal, often humorous fashion. . . . Why I am Not a Scientist is a useful intervention and corrective. . .

Somatosphere

Lively and forcefully written book.

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Ícaro|Ícaro|Ícaro|Institute

“This book is well written, interesting, and establishes the broad context of knowledge.

Qtly Review Of Biology - R. Paul Thompson

“Lively and forcefully written book.

Journal Royal Anthro Inst

"Lively and forcefully written book."--Journal Royal Anthro Inst

"This book is well written, interesting, and establishes the broad context of knowledge."--Qtly Review of Biology

From the Publisher