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Title: Defending Science-Within Reason: Between Scientism and Cynicism by Susan Haack ISBN: 1-59102-117-0 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A clear and absorbing philosophy of science
Comment: This very engaging and clearly written book by Susan Haack may at first appear to be merely a contribution to the "science wars" debate. But although the book significantly contributes to this debate, I believe that its primary goal is to present a new and better understanding of science. There is hardly a central problem in contemporary philosophy of science that Haack does not tackle, and she presents in her discussion of each of these issues a carefully argued middle position that avoids the pitfalls that beset more extreme views. Thus, for example, when examining the much debated relationship between the natural and social sciences (chapter 6), Haack carefully analyzes both their many similarities and their differences, showing the irreducibility of social to natural sciences. In her discussion of the question of the scientific method (chapter 4), she convincingly argues that although there is no "scientific method" as this term has been frequently understood, the sciences are epistemologically distinguished. Scientific inquiry is continuous with other kinds of inquiry, including everyday, commonsensical inquiry, but is more rigorous and exact than non-scientific ones.
In these and other discussions, Haack shows an impressively wide-ranging familiarity both with science itself and with theoretical works on it in a variety of fields, including sociology, literature, law, history of science, and of course philosophy. Many sociological discussions of science, for example, present it as a merely consensual or political institution, thus devaluing its status as a truth-seeking enterprise. Haack analyzes these theories (chapter 7), and shows that science is indeed partly a social institution, but that understanding it in these terms only, thus ignoring its truth seeking function, is self-defeating. She argues that Neutralism (i.e., adopting a neutral stance about the bona fides of science) leads to self-undermining relativism, and explains why The Strong Programme (the efforts of some sociologists of the Edinburgh School to rescue their social analysis of science from these self-referential problems) cannot work. Similar problems arise in The Radical Programme of the Bath School. As an alternative to these, as well as to Latour's and Woolgar's programs, Haack suggests what she calls (with tongue in cheek) "The Sensible Program," which acknowledges the influence of social factors on science and calls for managing them in a way that would enhance science as a truth seeking enterprise. In much the same way as some sociologists treat science as a purely social phenomenon, some literary scholars analyze scientific texts as if they were simply literary works, thus treating science as if it were no different from myth, fable, or works of fiction (chapter 8). In Haack's analysis of these theories, she shows that while there are similarities, there are also important points of difference between scientific texts and literary ones, and that consequently it is unhelpful to regard a scientific work as a literary text. Chapter 10 discusses the relation of science to what is perhaps its oldest competitor, religion. Haack takes science and religion to be largely incompatible. The differences, she argues, lie not only in issues of factual claims (e.g., evolution vs. creation), but also in the type of inquiry and its standards. One important difference, she explains, is that in many religious contexts, faith-i.e. acceptance of theses in absence of what would ordinarily be seen as evidence-is considered a virtue.
These epistemological views require also an ontological statement. Why is science successful? And why should we put such high value on evidence? Haack is a realist (concerning objects in the world, kinds, and laws), but again, a moderate one (chapter 5). Thus, she emphasizes that our senses are imperfect and sometimes distorted. Similarly, she argues that there are real kinds, but only in the sense that "some knots of properties are held together by laws." While delineating her version of realism, she compares and contrasts it to, and offers useful insights into, the views of Van Fraassen, Arthur Fine, and Popper, among others.
There is much more to this book than can be discussed in a few paragraphs (I haven't mentioned, for example, Haack's stimulating discussion of science and law). In all these matters, Haack defies classification into any traditional position, and this is part of the interest of her book, as well as its force. It makes for a complex explanation of science, which besides being very interesting, also avoids pitfalls that ensnare other, less balanced positions. The new picture of science that emerges, in turn, offers an original, and I believe more balanced and powerful, contribution to the "science wars." There is much to learn from this absorbing, provocative, and well-argued book, which should be recommended to anyone interested in science, philosophy of science, and rationality.
Rating: 5
Summary: science as inquiry
Comment: Susan Haack's "Defending Science-Within Reason" is the only philosophy of science I have read that has any resemblance to science as I know and practice it. She makes no attempt to turn science into a branch of logic, and she does not try to hide its messy, unfinished, imperfect nature. Yet she does not assume that since science is imperfect it is therefore wrong, nor that it is permeated by politics. She allows for knowledge and progress without perfection, and for inquiry that is human and limited but not therefore a sham. She considers what evidence is and how it should be evaluated, how sciences progresses, and what is wrong with the critique of science mounted lately by those sociologists and philosophers who think it is some kind of western, patriarchal plot. Haack also shows the relevance of her own work by delving into how the ways we think about science influence practical matters, like decisions by judges about what scientific testimony should be allowed in the courtroom. The writing here is more technical than in her "Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate," but I think it is all understandable by anyone who cares about the issues Haack raises; compared to all the other important philosophers of science since Hume, she is a model of clarity.
Rating: 3
Summary: Overrated
Comment: This book has many virtues, but is overrated here.
First the virtues. Haack usually displays sound judgment overall. She wisely steers a course between extremists of all varieties. The book provides a good survey of the current state of thinking about science and the widely varying positions that have been espoused on this hot topic. These are not small virtues. Given that there has been a lot of foolishness published, a guide who has her wits about her is to be valued.
Weaknesses. The book has no substantive new contributions to the core philosophical problems of epistemology. At times it seems as if Haack is appealing to "common sense" to avoid having to frame a philosophical problem in its most challenging form and then seriously grapple with it. This will be popular, but is not likely to be pivotal. It is easy to find straw men in this world, and she does so unhesitatingly. Fortunately even a casual reader will be alerted to areas where are arguments are on thin ice. The rise in her polemical rhetoric functions as an alarm bell.
In summary, sound but not deep.
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Title: Science, Truth, and Democracy (Oxford Studies in the Philosophy of Science) by Philip Kitcher ISBN: 0195165527 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Manifesto of a Passionate Moderate: Unfashionable Essays by Susan Haack ISBN: 0226311376 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Thinking About Technology: Foundations of the Philosophy of Technology by Joseph C. Pitt ISBN: 1889119121 Publisher: Chatham House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.50 |
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Title: Science as Social Knowledge by Helen E. Longino ISBN: 0691020515 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1990 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Questioning Technology by Andrew Feenberg ISBN: 0415197554 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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