The Science Wars Go Public

2021 ◽  
pp. 243-258
Author(s):  
Steven L. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Religious Right ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Academic World ◽  
The Public ◽  
Creation Science ◽  
Science Wars ◽  
Effective Science ◽  
Practice Of Science

In the 1990s, the Science Wars moved from the academic world into the public arena, further widening the gulf between critics of science, who argued that science was a socially empowered belief system or ideology, and defenders of a more traditional view of scientific knowledge. The critics of science were alienated by scientists’ insistence on promoting scientific knowledge as archaeological-ontological rather than interpretational-epistemological. They became actively hostile to the practice of science as well as to the putative knowledge that scientists produced, denouncing both as ideological, patriarchal, sexist, racist, and pretenders to truth. The religious right responded with its own critique of science by arguing that creation science was just as legitimately science as evolutionary theory, but successive court decisions rejected this interpretation. The implications for how we are to understand the nature of scientific knowledge remain profound for formulating effective science-based public policies.

Taking Sides

2021 ◽  
pp. 226-242
Author(s):  
Steven L. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Contentious Issue ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The World

From the 1970s on, the treatment of modern science as simultaneously an induction-based account of experience and a deduction-based account of reality became an increasingly contentious issue in the academic world. A great deal was at stake in how one answered the question of whether scientific knowledge was objective and validated by its correspondence with reality. Respect and privileged social status were accorded to science, not to mention public support for research. At the same time, however, scientists faced the more fundamental question of whether there existed a neutral arbiter of questions relating to truth, or at least truths about the world. Philosophers and social scientists lined up on both sides of this issue, either attacking scientific knowledge as a socially constructed belief system or defending it as objective and correlated with reality.

scholarly journals Belief in Astrology: a social-psychological analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 55-71
Author(s):  
Martin Bauer ◽  
John Durant
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Psychological Analysis ◽  
Social Disintegration

Social scientists have suggested several different hypotheses to account for the prevalence of belief in astrology among certain sections of the public in modern times. It has been proposed: (1) that as an elaborate and systematic belief system, astrology is attractive to people with intermediate levels of scientific knowledge [the superficial knowledge hypothesis]; (2) that belief in astrology reflects a kind of 'metaphysical unrest' that is to be found amongst those with a religious orientation but little or no integration into the structures of organized religion, perhaps as a result of 'social disintegration' consequent upon the collapse of community or upon social mobility [the metaphysical unrest hypothesis]; and (3) that belief in astrology is prevalent amongst those with an 'authoritarian character' [authoritarian personality hypothesis]. The paper tests these hypotheses against the results of British survey data from 1988. The evidence appears to support variants of hypotheses (1) and (2), but not hypothesis (3). It is proposed that serious interest or involvement in astrology is not primarily the result of a lack of scientific knowledge or understanding; rather, it is a compensatory activity with considerable attractions to segments of the population whose social world is labile or transitional; belief in astrology may be an indicator of the disintegration of community and its concomitant uncertainties and anxieties. Paradoxical as it may appear, astrology may be part and parcel of late modernity.

Science Wars

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Thomas Kuhn ◽  
Fourth Century Bce ◽  
Science Wars ◽  
History Of ◽  
Effective Science

What do scientists actually know and what do they know about? Answers to these questions are crucial not only for our understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge, but also for the formulation of effective science-based public policies, from global warming and energy to biotechnology and nanoscience. There is a lack of convincing answers to these questions because of an illogical conflation within modern science of epistemology and ontology, seeking to transcend experience and produce knowledge of reality using experience itself. Attempts at explaining the nature of scientific knowledge from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries reveal that scientific reasoning has selectively employed deduction and induction, rationalism and empiricism, the universal and the particular, and necessity and contingency as if these opposites were compatible. As Thomas Kuhn showed, the history of science belies the definitive truth of ontological claims deduced from theories and, as a corollary, the definitive truth of theories themselves. Science Wars reviews the competing conceptions of scientific knowledge from Plato and Aristotle in the fourth century BCE to the “science wars” of the 1990s and provides thought-provoking analyses for understanding scientific thought in the twenty-first century.

The libraries’ communicating popular scientific knowledge

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina Pavlichenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Research Institutions ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
Library System ◽  
Project Activity

The author examines how the public libraries could promote scientific knowledge. M. Lermontov Interdistrict Centralized Library System develops programs targeted at different population groups. The project activity is being accomplished in partnership with academic and research institutions, and universities.

Waldpolitischer Jahresrückblick 2014

2015 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-245
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann ◽  
Kathrin Steinmann ◽  
Eva Lieberherr
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Forest Policy ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Forest Law ◽  
Council Of State

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2014 Swiss forest policy in 2014 was marked by the passage of the Federal Council's message and draft of an amendment of the Forest Law, which was also treated by the Council of State's Commission for Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy and by the Council of State itself. This revision affects more than 20 articles of the current Forest Law. Despite these numerous alterations, the revision has not caused major debates. The forest-relevant parliamentary interventions decreased drastically in 2014, but since the beginning of 2015 a countertrend is notable. The forest budget remained practically the same as in previous years. The number of federal court decisions in relation to the forest sector has stayed small. Yet there are increasingly significant cantonal court decisions in this domain. In terms of broader forest policy, the public administration has mainly undertaken new standpoints regarding spatial planning and energy policies.

Pharmacist for a Healthy India – Swasth Bharath

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 3151-3154
Author(s):  
G. N. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Pharmaceutical Sector ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pharmacy Council ◽  
Global Player

India has emerged as a global player for pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceutical revolution of 1970-90 of Indian Pharma Industry had demonstrated that India could be self-sufficient in the manufacture of essential drugs at affordable prices. The turnover of Indian Pharmaceutical is over $30 billion in 2015 including $15 billion in exports.  It was a great honor to preside the 67th Indian pharmaceutical congress held in Mysore. The topic of Pharmacists for a Healthy India is close to my heart and being a regulator myself, I feel that the Pharmacy fraternity can play a much larger role in contributing to the healthcare system in India. Pharmacist as such are involved in a big way in the regulation of drugs, be it manufacture, be it sale or research and development. A contribution of the Pharmacists is there at every stage till the drug reaches the consumer safely. For this purpose, the society needs a pool of well qualified and experienced pharmacists, which requires regular updating of their knowledge to keep pace with the developments taking place in the pharmaceutical sector. The advancements in technology and the emerging challenges in the health sector require pharmacists to shoulder the responsibilities towards the utilization of scientific knowledge in the use of modern medicines and the protection of the public against dangers of wrong use of drugs. The Pharmacy Council of India on its part will have to ensure that the courses offered for creating a high technology based are calibrated in such a way that the education and skills developed suit to the requirements of the Pharmaceutical Industry as well as needs to the patients

A Progressive Era Idea for Reforming Government that Didn’t Make It: Recall of Judicial Decisions

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Mordecai Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Public Reporting ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Progressive Reforms ◽  
Original Concept

As a reform movement and an academic discipline, American public administrationgenerally coalesced during the Progressive era (1890-1920). Progressive reforms for the public sector seeped deeply into the DNA of the field, including separation of civil servants from politics, reliance on expertise, fewer elected offices, and public reporting of agency activities. However, not all of the governmental reforms proposed during this era were enacted. One of the most controversial and least known was Theodore Roosevelt’s proposal in 1912 that the voters be able to have a referendum on major court decisions, permitting them to overturn those decisions. His idea was only enacted in Colorado, where it remained on the books until 1921. This article reviews the original concept and its history in Colorado.

scholarly journals Feminismo e academia

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (199) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Yannoulas ◽  
Adriana Vallejos ◽  
Zulma Lenarduzzi
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Academic Power ◽  
Critical Exploration

Depois de séculos de exclusão, as mulheres conseguem no século 20 sua inserção na universidade. O ingresso no mundo acadêmico é, sem dúvida, atravessado por diversas formas de discriminação, manifestas e encobertas, que contribuem para a formatação de trajetórias universitárias diferenciadas para homens e mulheres, assim como para uma participação desigual no próprio exercício do poder acadêmico. Embora a academia feminista tenha estimulado a produção de conhecimentos científicos não sexistas, analisando e redimensionando concepções epistemológicas tradicionais, o conteúdo e a metodologia científica hegemônica continuam manifestando traços sutilmente androcêntricos. Neste sentido, os aportes dos estudos de gênero podem contribuir com seu potencial dinamizador para a exploração crítica e para a transformação do conhecimento científico atual, bem como para uma inserção mais efetiva das mulheres nos espaços acadêmicos. Palavras-chave: academia; androcentrismo; comparação; discriminação; epistemologia; estudos de gênero; feminismo; poder; universidade. Abstract After centuries of exclusion, women in the 20th century were admitted at University. However, diverse forms of discrimination, apparent or veiled, have crisscrossed women access to the academic world. This situation has contributed to consolidate different university itineraries for men and women, as well as an unequal participation in the very academic power. Moreover, if it is true that feminist academy has stimulated the production of a nonsexist scientific knowledge, analyzing and reformulating traditional epistemological conceptions, it is also true that hegemonic scientific contents and methodologies present subtle trace of androcentrism still today. In this sense, the contribution of gender studies may provide its motivating potential to critical exploration. Gender studies may also contribute to the transformation of contemporary scientific knowledge, and to consolidate a wider and more effective insertion for women into the academic space. Keywords: academy; androcentrism; comparison; discrimination; epistemology; gender studies; feminism; power; university.

A Recap

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Hilgard ◽  
Nan Li
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Of Science ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
Science Media

This synthesis chapter recapitulates the major themes of Part I. The chapter proposes that science communication is challenging because science is complex, because humans interpret evidence in biased ways, and because the science–media landscape is shifting. Consequently, the mere supply of scientific information alone is not likely to guide audiences to science-consistent beliefs. Instead, science communicators must learn to navigate both the cultural implications of their work and the heuristics audiences use when deciding whom to trust. Consideration must be given to scientific knowledge and the audience’s values alike. A science of science communication provides an understanding of these multiple considerations and promotes effective dialogue between scientists and the public.

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