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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line

Cultural Boundaries of Science: Credibility on the Line

Gieryn, Thomas F.

Paperback

History & Philosophy of Science

ISBN10: 0226292622
ISBN13: 9780226292625
Publisher: Univ Of Chicago Pr
Published: Jan 15 1999
Pages: 412
Weight: 1.25
Height: 1.01 Width: 6.04 Depth: 8.97
Language: English
Why is science so credible? Usual answers center on scientists' objective methods or their powerful instruments. In his new book, Thomas Gieryn argues that a better explanation for the cultural authority of science lies downstream, when scientific claims leave laboratories and enter courtrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. On such occasions, we use maps to decide who to believe--cultural maps demarcating science from pseudoscience, ideology, faith, or nonsense.

Gieryn looks at episodes of boundary-work: Was phrenology good science? How about cold fusion? Is social science really scientific? Is organic farming? After centuries of disputes like these, Gieryn finds no stable criteria that absolutely distinguish science from non-science. Science remains a pliable cultural space, flexibly reshaped to claim credibility for some beliefs while denying it to others. In a timely epilogue, Gieryn finds this same controversy at the heart of the raging science wars.

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