Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Philosophy & Social Aspects

Science between Space and Counterspace relates the phenomena of our world to both space and counterspace, which leads to a new scientific understanding. If counterspace actually exists, then the resulting interplay between counterspace and "ordinary" space must be significant. This concept is applied to...

During the Dark Ages, the progress of Western civilization virtually stopped. The knowledge gained by the scholars of the classical age was lost; for nearly 600 years, life was governed by superstitions and fears fueled by ignorance. In this outspoken and forthright book, Lee McIntyre argues that today we are in a new Dark Age -- that we are as ignorant of the causes of human behavior as people centuries ago were of the causes of such natural phenomena as disease, famine, and eclipses. We are no further along in our understanding of what causes war, crime, and poverty -- and how to end...

The two volumes in this set contain papers submitted by the invited speakers to the 11th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, held in Cracow in 1999, under the auspices of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. The invited speakers are the leading researchers and accordingly the book presents the current state of the intellectual discourse in the respective fields.
The papers delivered at the congress were divided into 17 sections. Thus the structure of the volume...

Initially proposed as rivals of classical logic, alternative logics have become increasingly important in sciences such as quantum physics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. The contributions collected in this volume address and explore the question whether the usage of logic in the sciences, especially in modern physics, requires a deviation from classical mathematical logic. The articles in the first part of the book set the scene by describing the context and the dilemma when applying logic in science. In part II the authors offer several logics that deviate in different...

Nuclear energy, stem cell technology, GMOs: the more science advances, the more society seems to resist. But are we really watching a death struggle between opposing forces, as so many would have it? Can today s complex technical policy decisions coincide with the needs of a participatory democracy? Are the two sides even equipped to talk to each other?

Beyond Technocracy: Science, Politics and Citizens answers these questions with clarity and vision. Drawing upon a broad range of data and events from the United States and Europe, and noting the blurring of the expert/lay...

Science and its offshoot, technology, enter into the very fabric of our society in so many ways that we cannot imagine life without them. We are surrounded by crises and debates over climate change, stem-cell research, AIDS, evolutionary theory and "intelligent design," the use of DNA in solving crimes, and many other issues. Society is virtually forced to follow our natural tendency, which is to give great weight to the opinions of scientific experts. How is it that these experts have come to acquire such authority, and just how far does their authority reach? Does specialized knowledge...

The evolution versus creationism conflict is here to stay. Even after their devastating defeat in the "Kitzmiller v. Dover" decision, advocates of intelligent design and other forms of creationism continue to revise their strategies for undermining the teaching of evolution-and thus of science in general-in American schools. In this revision of "Evolution vs. Creationism," Eugenie Scott, one of the leading proponents of teaching evolution in the schools, describes these ever-changing efforts to undermine science education and shows what students, parents, and teachers should be aware of to...

Best known as a moralist and one of the founders of the Scottish Common Sense school of philosophy, Thomas Reid (1710-96) was also an influential scientific thinker. Here his work on the life sciences is studied in detail, bringing together unpublished transcripts of his most important papers on natural history, physiology, and materialist metaphysics.

Part I provides the first published account of Reid's reflections on the highly controversial theories surrounding muscular motion and the reproduction of plants and animals and relates them to the broader Enlightenment debates on...

"Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action: Twenty Years of Challenge and Progress"is a collection of thirteen essays assessing the scholarly contributions to the "Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action" series, which is comprised of five volumes resulting from international research conferences co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences between 1991 and 2000. The overarching goal of the series is to advance the engagement of constructive theology with the natural sciences with special attention to the theme of divine action and to...

Admired by Nobel prize-winning scientists and literary tastemakers alike, Weissmann will continue to amaze and beguile new and faithful readers as both a masterful commentator on contemporary culture and a transcendent intellectual historian. By turns satirical and insightful,...