E-Book Overview
Cultural critics say that "science is politics by other means," arguing that the results of scientific inquiry are profoundly shaped by the ideological agendas of powerful elites. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion of sexist, racist, capitalist, colonialist, and/or professional interests into the very content of science. In this hard-hitting collection of essays, contributors offer crisp and detailed critiques of case studies offered by the cultural critics as evidence that scientific results tell us more about social context than they do about the natural world. Pulling no punches, they identify numerous crude factual blunders (e.g. that Newton never performed any experiments) and egregious errors of omission, such as the attempt to explain the slow development of fluid dynamics solely in terms of gender bias. Where there are positive aspects of a flawed account, or something to be learned from it, they do not hesitate to say so. Their target is shoddy scholarship. Comprising new essays by distinguished scholars of history, philosophy, and science, this book raises a lively debate to a new level of seriousness.
E-Book Content
A HOUSE BUI LT O N SAND Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science
Edited by
NORETTA KOERTGE
M a n y at work in the field o f cultural stud ies argue that “science is politics by other means,” insisting that scientific inquiry is profoundly shaped by ideological concerns. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion o f sexist, racist, capitalist, colo nialist, and/or professional interests into the very content o f science. Not long ago physi cist Alan Sokal poked fun at these claims by foisting a sly parody on the unwitting editors o f the cultural studies journal Social Text, touching off a remarkable torrent o f editori als, articles, and heated classroom and Internet discussion. A House Built on Sand picks up where Sokal left off. In a joint effort between scholars from the “two cultures”o f science and the humanities, this volume offers devastating criticism o f case studies intended to demon strate that scientific results tell us more about social context than they do about the natural world. Sokal himself opens the vol ume by reflecting on the controversy that follow ed his hoax. Philosophers Philip Kitcher and Paul Boghossian expose the relativist epistemology that underlies post modernist accounts o f science. Historian Margaret Jacob counters revisionist histories o f the rise o f experimental method in the 17th century. Scientists Allan Franklin and John Huth; mathematician Norman Levitt; and
philosophers
William
McKinney,
Michael Ruse, and Cassandra Pinnick scruti nize the shallow, sometimes error-ridden nature o f postmodern and feminist “ cri tiques”o f work in cold fusion, evolutionary theory, gravity waves, neutral currents, and relativity theory. Biologist Paul Gross revis its the notorious saga o f the “ passive”egg and “macho”sperm. Engineer Philip Sullicontinued on back flap
HOUSE BUILT ON SAND
A
HOUSE BUILT ON
SAN D E xposing Postmodernist M yths about Science
Edited by
Noretta Koertge
New York
Oxford
Oxford University Press 1998
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