The Limits Of Knowledge And The Limits Of Science

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The End Of Science

John Horgan
The End Of Science Book PDF

Author : John Horgan
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2015-04-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465050857

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The End Of Science by John Horgan Pdf

As staff writer for Scientific American, John Horgan has a window on contemporary science unsurpassed in all the world. Who else routinely interviews the likes of Lynn Margulis, Roger Penrose, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Kuhn, Chris Langton, Karl Popper, Stephen Weinberg, and E.O. Wilson, with the freedom to probe their innermost thoughts? In The End Of Science, Horgan displays his genius for getting these larger-than-life figures to be simply human, and scientists, he writes, "are rarely so human . . . so at there mercy of their fears and desires, as when they are confronting the limits of knowledge."This is the secret fear that Horgan pursues throughout this remarkable book: Have the big questions all been answered? Has all the knowledge worth pursuing become known? Will there be a final "theory of everything" that signals the end? Is the age of great discoverers behind us? Is science today reduced to mere puzzle solving and adding detains to existing theories? Horgan extracts surprisingly candid answers to there and other delicate questions as he discusses God, Star Trek, superstrings, quarks, plectics, consciousness, Neural Darwinism, Marx's view of progress, Kuhn's view of revolutions, cellular automata, robots, and the Omega Point, with Fred Hoyle, Noam Chomsky, John Wheeler, Clifford Geertz, and dozens of other eminent scholars. The resulting narrative will both infuriate and delight as it mindless Horgan's smart, contrarian argument for "endism" with a witty, thoughtful, even profound overview of the entire scientific enterprise. Scientists have always set themselves apart from other scholars in the belief that they do not construct the truth, they discover it. Their work is not interpretation but simple revelation of what exists in the empirical universe. But science itself keeps imposing limits on its own power. Special relativity prohibits the transmission of matter or information as speeds faster than that of light; quantum mechanics dictates uncertainty; and chaos theory confirms the impossibility of complete prediction. Meanwhile, the very idea of scientific rationality is under fire from Neo-Luddites, animal-rights activists, religious fundamentalists, and New Agers alike. As Horgan makes clear, perhaps the greatest threat to science may come from losing its special place in the hierarchy of disciplines, being reduced to something more akin to literaty criticism as more and more theoreticians engage in the theory twiddling he calls "ironic science." Still, while Horgan offers his critique, grounded in the thinking of the world's leading researchers, he offers homage too. If science is ending, he maintains, it is only because it has done its work so well.

Clashes of Knowledge

Peter Meusburger,Michael Welker,Edgar Wunder
Clashes of Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Peter Meusburger,Michael Welker,Edgar Wunder
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2008-04-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781402055553

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Clashes of Knowledge by Peter Meusburger,Michael Welker,Edgar Wunder Pdf

Do traditional distinctions between "belief" and "knowledge" still make sense? How are differences between knowledge and belief understood in different cultural contexts? This book explores conflicts between various types of knowledge, especially between orthodox and heterodox knowledge systems, ranging from religious fundamentalism to heresies within the scientific community itself. Beyond addressing many fields in the academy, the book discusses learned individuals interested in the often puzzling spatial and cultural disparities of knowledge and clashes of knowledge.

The Limits Of Science

Nicholas Rescher
The Limits Of Science Book PDF

Author : Nicholas Rescher
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Pre
Page : 297 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2014-08-12
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780822972068

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The Limits Of Science by Nicholas Rescher Pdf

Perfected science is but an idealization that provides a useful contrast to highlight the limited character of what we do and can attain. This lies at the core of various debates in the philosophy of science and Rescher's discussion focuses on the question: how far could science go in principle—what are the theoretical limits on science? He concentrates on what science can discover, not what it should discover. He explores in detail the existence of limits or limitations on scientific inquiry, especially those that, in principle, preclude the full realization of the aims of science, as opposed to those that relate to economic obstacles to scientific progress. Rescher also places his argument within the politics of the day, where "strident calls of ideological extremes surround us," ranging from the exaggeration that "science can do anything"—to the antiscientism that views science as a costly diversion we would be well advised to abandon. Rescher offers a middle path between these two extremes and provides an appreciation of the actual powers and limitations of science, not only to philosophers of science but also to a larger, less specialized audience.

Boundaries And Barriers

John L. Casti,Anders Karlqvist
Boundaries And Barriers Book PDF

Author : John L. Casti,Anders Karlqvist
Publisher : Addison-Wesley Longman
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 1996-09-15
Category : Science
ISBN : UOM:39015031883724

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Boundaries And Barriers by John L. Casti,Anders Karlqvist Pdf

Are there scientific problems that cannot be solved? Mathematics is riddled with such problems, but can we pose analogous questions outside of mathematics? Does nature itself impose fundamental limits on our knowledge of the universe? Despite the work of some of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, no one really knows.In May 1995 this profound and far-reaching concern brought together a small but select group of scientists in a remote scientific outpost in Abisko, Sweden, a village far north of the Arctic Circle. Boundaries and Barriers captures the spirit—and the content—of the talks given at the meeting. Included are contributions by John Barrow on the limits of science, John Casti on the search for the “unknowable” in science, James Hartle on quantum cosmology, Harold Morowitz on complexity and epistemology, and six more fascinating chapters that illuminate the possible limits to what we can know by using the tools of science. The issues discussed here challenge the very foundations of science, but the conclusions are optimistic. When the dust clears, science remains standing-our best bet for understanding the way the world works.

The Island of Knowledge

Marcelo Gleiser
The Island of Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher : Civitas Books
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2014-06-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780465031719

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The Island of Knowledge by Marcelo Gleiser Pdf

Why discovering the limits to science may be the most powerful discovery of allHow much can we know about the world? In this book, physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence, the origin of the universe, the nature of reality, and the limits of knowledge. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, like religion, is fundamentally limited as a tool for understanding the world. As science and its philosophical interpretations advance, we face the unsettling recognition of how much we don't know. Gleiser shows that by aband.

The Island of Knowledge

Marcelo Gleiser
The Island of Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Marcelo Gleiser
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2014-06-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465080731

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The Island of Knowledge by Marcelo Gleiser Pdf

Do all questions have answers? How much can we know about the world? Is there such a thing as an ultimate truth? To be human is to want to know, but what we are able to observe is only a tiny portion of what's "out there." In The Island of Knowledge, physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, the main tool we use to find answers, is fundamentally limited. These limits to our knowledge arise both from our tools of exploration and from the nature of physical reality: the speed of light, the uncertainty principle, the impossibility of seeing beyond the cosmic horizon, the incompleteness theorem, and our own limitations as an intelligent species. Recognizing limits in this way, Gleiser argues, is not a deterrent to progress or a surrendering to religion. Rather, it frees us to question the meaning and nature of the universe while affirming the central role of life and ourselves in it. Science can and must go on, but recognizing its limits reveals its true mission: to know the universe is to know ourselves. Telling the dramatic story of our quest for understanding, The Island of Knowledge offers a highly original exploration of the ideas of some of the greatest thinkers in history, from Plato to Einstein, and how they affect us today. An authoritative, broad-ranging intellectual history of our search for knowledge and meaning, The Island of Knowledge is a unique view of what it means to be human in a universe filled with mystery.

The Limits of Knowledge

Nancy Arden McHugh
The Limits of Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Nancy Arden McHugh
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 203 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2015-07-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781438457819

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The Limits of Knowledge by Nancy Arden McHugh Pdf

Argues for a transactionally situated approach to science and medicine in order to meet the needs of marginalized groups. The Limits of Knowledge provides an understanding of what pragmatist feminist theories look like in practice, combining insights from the work of American pragmatist John Dewey concerning experimental inquiry and transaction with arguments for situated knowledge rooted in contemporary feminism. Using case studies to demonstrate some of the particular ways that dominant scientific and medical practices fail to meet the health needs of marginalized groups and communities, Nancy Arden McHugh shows how transactionally situated approaches are better able to meet the needs of these communities. Examples include a community action group fighting environmental injustice in Bayview Hunters Point, California, one of the most toxic communities in the US; gender, race, age, and class biases in the study and diagnosis of endometriosis; a critique of Evidence-Based Medicine; the current effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese women and children; and pediatric treatment of Amish and Mennonite children.

Francis Bacon and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge

Dennis Desroches
Francis Bacon and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge Book PDF

Author : Dennis Desroches
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2006-09-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781847143723

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Francis Bacon and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge by Dennis Desroches Pdf

While Francis Bacon continues to be considered the 'father' of modern experimental science, his writings are no longer given close attention by most historians and philosophers of science, let alone by scientists themselves. In this new book Dennis Desroches speaks up loudly for Bacon, showing how we have yet to surpass the fundamental theoretical insights that he offered towards producing scientific knowledge. The book first examines the critics who have led many generations of scholars - in fields as diverse as literary criticism, science studies, feminism, philosophy and history - to think of Bacon as an outmoded landmark in the history of ideas rather than a crucial thinker for our own day. Bacon's own work is seen to contain the best responses to these various forms of attack. Desroches then focuses on Bacon's Novum Organum, The Advancement of Learning and De Augmentis, in order to discern the theoretical - rather than simply the empirical or utilitarian - nature of his programme for the 'renovation' of the natural sciences. The final part of the book draws startling links between Bacon and one of the twentieth century's most important historians/philosophers of science, Thomas Kuhn, discerning in Kuhn's work a reprise of many of Bacon's fundamental ideas - despite Kuhn's clear attempt to reject Bacon as a significant contributor to the way we think about scientific practice today. Desroches concludes, then, that Bacon was not simply the 'father' of modern science - he is still in the process of 'fathering' it.

The Outer Limits of Reason

Noson S. Yanofsky
The Outer Limits of Reason Book PDF

Author : Noson S. Yanofsky
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 419 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2016-11-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780262529846

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The Outer Limits of Reason by Noson S. Yanofsky Pdf

This exploration of the scientific limits of knowledge challenges our deep-seated beliefs about our universe, our rationality, and ourselves. “A must-read for anyone studying information science.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review Many books explain what is known about the universe. This book investigates what cannot be known. Rather than exploring the amazing facts that science, mathematics, and reason have revealed to us, this work studies what science, mathematics, and reason tell us cannot be revealed. In The Outer Limits of Reason, Noson Yanofsky considers what cannot be predicted, described, or known, and what will never be understood. He discusses the limitations of computers, physics, logic, and our own intuitions about the world—including our ideas about space, time, and motion, and the complex relationship between the knower and the known. Yanofsky describes simple tasks that would take computers trillions of centuries to complete and other problems that computers can never solve: • perfectly formed English sentences that make no sense • different levels of infinity • the bizarre world of the quantum • the relevance of relativity theory • the causes of chaos theory • math problems that cannot be solved by normal means • statements that are true but cannot be proven Moving from the concrete to the abstract, from problems of everyday language to straightforward philosophical questions to the formalities of physics and mathematics, Yanofsky demonstrates a myriad of unsolvable problems and paradoxes. Exploring the various limitations of our knowledge, he shows that many of these limitations have a similar pattern and that by investigating these patterns, we can better understand the structure and limitations of reason itself. Yanofsky even attempts to look beyond the borders of reason to see what, if anything, is out there.

The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science

José Carlos Bermejo Barrera
The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science Book PDF

Author : José Carlos Bermejo Barrera
Publisher : Univ Santiago de Compostela
Page : 183 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2013-06-11
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9788498873979

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The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science by José Carlos Bermejo Barrera Pdf

This is an essay on the possibility and limits of knowledge, in general, and scientific knowledge, in particular. In Chapter 1 the postulates of Kantian critical philosophy are broadened to make contact with modern cognitive theories; it is argued that all knowledge should be regarded as an exclusively human product rather than the work of a transcendental being. On this basis the fundamental question posed in this text concerns the limits of knowledge defined by the limitations of instruments of observation, classificationn and analysis, and the limitations of researchers as individuals and as scientific communities. In this last respect, it is argued that current systems for the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, while making such knowledgem while making such knowledge possible, also favour its sterility. Two specific areas of science are analysed from these points of view: psychiatry and standard cosmology.

Human Nature and the Limits of Science

John Dupré
Human Nature and the Limits of Science Book PDF

Author : John Dupré
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199248063

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Human Nature and the Limits of Science by John Dupré Pdf

Dupré warns that our understanding of human nature is being distorted by two faulty and harmful forms of pseudo-scientific thinking. He claims it is important to resist scientism - an exaggerated conception of what science can be expected to do.

The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science

José Bermejo,José Carlos Bermejo Barrera
The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science Book PDF

Author : José Bermejo,José Carlos Bermejo Barrera
Publisher : Univ Santiago de Compostela
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2010-01-01
Category : Education
ISBN : 849887288X

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The Limits of Knowledge and the Limits of Science by José Bermejo,José Carlos Bermejo Barrera Pdf

This is an essay on the possibility and limits of knowledge, in general, and scientific knowledge, in particular. In Chapter 1 the postulates of Kantian critical philosophy are broadened to make contact with modern cognitive theories; it is argued that all knowledge should be regarded as an exclusively human product rather than the work of a transcendental being. On this basis the fundamental question posed in this text concerns the limits of knowledge defined by the limitations of instruments of observation, classificationn and analysis, and the limitations of researchers as individuals and as scientific communities. In this last respect, it is argued that current systems for the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, while making such knowledge possible, also favour its sterility. Two specific areas of science are analysed from these points of view: psychiatry and standard cosmology.

The Limits of Science

Wenceslao J. Gonzalez
The Limits of Science Book PDF

Author : Wenceslao J. Gonzalez
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2016-10-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789004325401

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The Limits of Science by Wenceslao J. Gonzalez Pdf

The problem of the limits of science — of the “barriers” and the “confines” — requires a new analysis, which is the task of this book. The issue is considered from the perspective of science as a human activity.

Strange Science

Lara Pauline Karpenko,Shalyn Rae Claggett
Strange Science Book PDF

Author : Lara Pauline Karpenko,Shalyn Rae Claggett
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2017
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780472130177

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Strange Science by Lara Pauline Karpenko,Shalyn Rae Claggett Pdf

A fascinating look at scientific inquiry during the Victorian period and the shifting boundary between mainstream and unorthodox sciences of the time

Impossibility

John D. Barrow
Impossibility Book PDF

Author : John D. Barrow
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780195130829

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Impossibility by John D. Barrow Pdf

Astronomer John Barrow takes an intriguing look at the limits of science, who argues that there are things that are ultimately unknowable, undoable, or unreachable.