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Robert P. Crease is the chairman of the philosophy department at Stony Brook University and the author of several books on science, including The Quantum Moment and The Great Equations. He lives in New York City.
Science is under assault. Crease's vital new book explains how science acquired its authority, how that authority has benefited us all--and how the seeds of attack came from within science itself. Pulling off such an ambitious enterprise requires the training of a philosopher, the precision of a scientist, and the storytelling chops of a great biographer. Crease has them all.--Charles C. Mann, author of 1491 and The Wizard and the Prophet In this urgent book, Crease shows that there is nothing obvious or inevitable about the social reception of science. Beautifully and clearly written, it is required reading for anyone who cares about the role of science in society.--Philip Ball, author of Serving the Reich Rather than hard-sell current scientific claims to those unlikely to listen, Crease enhances the cultural 'authority of the workshop' by showing how science becomes authoritative in the first place. His unique combination of talents and expertise is a benefit to us all.--Robert C. Scharff, author of How History Matters to Philosophy We live in a frightening time of assault on the notion of 'truth' and authority. Crease's historical account of the relationship between the public and the expert sheds important light on our current plight.--Peter Woit, author of Not Even Wrong An eloquent, timely account of what went right and what wrong in modernity when it comes to the ways in which scientific discoveries and theories were received by contemporaries. In lively recountings of telling episodes, Crease discusses a rich array of figures ranging from Francis Bacon and Galileo to Edmund Husserl and Hannah Arendt. He demonstrates how earlier forms of casting doubt on the authority of scientific findings offer clues to contemporary ways by which this authority is put in question. Speaking forcefully to the present moment, Crease spells out a series of concrete and efficacious steps by which science denial can be addressed and combated in our own time.--Edward S. Casey, author of The World on Edge A timely, sophisticated analysis of the plague of science denial, and possible correctives, via an examination of the ideas of ten profound thinkers. A masterpiece that explains sophisticated concepts without shortchanging them, and demonstrates 'why the dwindling authority of science' threatens human life.
