The Pseudoscience Wars

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The Pseudoscience Wars

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Author : Michael D. Gordin
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2012-09-17

The Pseudoscience Wars written by Michael D. Gordin and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-09-17 with Science categories.

Properly analyzed, the collective mythological and religious writings of humanity reveal that around 1500 BC, a comet swept perilously close to Earth, triggering widespread natural disasters and threatening the destruction of all life before settling into solar orbit as Venus, our nearest planetary neighbor. Sound implausible? Well, from 1950 until the late 1970s, a huge number of people begged to differ, as they devoured Immanuel Velikovsky’s major best-seller, Worlds in Collision, insisting that perhaps this polymathic thinker held the key to a new science and a new history. Scientists, on the other hand, assaulted Velikovsky’s book, his followers, and his press mercilessly from the get-go. In The Pseudoscience Wars, Michael D. Gordin resurrects the largely forgotten figure of Velikovsky and uses his strange career and surprisingly influential writings to explore the changing definitions of the line that separates legitimate scientific inquiry from what is deemed bunk, and to show how vital this question remains to us today. Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material from Velikovsky’s personal archives, Gordin presents a behind-the-scenes history of the writer’s career, from his initial burst of success through his growing influence on the counterculture, heated public battles with such luminaries as Carl Sagan, and eventual eclipse. Along the way, he offers fascinating glimpses into the histories and effects of other fringe doctrines, including creationism, Lysenkoism, parapsychology, and more—all of which have surprising connections to Velikovsky’s theories. Science today is hardly universally secure, and scientists seem themselves beset by critics, denialists, and those they label “pseudoscientists”—as seen all too clearly in battles over evolution and climate change. The Pseudoscience Wars simultaneously reveals the surprising Cold War roots of our contemporary dilemma and points readers to a different approach to drawing the line between knowledge and nonsense.

The Pseudoscience Wars

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Author : Michael D. Gordin
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2012-09-26

The Pseudoscience Wars written by Michael D. Gordin and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-09-26 with Biography & Autobiography categories.

"The Pseudoscience Wars "simultaneously reveals the surprising Cold War roots of our contemporary dilemma and points readers to a different approach to drawing the line between knowledge and nonsense.

Worlds In Collision

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Author :
language : en
Publisher: Paradigma Ltd
Release Date :

Worlds In Collision written by and has been published by Paradigma Ltd this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on with Science categories.

With this book Immanuel Velikovsky first presented the revolutionary results of his 10-year-long interdisciplinary research to the public, founded modern catastrophism - based on eyewitness reports by our ancestors - shook the doctrine of uniformity of geology as well as Darwin's theory of evolution, put our view of the history of our solar system, of the Earth and of humanity on a completely new basis - and caused an uproar that is still going on today. Worlds in Collision - written in a brilliant, easily understandable and entertaining style and full to the brim with precise information - can be considered one of the most important and most challenging books in the history of science. Not without reason was this book found open on Einstein's desk after his death. For all those who have ever wondered about the evolution of the earth, the history of mankind, traditions, religions, mythology or just the world as it is today, Worlds in Collision is an absolute MUST-READ!

Philosophy Of Pseudoscience

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Author : Massimo Pigliucci
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2013-08-16

Philosophy Of Pseudoscience written by Massimo Pigliucci and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-08-16 with Science categories.

“A remarkable contribution to one of the most vexing problems in science: the ‘demarcation’ problem, or how to distinguish science from nonscience.” —Francisco J. Ayala, author of Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion What sets the practice of rigorously tested, sound science apart from pseudoscience? In this volume, the contributors seek to answer this question, known to philosophers of science as “the demarcation problem.” This issue has a long history in philosophy, stretching as far back as the early twentieth century and the work of Karl Popper. But by the late 1980s, scholars in the field began to treat the demarcation problem as impossible to solve and futile to ponder. However, the essays that Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry have assembled in this volume make a rousing case for the unequivocal importance of reflecting on the separation between pseudoscience and sound science. Moreover, the demarcation problem is not a purely theoretical dilemma of mere academic interest: it affects parents’ decisions to vaccinate children and governments’ willingness to adopt policies that prevent climate change. Pseudoscience often mimics science, using the superficial language and trappings of actual scientific research to seem more respectable. Even a well-informed public can be taken in by such questionable theories dressed up as science. Pseudoscientific beliefs compete with sound science on the health pages of newspapers for media coverage and in laboratories for research funding. Now more than ever the ability to separate genuine scientific findings from spurious ones is vital, and The Philosophy of Pseudoscience provides ground for philosophers, sociologists, historians, and laypeople to make decisions about what science is or isn’t. “A manual to overcome our natural cognitive biases.” —Corriere della Sera (Italy)

Why People Believe Weird Things

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Author : Michael Shermer
language : en
Publisher: Souvenir Press
Release Date : 2011-02-01

Why People Believe Weird Things written by Michael Shermer and has been published by Souvenir Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2011-02-01 with Science categories.

A survey of a range of irrationalisms, with explanations of their empirical and logical flaws, this book describes the differences between science and pseudo-science, and goes on to describe and critique popular contemporary irrationalisms. Why do smart people believe weird things?Why do so many people believe in mind reading, past-life regression therapy, extra-terrestrial abduction and ghosts? What is behind the rise of 'scientific creationism' and Holocaust denial? In an age of supposed scientific enlightenment why do we appear more impressionable than ever?Scientific historian, and director of the Skeptics Society, Michael Shermer debunks these extraordinary claims in a no-holds-barred assault on the popular superstitions and confused prejudices of our time. Exploring the very human reasons behind otherworldly phenomena, conspiracy theories and cults Shermer explains why are they are so appealing to so many."Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism -and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency."Stephen Jay Gould, from his forewordShermer reveals the darker side of wishful thinking, through the recovered memory movement, satanic rituals and other modern witch hunts, and ideologies of racial superiority. Confronting those who take advantage of the gullibility of other people to advance their own, self-serving agendas Why People Believe Weird Things is compelling and often disturbing. It is a perceptive portrait of the human capacity for self-delusion and a celebration of the scientific spirit.

Merchants Of Doubt

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Author : Naomi Oreskes
language : en
Publisher: A&C Black
Release Date : 2011-10-03

Merchants Of Doubt written by Naomi Oreskes and has been published by A&C Black this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2011-10-03 with Technology & Engineering categories.

The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. These scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. Remarkably, the same individuals surface repeatedly-some of the same figures who have claimed that the science of global warming is "not settled" denied the truth of studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, historians of science, roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how ideology and corporate interests, aided by a too-compliant media, have skewed public understanding of some of the most pressing issues of our era.

Freud And The Question Of Pseudoscience

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Author : Frank Cioffi
language : en
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
Release Date : 1998

Freud And The Question Of Pseudoscience written by Frank Cioffi and has been published by Open Court Publishing this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1998 with Philosophy categories.

In the early 1970s, Cioffi demonstrated that Freud falsified the account of his discovery of the Oedipus complex - an account that had gone unquestioned until that time. Moreover, Cioffi showed that this misrepresentation was necessary to the propagation of the Oedipus theory. The author subsequently revealed Freud's falsifications in retracting his theory of infantile seduction, a revelation that has been often cited in recent books and scholarly journals.

Cultural Boundaries Of Science

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Author : Thomas F. Gieryn
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 1999-01-15

Cultural Boundaries Of Science written by Thomas F. Gieryn and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 1999-01-15 with Philosophy categories.

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."

War Of The Worldviews

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Author : Deepak Chopra
language : en
Publisher: Random House
Release Date : 2011

War Of The Worldviews written by Deepak Chopra and has been published by Random House this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2011 with Body, Mind & Spirit categories.

Two authors - one from the field of physics, the other from the realm of spirituality - debate the most fundamental questions about human existence

Why Freud Was Wrong

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Author : Richard Webster
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2005

Why Freud Was Wrong written by Richard Webster and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2005 with Psychoanalysis categories.

This is the first complete and coherent account of Freud's life and work to be written from a consistently sceptical point of view. Meticulously researched and powerfully argued, the book is a devastating portrait of the interpreter of dreams.