Science at the Frontiers

Reviews / Votes

To quote Hegel, "We learn from history that we do not learn from history." In this short collection of essays, Krieger (Univ. of Rhode Island) attempts to redress this issue within the history and philosophy of science (HPS). The first half of the work contains essays that bring new ideas to traditional fields of study in HPS such as the much-researched history of medicine. The second half includes essays that attempt to invoke new ways of conceptualizing HPS....What is accomplished is a new voice provided within a field that has recently been characterized by either vitriol (in the case of the science wars) or recycling (in the case of much recent writing therein). Krieger manages to breathe some new life into the field, which bodes well for the next generation of scholarship in this discipline. The essays in both sections are consistently well written and interesting, and will likely appeal to both interested laypersons and scholars. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; general readers. * CHOICE * This is a highly innovative collection, attempting in a successful way to show the greater dimensions of science and medicine, illustrating through historical case studies and philosophical analysis the underlying metaphysical and cultural depths that lie under the surface of so much straight science. There are few who would not learn from this, from scholar to student. I recommend it strongly. -- Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University The interesting essays in this book, mostly written by younger philosophers of science, cover a wide terrain that tends to be under-explored in the literature of the philosophy of science. Some of them are strikingly innovative and original as they draw novel lessons from the history of science, or deal with questions about the relations of science with values or with religion. Together, they show that the future of philosophy of science is in good hands. -- Hugh Lacey, Swarthmore College / Universidade de Sao Paulo