Ebook472 pages12 hours
The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this ebook
Who are scientists? What kind of people are they? What capacities and virtues are thought to stand behind their considerable authority? They are experts—indeed, highly respected experts—authorized to describe and interpret the natural world and widely trusted to help transform knowledge into power and profit. But are they morally different from other people? The Scientific Life is historian Steven Shapin’s story about who scientists are, who we think they are, and why our sensibilities about such things matter.
Conventional wisdom has long held that scientists are neither better nor worse than anyone else, that personal virtue does not necessarily accompany technical expertise, and that scientific practice is profoundly impersonal. Shapin, however, here shows how the uncertainties attending scientific research make the virtues of individual researchers intrinsic to scientific work. From the early twentieth-century origins of corporate research laboratories to the high-flying scientific entrepreneurship of the present, Shapin argues that the radical uncertainties of much contemporary science have made personal virtues more central to its practice than ever before, and he also reveals how radically novel aspects of late modern science have unexpectedly deep historical roots. His elegantly conceived history of the scientific career and character ultimately encourages us to reconsider the very nature of the technical and moral worlds in which we now live.
Building on the insights of Shapin’s last three influential books, featuring an utterly fascinating cast of characters, and brimming with bold and original claims, The Scientific Life is essential reading for anyone wanting to reflect on late modern American culture and how it has been shaped.
Conventional wisdom has long held that scientists are neither better nor worse than anyone else, that personal virtue does not necessarily accompany technical expertise, and that scientific practice is profoundly impersonal. Shapin, however, here shows how the uncertainties attending scientific research make the virtues of individual researchers intrinsic to scientific work. From the early twentieth-century origins of corporate research laboratories to the high-flying scientific entrepreneurship of the present, Shapin argues that the radical uncertainties of much contemporary science have made personal virtues more central to its practice than ever before, and he also reveals how radically novel aspects of late modern science have unexpectedly deep historical roots. His elegantly conceived history of the scientific career and character ultimately encourages us to reconsider the very nature of the technical and moral worlds in which we now live.
Building on the insights of Shapin’s last three influential books, featuring an utterly fascinating cast of characters, and brimming with bold and original claims, The Scientific Life is essential reading for anyone wanting to reflect on late modern American culture and how it has been shaped.
Read more from Steven Shapin
The Scientific Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Scientific Life
Related ebooks
A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mangle of Practice: Time, Agency, and Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invisible World: Early Modern Philosophy and the Invention of the Microscope Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sociology Since Midcentury: Essays in Theory Cumulation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The English Utilitarians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Natural Knowledge: Constructivism and the History of Science, with a new Preface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5History of Modern Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGalileo, Courtier: The Practice of Science in the Culture of Absolutism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Humanism: Explorations in Theory and Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chaos and Cosmos: Literary Roots of Modern Ecology in the British Nineteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDarwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Connected Condition: Romanticism and the Dream of Communication Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophy as a Humanistic Discipline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Continental Realism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Short History of Physics in the American Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophy Begins in Wonder: An Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy, Theology, and Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burke-Wollstonecraft Debate: Savagery, Civilization, and Democracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Realism and Antirealism: John Dewey and the Neopragmatists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shape of the Signifier: 1967 to the End of History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsState of Nature, Stages of Society: Enlightenment Conjectural History and Modern Social Discourse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelf-Interest and Social Order in Classical Liberalism: The Essays of George H. Smith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharles Peirce's Theory of Scientific Method Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
European History For You
A Short History of the World: The Story of Mankind From Prehistory to the Modern Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Origins Of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Violent Abuse of Women: In 17th and 18th Century Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Charted Designs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Scientific Life
Rating: 3.1666666666666665 out of 5 stars
3/5
6 ratings1 review
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Nearly unreadable, due to problems with spacing. Please fix it.
Book preview
The Scientific Life - Steven Shapin
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1