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Uncertainty: How it Makes Science Advance
Scientific knowledge is the most solid and robust kind of knowledge that humans have because of the self-correcting character inherent in its own processes. Nevertheless, anti-evolutionists, climate denialists, and anti-vaxxers, among others, question some of the best-established scientific findings, making claims that are unsupported by empirical evidence. A common aspect of these claims is the reference to the uncertainties in these areas of research, which leads to the conclusion that science is uncertain about evolution, climate change, and vaccination, among others. The truth of the matter is that while the broad picture is clear, there exist--and will always exist--uncertainties about the details of the respective phenomena. In this book Kampourakis and McCain show that uncertainty is an inherent feature of science that does not devalue it. In contrast, uncertainty actually makes science advance because it motivates further research.
The first book of its kind, Uncertainty draws on philosophy of science to explain what uncertainty in science is and how it makes science advance. It contrasts evolution, climate change, and vaccination, where the uncertainties are exaggerated, to genetic testing and forensic science where the uncertainties are usually overlooked. Kampourakis and McCain discuss the scientific, psychological, and philosophical aspects of uncertainty in order to explain what it is really about, what kind of problems it actually poses, and why it ultimately makes science advance. Contrary to the public representations of scientific findings and conclusions that produce an intuitive but distorted view of science as certain, we need to understand and learn to live with uncertainty in science.
The first book of its kind, Uncertainty draws on philosophy of science to explain what uncertainty in science is and how it makes science advance. It contrasts evolution, climate change, and vaccination, where the uncertainties are exaggerated, to genetic testing and forensic science where the uncertainties are usually overlooked. Kampourakis and McCain discuss the scientific, psychological, and philosophical aspects of uncertainty in order to explain what it is really about, what kind of problems it actually poses, and why it ultimately makes science advance. Contrary to the public representations of scientific findings and conclusions that produce an intuitive but distorted view of science as certain, we need to understand and learn to live with uncertainty in science.
- GenresSciencePhilosophy
272 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 17, 2020
This is intended as a follow-on to Stuart Firestein's two books, the excellent Ignorance and its sequel, Failure, which cut through some of the myths about the nature of science and how it's not so much about facts as about what we don't know and how we search for explanations. The authors of Uncertainty do pretty much what they set out to do in explaining the significance of uncertainty and why it can make it difficult to present scientific findings to the public, who expect black-and-white facts, not grey probabilities, which can seem to some like dithering.
However, I didn't get on awfully well with the book. A minor issue was the size - it was just too physically small to hold comfortably, which was irritating. More significantly, it felt like a magazine article that was inflated to make a book. There really was only one essential point made over and over again, with a handful of repeated examples. I want something more from a book - more context and depth - that I didn't feel that came across here.
Perhaps underlying the issue is that it's not at all clear who this book is aimed at. The problem described is often one of public understanding of science, but the book wouldn't work for the public - it's not approachable enough and has little to attract it to the public gaze. I would hope that scientists generally already know about the role of uncertainty in science. Perhaps the best audience in terms of finding it useful would be science communicators, but there was no indication that it was written for such an audience.
It's not that uncertainty is an unimportant issue. I often find, for instance, the presentation of science in the media (even science-focused media) has far too strong a tendency to present science as the search for the truth, rather than the best theory given current evidence - but I can't see how this book will help make things better.
However, I didn't get on awfully well with the book. A minor issue was the size - it was just too physically small to hold comfortably, which was irritating. More significantly, it felt like a magazine article that was inflated to make a book. There really was only one essential point made over and over again, with a handful of repeated examples. I want something more from a book - more context and depth - that I didn't feel that came across here.
Perhaps underlying the issue is that it's not at all clear who this book is aimed at. The problem described is often one of public understanding of science, but the book wouldn't work for the public - it's not approachable enough and has little to attract it to the public gaze. I would hope that scientists generally already know about the role of uncertainty in science. Perhaps the best audience in terms of finding it useful would be science communicators, but there was no indication that it was written for such an audience.
It's not that uncertainty is an unimportant issue. I often find, for instance, the presentation of science in the media (even science-focused media) has far too strong a tendency to present science as the search for the truth, rather than the best theory given current evidence - but I can't see how this book will help make things better.
June 19, 2020
A great book for practising science teachers to help them include elements of the philosophy of science in their curricula.
Uncertainty is in itself a 'big idea' of science, and the message is clear here, with some good examples of tricky topics that students may bring to the classroom, such as vaccination, and climate change.
Uncertainty is in itself a 'big idea' of science, and the message is clear here, with some good examples of tricky topics that students may bring to the classroom, such as vaccination, and climate change.
December 21, 2020
The authors set out to explain and justify the presence of uncertainty in science. The book is broken into three sections: dealing with uncertainty, case studies in science uncertainty, and accepting uncertainty. The book relies heavily upon philosophical issues of science and clearly explains the necessity of uncertainty. The authors provide numerous practical examples, many of them stemming from the case studies in the second section on climate change, vaccination, human evolution, genetic testing, and forensic testing.
The material is not as accessible to the general public as other books on the philosophy of science. In considering an appropriate audience, I would recommend scientists and students aspiring to become scientists. While they may be aware of uncertainty in science, it is not taught nor explained directly in most science classes. The authors point this out as shortcoming of current education. Ideally, this could be an excellent book science graduate students are required to read for comprehensive exams. Scientists may be aware of uncertainty in their work, but this book will help them be more deliberate about recognizing it and communicating it better to the general public.
Of note, the authors clearly distinguish between psychological certainty and epistemic certainty, which is important for understanding the main points at the end of the book. The case studies are mostly biological, but other examples throughout the book include physics, astronomy, chemistry, and math. Regardless, anyone with a serious interest in science will benefit from reading this book.
I did find an error that should be corrected. On page 183, the authors assert that mammalian fossils should not be found next to dinosaur fossils. This is incorrect as the first mammals evolved long before the dinosaurs went extinct. Thus, it is very probable that fossils of "early mammals" will appear alongside dinosaur fossils as opposed to "modern mammals."
The material is not as accessible to the general public as other books on the philosophy of science. In considering an appropriate audience, I would recommend scientists and students aspiring to become scientists. While they may be aware of uncertainty in science, it is not taught nor explained directly in most science classes. The authors point this out as shortcoming of current education. Ideally, this could be an excellent book science graduate students are required to read for comprehensive exams. Scientists may be aware of uncertainty in their work, but this book will help them be more deliberate about recognizing it and communicating it better to the general public.
Of note, the authors clearly distinguish between psychological certainty and epistemic certainty, which is important for understanding the main points at the end of the book. The case studies are mostly biological, but other examples throughout the book include physics, astronomy, chemistry, and math. Regardless, anyone with a serious interest in science will benefit from reading this book.
I did find an error that should be corrected. On page 183, the authors assert that mammalian fossils should not be found next to dinosaur fossils. This is incorrect as the first mammals evolved long before the dinosaurs went extinct. Thus, it is very probable that fossils of "early mammals" will appear alongside dinosaur fossils as opposed to "modern mammals."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews