Friday, February 5, 2010

Science a Four Thousand Year History

I recently finished reading this title by Patricia Fara. It appears the point of the work's goal is to deconstruct the story of Science. For example it takes big names in science such as Newton, Einstein, and Copernicus and discusses how they did things in a way no longer considered scientific, self promoting, or were one of many discovering something. It goes a to great detail into the importance and process of selling scientific memes and the great battles between ideas such as heat being motion or a fluid that flowed into or out of things. The roots of modern science in the now rejected fields such as alchemy and astrology are also discussed at length. A lot of time is spent on illustrating the biases of science towards, upper-class European males.
It is surprising that the scientific method was more or less ignored as its adoption is critical in how current science works, evolves, and self-corrects.

I found the book unsatisfying perhaps because I've never felt science can answer everything; science is great for how thing work but flounders with why which philosophy and religion seem better suited. It just appears similar to perspective of religious adherent who discovered their organization is like any other; imperfect. The conclusion feels a tad incomplete. After deconstructiong the weakness of science and the woldview, not mentioning any other potential viewpoints or calling for reform seems well uninspiring especially after discussing in depth the importance of selling ones ideas.