What Science is and How it Works PDF
Preview What Science is and How it Works
WHAT SCIENCE IS AND HOW IT WORKS This page intentionally left blank WHAT SCIENCE IS AND HOW IT WORKS GREGORY N. DERRY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright1999byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet, Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress, Chichester,WestSussex AllRightsReserved. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Derry,GregoryNeil,1952– Whatscienceisandhowitworks/ GregoryN.Derry. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-691-05877-6(cloth:alk.paper) 1.Science. I.Title. Q158.5.D47 1999 500—dc21 99-17186 CIP ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirements ofANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992(R1997)(PermanenceofPaper) http://pup.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. To Paula and Rebecca This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS PREFACE ix PROLOGUE WhatIsScience? 3 PARTI.EXPLORINGTHEFRONTIERSOFSCIENCE: HOWNEWDISCOVERIESAREMADEINTHESCIENCES 9 CHAPTER1 ABird’sEyeView:TheManyRoutestoScientificDiscovery 11 CHAPTER2 Nature’sJigsaw:LookingforPatternsAsaKeytoDiscovery 26 CHAPTER3 NewVistas:ExpandingOurWorldwithInstrumentation 35 CHAPTER4 Close,ButNoCigar:DiscrepanciesAsaTriggertoDiscovery 42 CHAPTER5 IngredientsforaRevolution:ThematicImagination,Precise Measurements,andtheMotionsofthePlanets 52 PARTII.MENTALTACTICS:SOMEDISTINCTIVELY SCIENTIFICAPPROACHESTOTHEWORLD 67 CHAPTER6 AUniverseinaBottle:Models,Modeling,andSuccessive Approximation 69 CHAPTER7 ThinkingStraight:Evidence,Reason,andCriticalEvaluation 89 CHAPTER8 TheNumbersGame:UsesofQuantitativeReasoning 107 PARTIII.LARGERQUESTIONS:THECONTEXT OFSCIENCE 123 CHAPTER9 UltimateQuestions:ScienceandReligion 125 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER10 MorePracticalQuestions:ScienceandSociety 133 CHAPTER11 DifficultandImportantQuestions:Science,Values,andEthics 145 CHAPTER12 QuestionsofAuthenticity:Science,Pseudoscience,and HowtoTelltheDifference 158 CHAPTER13 ContentiousQuestions:TheShadowyBorderlandsofScience 174 CHAPTER14 VeryAbstractQuestions:ThePhilosophyofScience 189 CHAPTER15 QuestionsofLegitimacy:ThePostmodernCritiqueofScience 207 PARTIV.COMMONGROUND:SOMEUNIFYINGCONCEPTS INTHESCIENCES 215 CHAPTER16 FleasandGiants:SomeFascinatingInsightsaboutArea, Volume,andSize 217 CHAPTER17 TheEdgeoftheAbyss:OrderandDisorderintheUniverse 230 CHAPTER18 RidingBlake’sTiger:SymmetryinScience,Art,andMathematics 252 CHAPTER19 TheStraightandNarrow:LinearDependenceintheSciences 274 CHAPTER20 TheLimitsofthePossible:ExponentialGrowthandDecay 285 CHAPTER21 IntheLoop:Feedback,Homeostasis,andCybernetics 295 EPILOGUE So,WhatIsScience? 303 INDEX 305 PREFACE S CIENCE,likemanyothertopics,ismuchmoreinterestingifitmakes sense to you. I wrote this book because science is extraordinarily interestingtome,andIwanttosharethatinterestwithotherpeople. Mygoalforthebookistoconveythefoundationsofmyownunderstand- ing of science, which I have acquired over an extended period of time. Scholarsargueoverwhetherscienceisabodyofknowledge,acollection of techniques, a social and intellectual process, a way of knowing, a strictlydefinedmethod,andsoforth.Theseargumentsarenotveryinter- estingtome,sinceIacceptalloftheseelementsasvalidpartialvisionsof science.Inoneguiseoranother,theyallappearsomewhereinthebook. Myothermotivationforwritingthebookistoshowthatscience,aswell as being interesting, is also important. A significant part of our culture, our economy, and our environment are entangled with science in pro- foundways.Tocomprehendtheworldweliveinwithoutsomegraspof scienceisdifficult.Crucialissuesareatstake,andtheseissuesrequirean understandingofscienceinordertoapproachthemintelligently. The audience for this book is anybody with some curiosity about the issuesIexplore.Noparticularbackgroundisassumed.Inwriting,Iespe- cially had in mind a reader who enjoys ideas but hasn’t studied the sci- encesinanydepth.Peoplewhohaveascientificbackgroundwillalsofind the book of interest, but I primarily had in mind people who are not experts. In fact, my underlying assumption is that you don’t need any particular expertise to have a genuine understanding of what science is andhowscienceworks. Inordertokeepthescopeofthebookmanageable,Iamusingtheword “science” to mean natural science. (This is merely a convenient conven- tion, not intended to reflect any opinion about the relative worth of the disciplinesI’mnotincluding.)Thesocialsciences,mathematics,andengi- neering are sometimes discussed briefly, but the main focus of the book is on chemistry, biology, physics, and the earth sciences. I have tried to avoidanyprejudiceinfavorofaparticulardiscipline.Ihavealsotriedto avoid favoring either the laboratory sciences or the historical/observa- tional sciences. My own background is in physics, and that may have coloredmytreatmentandchoiceoftopics.Nevertheless,I havetriedto maintainabroadtransdisciplinaryflavor. Anumberofbooksalreadytrytoexplainsciencetothegeneralpublic. IwouldliketoarticulatewhyIhavewrittenanotheroneandwhywhat Ihavetriedtoaccomplishisdifferent.Myoverarchinggoalistogivethe readermorethanjustadescriptionofhowotherpeople(scientists)think
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