Prometheus Bedeviled: Science And The Contradictions Of Contemporary Culture,Used

Review'An eminently readable and even exciting contribution to a topic that seems ever more intensely active, in and beyond academe.' Gerald Holton, Harvard University'Norman Levitt is a new enlightenment hero, a postpostmodern Prometheus bringing fire to the bellies of scholars and students intimidated by obscurantist intellectual bullies and needing encouragement to fight back. There is a real world, we live in it, true and false things can be said about it, science is how we find out about it, and it really matters.' Richard Dawkins, author, The Selfish Gene and Unweaving the Rainbow'Since we live in the Age of Science, of all the burning issues in our culture today none stands out in scope and magnitude more than the 'science wars,' and no one has been in the thick of the fight more than Norman Levitt. Prometheus Bedeviled cuts to the heart of the issue like no other book before. Levitt has taken the debate to a new level and Prometheus Bedeviled will become a watershed work that forces fencesitting science critics to get off the fence.' Michael Schermer, publisher, Skeptic Magazine, and author Why People Believe Weird Things'What is the role of science in a wise democracy? That goes awry when empirical values are disprized? In Prometheus Bedeviled, Norman Levitt joins common sense to passion. In the process, he shows himself to be an exemplary scholarcitizen.' Frederick Crews, author, The Memory Wars, and editor Unauthorized FreudLevitt is particularly good in dismantling the arguments of those who wish to 'democratise science'. There is currently a debate in America about the teaching of evolutionary science in schools. Christian fundamentalists demand that the Biblical account of Creation be taught as an equally valid theory of the origins of life. Astonishingly, many radicals support them on 'democratic' grounds.What such radicals propose, Levitt points out, 'is not so much the democratisation of science as the supplanting of science by a melange of viewpoints in which populist enthusiasm or even quasi religious dogma will be anointed with the cultural authority of the 'scientific'.'Levitt's is a brilliant polemic, both thoughtprovoking and entertaining. I am deeply sympathetic to his main arguments about the nature of scientific knowledge and to his claims for a privileged role for science. I also agree that the general 'dumbingdown' of society has had a disastrous impact both on science and on perceptions of science. Kenan Malik, The Independent, July 11, 1999Product DescriptionIn this lucid critique, Norman Levitt examines the strained relations between science and contemporary society. For the most part, Levitt states, we idolize musicians and cheer on athletes, yet we view scientists with a mixture of awe and unease. Significantly, too, we are unsure how scientific discovery actually fits into the broader schemes of politics, and policy. Even beyond pragmatic questions, we remain anxious about the implications of science for our basic understanding of human values and purpose.One result of this uncertainty about scientific work is an illinformed crusade to democratize science. It has become fashionable lately, Levitt states, for nonscientists to attempt to intervene in science policy, which often results in methodologically unsound decisions. The embrace of 'alternative medicine' is a particularly ominous example.Levitt suggests that science, by virtue of its accuracy and reliability, deserves to be at the top of the hierarchy of knowledge, and that our social institutions ought to take this fact strongly into account. Levitt hopes that Americans will become aware of the limitations of unchecked populism and will be willing to yield a bit of democratic control over certain questions in order to minimize the danger that sound science will be ignored or overridden. However, this trust in scientific methodology must be part of a broader understanding. Science must not only