The Knowledge Machine
How Irrationality Created Modern Science
by Michael Strevens
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Pub Date Oct 13 2020 | Archive Date Sep 30 2020
W. W. Norton & Company | Liveright
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Description
A paradigm-shifting work that revolutionizes our understanding of the origins and structure of science.
Captivatingly written, interwoven with tantalizing illustrations and historical vignettes ranging from Newton’s alchemy to quantum mechanics to the storm surge of Hurricane Sandy, Michael Strevens’s wholly original investigation of science asks two fundamental questions: Why is science so powerful? And why did it take so long, two thousand years after the invention of philosophy and mathematics, for the human race to start using science to learn the secrets of nature?
The Knowledge Machine’s radical answer is that science calls on its practitioners to do something irrational: by willfully ignoring religion, theoretical beauty, and, especially, philosophy—essentially stripping away all previous knowledge—scientists embrace an unnaturally narrow method of inquiry, channeling unprecedented energy into observation and experimentation.
Like Yuval Harari’s Sapiens or Thomas Kuhn’s 1962 classic, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Knowledge Machine overturns much of what we thought we knew about the origins of the modern world.
About the Author: Michael Strevens, who received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017, is a professor of philosophy at New York University. He was born in New Zealand and has been writing about the philosophy of science for twenty-five years.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781631491375 |
| PRICE | $30.00 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 721928
Michael Strevens could have written a straightforward history of the scientific method. This easily could have been a dense and dull book. Instead, Strevens draws us in by asking us provocative questions. He then takes us along on the adventure of discovering the answers in a series of intriguing and varied anecdotes. Even when discussing familiar names, he chooses stories we haven't heard before and casts a new light on things we thought we knew. Along the way, he provides clear, concise explanations of complex concepts.
In an era when the media -- and dinner table conversations -- can easily have you questioning whether scientists are to be trusted, Strevens restores our faith in the scientific method.
