A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England

by Shapin and Steven Shapin

Book Overview

How do we come to trust our knowledge of the world? What are the means by which we distinguish true from false accounts? Why do we credit one observational statement over another? In A Social History of Truth , Shapin engages these universal questions through an elegant recreation of a crucial period in the history of early modern science: the social world of gentlemen-philosophers in seventeenth-century England. Steven Shapin paints a vivid picture...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000OPQICA
• ISBN13: 9780226750194
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A good argument about the importance of trust in science

Many popular books about science (especially about evolution) set scientists up as skeptics who argue for knowledge based on experience and facts, rather than authority. If you think science is about being skeptical, you might find this book interesting because it argues for the importance of trust and belief in authority in all scientific work. I found the history interesting as well, including descriptions of several of Boyle's eperiments, a debate about the path of a comet, and a 17th century nondisclosure agreement. The main downside for the layman is that book can be slow going and is not an easy read. There's a lot of generalizing about what 17th century gentleman and scientists were like that I think would have been more entertainingly done through narrative and anecdote rather than bland quotations. Still, all in all this is an informative book about the philosophy of science.