Author: P.B. Medawar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000466507
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Book Description
First published in 1967, The Art of the Soluble presents collection of essays giving the views of the author on creativity and originality in science and on the logical connections between creative and critical thought. It is also a pioneering study of the ethology of the scientists – of the anatomy of scientific behaviour. Is it true that scientists are detached or dispassionate observers of Nature? What underlies the scientist’s deep concern over the matters of priority? How did a class distinction grow up between pure and applied science? By what criteria do scientists value their own and their colleagues work? Some of the answers grow out of author’s four critical studies of Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Koestler, D’Arcy Thompson and Herbert Spencer and the book as whole is knit together by a major essay Hypothesis and Imagination, on the nature of scientific reasoning. P. B. Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960, did not see science as a book-keeping of Nature but, on the contrary, as the greatest of human adventures. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of Science, natural science, and philosophy in general
The Art of the Soluble
Author: P.B. Medawar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000466507
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Book Description
First published in 1967, The Art of the Soluble presents collection of essays giving the views of the author on creativity and originality in science and on the logical connections between creative and critical thought. It is also a pioneering study of the ethology of the scientists – of the anatomy of scientific behaviour. Is it true that scientists are detached or dispassionate observers of Nature? What underlies the scientist’s deep concern over the matters of priority? How did a class distinction grow up between pure and applied science? By what criteria do scientists value their own and their colleagues work? Some of the answers grow out of author’s four critical studies of Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Koestler, D’Arcy Thompson and Herbert Spencer and the book as whole is knit together by a major essay Hypothesis and Imagination, on the nature of scientific reasoning. P. B. Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960, did not see science as a book-keeping of Nature but, on the contrary, as the greatest of human adventures. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of Science, natural science, and philosophy in general
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000466507
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 119
Book Description
First published in 1967, The Art of the Soluble presents collection of essays giving the views of the author on creativity and originality in science and on the logical connections between creative and critical thought. It is also a pioneering study of the ethology of the scientists – of the anatomy of scientific behaviour. Is it true that scientists are detached or dispassionate observers of Nature? What underlies the scientist’s deep concern over the matters of priority? How did a class distinction grow up between pure and applied science? By what criteria do scientists value their own and their colleagues work? Some of the answers grow out of author’s four critical studies of Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Koestler, D’Arcy Thompson and Herbert Spencer and the book as whole is knit together by a major essay Hypothesis and Imagination, on the nature of scientific reasoning. P. B. Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960, did not see science as a book-keeping of Nature but, on the contrary, as the greatest of human adventures. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of Science, natural science, and philosophy in general
The Art of the Soluble
Author: P B Medawar
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032116853
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
First published in 1967, The Art of the Soluble presents collection of essays giving the views of the author on creativity and originality in science and on the logical connections between creative and critical thought. It is also a pioneering study of the ethology of the scientists - of the anatomy of scientific behaviour. Is it true that scientists are detached or dispassionate observers of Nature? What underlies the scientist's deep concern over the matters of priority? How did a class distinction grow up between pure and applied science? By what criteria do scientists value their own and their colleagues work? Some of the answers grow out of author's four critical studies of Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Koestler, D'Arcy Thompson and Herbert Spencer and the book as whole is knit together by a major essay Hypothesis and Imagination, on the nature of scientific reasoning. P. B. Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960, did not see science as a book-keeping of Nature but, on the contrary, as the greatest of human adventures. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of Science, natural science, and philosophy in general
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032116853
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
First published in 1967, The Art of the Soluble presents collection of essays giving the views of the author on creativity and originality in science and on the logical connections between creative and critical thought. It is also a pioneering study of the ethology of the scientists - of the anatomy of scientific behaviour. Is it true that scientists are detached or dispassionate observers of Nature? What underlies the scientist's deep concern over the matters of priority? How did a class distinction grow up between pure and applied science? By what criteria do scientists value their own and their colleagues work? Some of the answers grow out of author's four critical studies of Teilhard de Chardin, Arthur Koestler, D'Arcy Thompson and Herbert Spencer and the book as whole is knit together by a major essay Hypothesis and Imagination, on the nature of scientific reasoning. P. B. Medawar, who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1960, did not see science as a book-keeping of Nature but, on the contrary, as the greatest of human adventures. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of Science, natural science, and philosophy in general
Good Enough
Author: Daniel S. Milo
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674240057
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
In this spirited and irreverent critique of Darwin’s long hold over our imagination, a distinguished philosopher of science makes the case that, in culture as well as nature, not only the fittest survive: the world is full of the “good enough” that persist too. Why is the genome of a salamander forty times larger than that of a human? Why does the avocado tree produce a million flowers and only a hundred fruits? Why, in short, is there so much waste in nature? In this lively and wide-ranging meditation on the curious accidents and unexpected detours on the path of life, Daniel Milo argues that we ask these questions because we’ve embraced a faulty conception of how evolution—and human society—really works. Good Enough offers a vigorous critique of the quasi-monopoly that Darwin’s concept of natural selection has on our idea of the natural world. Darwinism excels in accounting for the evolution of traits, but it does not explain their excess in size and number. Many traits far exceed the optimal configuration to do the job, and yet the maintenance of this extra baggage does not prevent species from thriving for millions of years. Milo aims to give the messy side of nature its due—to stand up for the wasteful and inefficient organisms that nevertheless survive and multiply. But he does not stop at the border between evolutionary theory and its social consequences. He argues provocatively that the theory of evolution through natural selection has acquired the trappings of an ethical system. Optimization, competitiveness, and innovation have become the watchwords of Western societies, yet their role in human lives—as in the rest of nature—is dangerously overrated. Imperfection is not just good enough: it may at times be essential to survival.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674240057
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321
Book Description
In this spirited and irreverent critique of Darwin’s long hold over our imagination, a distinguished philosopher of science makes the case that, in culture as well as nature, not only the fittest survive: the world is full of the “good enough” that persist too. Why is the genome of a salamander forty times larger than that of a human? Why does the avocado tree produce a million flowers and only a hundred fruits? Why, in short, is there so much waste in nature? In this lively and wide-ranging meditation on the curious accidents and unexpected detours on the path of life, Daniel Milo argues that we ask these questions because we’ve embraced a faulty conception of how evolution—and human society—really works. Good Enough offers a vigorous critique of the quasi-monopoly that Darwin’s concept of natural selection has on our idea of the natural world. Darwinism excels in accounting for the evolution of traits, but it does not explain their excess in size and number. Many traits far exceed the optimal configuration to do the job, and yet the maintenance of this extra baggage does not prevent species from thriving for millions of years. Milo aims to give the messy side of nature its due—to stand up for the wasteful and inefficient organisms that nevertheless survive and multiply. But he does not stop at the border between evolutionary theory and its social consequences. He argues provocatively that the theory of evolution through natural selection has acquired the trappings of an ethical system. Optimization, competitiveness, and innovation have become the watchwords of Western societies, yet their role in human lives—as in the rest of nature—is dangerously overrated. Imperfection is not just good enough: it may at times be essential to survival.
Anthony Cerami
Author: Conrad Keating
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1978801424
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
Since the turn of the new millennium, ‘translational research’, the scientific process of bringing disease-targeted knowledge from the laboratory to treat patients in the clinic, has gone mainstream and is now practiced by large universities and institutes across the globe. Into this dynamic of the rapidly changing world of translational medical research this book sets the life of one of the discipline’s most influential practitioners, Anthony Cerami. His work spans more than five decades and culminated in the discovery, invention and development of diagnostics and therapeutics used daily by millions of people. Students in molecular medicine and investigators pursuing basic science in the hope of improving human health will find inspiration in examining the sacrifices and achievements of Cerami’s career in translational medicine. During his three decades at Rockefeller University his cross-disciplinary and laboratory-without-wall approach established ‘rational drug design’ as the most effective means of advancing the fields of parasitology, hematology, immunology, metabolism, therapeutics and molecular medicine. Cerami’s story and that of the evolution of translation are intimately entwined: the contours of Cerami’s career shaped by developments in translation, and in exchange, the field itself molded by Cerami’s work. To understand one is to understand the other. By examining the life of this often overlooked biochemist it is possible to intimately focus on the ideas and thought processes of a scientist who has helped to define the great acceleration in translational research over the past half century – research that, knowingly or otherwise, has most likely affected the life of almost everyone on the planet. We also gain a better understanding of the febrile creative atmosphere that percolated through the laboratories leading the way in translational medicine, and gain insight into the art, science, successes, failures and providence that underlie major scientific breakthroughs. Anybody interested in the questions of where modern medicines come from, how health outcomes around the globe are affected by research and imagination, and where the future of drug discovery is leading, will be rewarded by exploring Cerami’s life in translation. This book is not restricted to those with a professional interest in science, because anyone dedicated to living a life of creativity and discovery will be rewarded by reading this book. In many respects, Cerami’s life reflects the modern metaphor of the ‘American dream’ with his journey from humble beginnings on a chicken farm in rural New Jersey, to occupying a place in the highest echelons of the US scientific establishment. His journey in translational medicine was propelled forward by two obsessions; the idea that he could help people who were sick, and the excitement of discovery. In following his two great passions, he trained a generation of specialists in translational medicine that continue to transform our understanding of, and treatments for, human disease. Anthony Cerami’s work has shown how science has become an important force for social change by laying the foundations of modern translational medicine.
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1978801424
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
Since the turn of the new millennium, ‘translational research’, the scientific process of bringing disease-targeted knowledge from the laboratory to treat patients in the clinic, has gone mainstream and is now practiced by large universities and institutes across the globe. Into this dynamic of the rapidly changing world of translational medical research this book sets the life of one of the discipline’s most influential practitioners, Anthony Cerami. His work spans more than five decades and culminated in the discovery, invention and development of diagnostics and therapeutics used daily by millions of people. Students in molecular medicine and investigators pursuing basic science in the hope of improving human health will find inspiration in examining the sacrifices and achievements of Cerami’s career in translational medicine. During his three decades at Rockefeller University his cross-disciplinary and laboratory-without-wall approach established ‘rational drug design’ as the most effective means of advancing the fields of parasitology, hematology, immunology, metabolism, therapeutics and molecular medicine. Cerami’s story and that of the evolution of translation are intimately entwined: the contours of Cerami’s career shaped by developments in translation, and in exchange, the field itself molded by Cerami’s work. To understand one is to understand the other. By examining the life of this often overlooked biochemist it is possible to intimately focus on the ideas and thought processes of a scientist who has helped to define the great acceleration in translational research over the past half century – research that, knowingly or otherwise, has most likely affected the life of almost everyone on the planet. We also gain a better understanding of the febrile creative atmosphere that percolated through the laboratories leading the way in translational medicine, and gain insight into the art, science, successes, failures and providence that underlie major scientific breakthroughs. Anybody interested in the questions of where modern medicines come from, how health outcomes around the globe are affected by research and imagination, and where the future of drug discovery is leading, will be rewarded by exploring Cerami’s life in translation. This book is not restricted to those with a professional interest in science, because anyone dedicated to living a life of creativity and discovery will be rewarded by reading this book. In many respects, Cerami’s life reflects the modern metaphor of the ‘American dream’ with his journey from humble beginnings on a chicken farm in rural New Jersey, to occupying a place in the highest echelons of the US scientific establishment. His journey in translational medicine was propelled forward by two obsessions; the idea that he could help people who were sick, and the excitement of discovery. In following his two great passions, he trained a generation of specialists in translational medicine that continue to transform our understanding of, and treatments for, human disease. Anthony Cerami’s work has shown how science has become an important force for social change by laying the foundations of modern translational medicine.
The Newtonian Revolution
Author: I. Bernard Cohen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521273800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 428
Book Description
This volume presents Professor Cohen's original interpretation of the revolution that marked the beginnings of modern science and set Newtonian science as the model for the highest level of achievement in other branches of science. It shows that Newton developed a special kind of relation between abstract mathematical constructs and the physical systems that we observe in the world around us by means of experiment and critical observation. The heart of the radical Newtonian style is the construction on the mind of a mathematical system that has some features in common with the physical world; this system was then modified when the deductions and conclusions drawn from it are tested against the physical universe. Using this system Newton was able to make his revolutionary innovations in celestial mechanics and, ultimately, create a new physics of central forces and the law of universal gravitation. Building on his analysis of Newton's methodology, Professor Cohen explores the fine structure of revolutionary change and scientific creativity in general. This is done by developing the concept of scientific change as a series of transformations of existing ideas. It is shown that such transformation is characteristic of many aspects of the sciences and that the concept of scientific change by transformation suggests a new way of examining the very nature of scientific creativity.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521273800
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 428
Book Description
This volume presents Professor Cohen's original interpretation of the revolution that marked the beginnings of modern science and set Newtonian science as the model for the highest level of achievement in other branches of science. It shows that Newton developed a special kind of relation between abstract mathematical constructs and the physical systems that we observe in the world around us by means of experiment and critical observation. The heart of the radical Newtonian style is the construction on the mind of a mathematical system that has some features in common with the physical world; this system was then modified when the deductions and conclusions drawn from it are tested against the physical universe. Using this system Newton was able to make his revolutionary innovations in celestial mechanics and, ultimately, create a new physics of central forces and the law of universal gravitation. Building on his analysis of Newton's methodology, Professor Cohen explores the fine structure of revolutionary change and scientific creativity in general. This is done by developing the concept of scientific change as a series of transformations of existing ideas. It is shown that such transformation is characteristic of many aspects of the sciences and that the concept of scientific change by transformation suggests a new way of examining the very nature of scientific creativity.
Interpreting Nature
Author: I. G. Simmons
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134862229
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
Human society has constructed many varied notions of the environment. Scientific information about the environment is often seen as the only worthwhile knowledge. This ignores the complexities created by interaction between people and the environment. Idealist thinking argues that everything we know is based on a construct of our minds and that all is possible. Can both be correct and true? Interpreting Nature explores the position of humanity in the environment from the principle that the models we construct are imperfect and can only be provisional. Having examined the way in which the natural sciences have interrogated nature, the types of data produced and what they mean to us, this looks at the environment within philosophy and ethics, the social sciences and the arts, and analyses their role in the formation of environmental cognition.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134862229
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
Human society has constructed many varied notions of the environment. Scientific information about the environment is often seen as the only worthwhile knowledge. This ignores the complexities created by interaction between people and the environment. Idealist thinking argues that everything we know is based on a construct of our minds and that all is possible. Can both be correct and true? Interpreting Nature explores the position of humanity in the environment from the principle that the models we construct are imperfect and can only be provisional. Having examined the way in which the natural sciences have interrogated nature, the types of data produced and what they mean to us, this looks at the environment within philosophy and ethics, the social sciences and the arts, and analyses their role in the formation of environmental cognition.
Hans Krebs
Author: Frederic Lawrence Holmes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195076575
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
Reconstructs the investigative pathway and the life of Hans Krebs, from the time of his arrival in England in 1933 until 1937, when he made the discovery for which he is best known--the formulation of the citric acid cycle.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195076575
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
Reconstructs the investigative pathway and the life of Hans Krebs, from the time of his arrival in England in 1933 until 1937, when he made the discovery for which he is best known--the formulation of the citric acid cycle.
Social Research
Author: Norman Blaikie
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509515402
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
This unique book explains the central role that research paradigms play in the design and conduct of social research. The authors argue that social research should not just describe or confirm a social problem but should seek to find an explanation for it and to do so requires research with eyes philosophically wide open. Important philosophical and practice elements of three widely recognized paradigms Neo-Positive, Interpretive and Critical Realist are carefully elaborated and their use in action illustrated with detailed examples. The authors show that the philosophical assumptions of a chosen paradigm must match those embedded in a characterization of a research problem and its context. This paradigm orientation is shown to be fundamental to appropriately framing a problem, formulating research questions, deciding on a logic of inquiry and selecting and using methods to investigate it. Ultimately, an appropriate paradigm orientation to social research provides a dispassionate, rigorous and effective basis for the production of new social scientific knowledge. Following on from Blaikies Approaches to Social Enquiry and Designing Social Research, this innovative book will be invaluable to upper-level and research students, their lecturers and supervisors, and researchers across the social sciences.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509515402
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
This unique book explains the central role that research paradigms play in the design and conduct of social research. The authors argue that social research should not just describe or confirm a social problem but should seek to find an explanation for it and to do so requires research with eyes philosophically wide open. Important philosophical and practice elements of three widely recognized paradigms Neo-Positive, Interpretive and Critical Realist are carefully elaborated and their use in action illustrated with detailed examples. The authors show that the philosophical assumptions of a chosen paradigm must match those embedded in a characterization of a research problem and its context. This paradigm orientation is shown to be fundamental to appropriately framing a problem, formulating research questions, deciding on a logic of inquiry and selecting and using methods to investigate it. Ultimately, an appropriate paradigm orientation to social research provides a dispassionate, rigorous and effective basis for the production of new social scientific knowledge. Following on from Blaikies Approaches to Social Enquiry and Designing Social Research, this innovative book will be invaluable to upper-level and research students, their lecturers and supervisors, and researchers across the social sciences.
Cybernetics of Art
Author: M. J. Rosenberg
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040087620
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
First published in 1983, Cybernetics of Art uses the methodology and concepts of cybernetics to explore art and the creative process. Part I surveys the domain that includes both science and the arts, attempting to understand their differing viewpoints- and the basis of conflicts between them. Art is approached as a method of knowledge aimed at knowledge of experience per se (as distinct from knowledge derived through experience). Part II poses the problem of notionally constructing an authorship machine and develops the technical argument by exploring the question of the kind of machine it would need to be. Part III examines the products of such a machine with a view to finding criteria for distinguishing those that might be called art. An extended, non-technical commentary accompanies the text throughout, with the dual aim of comparing the book’s technical conclusions with ideas expressed by critiques and practicing artists and assisting readers unfamiliar with the information sciences in following the argument. In a world dominated by artificial intelligence, this interdisciplinary book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cybernetics, art, and humanities and social sciences in general.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040087620
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
First published in 1983, Cybernetics of Art uses the methodology and concepts of cybernetics to explore art and the creative process. Part I surveys the domain that includes both science and the arts, attempting to understand their differing viewpoints- and the basis of conflicts between them. Art is approached as a method of knowledge aimed at knowledge of experience per se (as distinct from knowledge derived through experience). Part II poses the problem of notionally constructing an authorship machine and develops the technical argument by exploring the question of the kind of machine it would need to be. Part III examines the products of such a machine with a view to finding criteria for distinguishing those that might be called art. An extended, non-technical commentary accompanies the text throughout, with the dual aim of comparing the book’s technical conclusions with ideas expressed by critiques and practicing artists and assisting readers unfamiliar with the information sciences in following the argument. In a world dominated by artificial intelligence, this interdisciplinary book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cybernetics, art, and humanities and social sciences in general.
Style in History
Author: Peter Gay
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393305586
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
In this original and lucid guide to the proper reading of Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, and Burckhardt--great historians who were also great stylists--Peter Gay demonstrates that style is an invaluable clue to the historian's insight.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393305586
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
In this original and lucid guide to the proper reading of Gibbon, Ranke, Macaulay, and Burckhardt--great historians who were also great stylists--Peter Gay demonstrates that style is an invaluable clue to the historian's insight.