Scientism: The New Orthodoxy [Paperback]

Scientism: The New Orthodoxyis a comprehensive philosophical overview of the question of scientism, discussing the role and place of science in the humanities, religion, and the social sciences.

Clarifying and defining the key terms in play in discussions of scientism, this collection identifies the dimensions that differentiate science from scientism. Leading scholars appraise the means available to science, covering the impact of the neurosciences and the new challenges it presents for the law and the self. Illustrating the effect of scientism on the social sciences, and the humanities,Scientism: the New Orthodoxyaddresses what science is and what it is not. This provocative collection is an important contribution to the social sciences and the humanities in the 21st century.

Contributors include: Peter Hacker, Bastiaan van Fraassen, Daniel N. Robinson, Kenneth Schaffner, Roger Scruton, James K.A. Smith, Richard Swinburne, Lawrence Principe and Richard N. Williams.

Richard N. Williamsis Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wheatley Institution at Brigham Young University, USA.

Daniel N. Robinsonis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, UK, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University, USA.

Scientism: The New Orthodoxyis a rich and rewarding collection of essays from a wide range of perspectives. I can easily envision parts of it being taught - perhaps alongside more fundamental work in the philosophy of science and epistemology - in upper-level undergraduate or graduate seminars that want to engage contemporary intellectual life and the relations between science and philosophy. I hope it finds a wide readership among philosophers and other humanities scholars, as well as among scientists and the broader public. Jeroen De Ridder, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Overall, the volume provides points of entry into the worries philosopherlsK