Ebook: The Experience of Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach
- Tags: Medicine/Public Health general, Life Sciences general, Chemistry/Food Science general
- Year: 1984
- Publisher: Springer US
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- pdf
Our earlier book, How We Know: An Exploration of the Scientific Process, was written to give some conception of what the scientific approach is like, how to recognize it, how to distinguish it from other approaches to understanding the world, and to give some feeling for the intellectual excitement and aesthetic satisfactions of science. These goals represented our concept of the term "scientific literacy." Though the book was written for the general reader, to our surprise and gratification it was also used as a text in about forty colleges, and some high schools, for courses in science for the non-scientist, in methodology of science for social and behavioral sciences, and in the philosophy of science. As a result we were encouraged to write a textbook with essentially the same purpose and basic approach, but at a level appropriate to college students. We have drawn up problems for those chapters that would benefit from them, described laboratory experiments that illustrate important points discussed in the text, and made suggestions for additional readings, term papers, and other projects. Throughout the book we have introduced a number of chapters and appendices that provide examples of the uses of quantitative thinking in the sciences: logic, math ematics, probability, statistics, and graphical representation.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv
What Is Science?....Pages 1-6
Facts....Pages 7-19
Logic....Pages 21-28
Snow on Cholera....Pages 29-71
Mathematics....Pages 73-91
Is Heat a Substance?....Pages 93-145
Probability....Pages 147-181
What Is Madness?....Pages 183-262
Statistics....Pages 263-278
Science-The Search for Understanding....Pages 279-285
Science-The Goal of Generality....Pages 287-292
Science-The Experimental Test....Pages 293-316
The Experimenter and the Experiment....Pages 317-325
Measurement and Its Pitfalls....Pages 327-341
Graphs and Sketches....Pages 343-359
Where Do Hypotheses Come From?....Pages 361-370
The Dispassionate Scientist....Pages 371-376
The Cultural Roots of Science....Pages 377-390
Back Matter....Pages 391-400
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv
What Is Science?....Pages 1-6
Facts....Pages 7-19
Logic....Pages 21-28
Snow on Cholera....Pages 29-71
Mathematics....Pages 73-91
Is Heat a Substance?....Pages 93-145
Probability....Pages 147-181
What Is Madness?....Pages 183-262
Statistics....Pages 263-278
Science-The Search for Understanding....Pages 279-285
Science-The Goal of Generality....Pages 287-292
Science-The Experimental Test....Pages 293-316
The Experimenter and the Experiment....Pages 317-325
Measurement and Its Pitfalls....Pages 327-341
Graphs and Sketches....Pages 343-359
Where Do Hypotheses Come From?....Pages 361-370
The Dispassionate Scientist....Pages 371-376
The Cultural Roots of Science....Pages 377-390
Back Matter....Pages 391-400
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