Science Between Myth and History

Science Between Myth and History
Author: José G. Perillán
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2021-06-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0192634151

Scientists regularly employ historical narrative as a rhetorical tool in their communication of science, yet there's been little reflection on its effects within scientific communities and beyond. Science Between Myth and History begins to unravel these threads of influence. The stories scientists tell are not just poorly researched scholarly histories, they are myth-histories, a chimeric genre that bridges distinct narrative modes. This study goes beyond polarizing questions about who owns the history of science and establishes a common ground from which to better understand the messy and lasting legacy of the stories scientists tell. It aims to stimulate vigorous conversation among science practitioners, scholars, and communicators. Scientific myth-histories undoubtedly deliver value, coherence, and inspiration to their communities. They are tools used to broker scientific consensus, resolve controversies, and navigate power dynamics. Yet beyond the explicit intent and rationale behind their use, these narratives tend to have great rhetorical power and social agency that bear unintended consequences. This book unpacks the concept of myth-history and explores four case studies in which scientist storytellers use their narratives to teach, build consensus, and inform the broader public. From geo-politically informed quantum interpretation debates to high-stakes gene-editing patent disputes, these case studies illustrate the implications of storytelling in science. Science Between Myth and History calls on scientists not to eschew writing about their history, but to take more account of the stories they tell and the image of science they project. In this time of eroding common ground, when many find themselves dependent on, yet distrustful of scientific research, this book interrogates the effects of mismatched, dissonant portraits of science.

Science Between Myth and History

Science Between Myth and History
Author: José G. Perillán
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2021
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0198864965

Science Between Myth and History explores scientific storytelling and its implications on the teaching, practice, and public perception of science. In communicating their science, scientists tend to use historical narratives for important rhetorical purposes. This text explores the implications of doing this.

The Historical Evolution of Myth and Science

The Historical Evolution of Myth and Science
Author: Tito Vignoli
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Total Pages: 92
Release: 2005-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781425352936

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

A Short History of Myth (Myths series)

A Short History of Myth (Myths series)
Author: Karen Armstrong
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2010-10-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0307367290

What are myths? How have they evolved? And why do we still so desperately need them? A history of myth is a history of humanity, Karen Armstrong argues in this insightful and eloquent book: our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. This is a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense–from Palaeolithic times to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last 500 years–and why we dismiss it only at our peril.

Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science

Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science
Author: Ronald L. Numbers
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2015-11-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674967984

A Guardian “Favourite Reads—as Chosen by Scientists” Selection “Tackles some of science’s most enduring misconceptions.” —Discover A falling apple inspired Isaac Newton’s insight into the law of gravity—or did it really? Among the many myths debunked in this refreshingly irreverent book are the idea that alchemy was a superstitious pursuit, that Darwin put off publishing his theory of evolution for fear of public reprisal, and that Gregor Mendel was ahead of his time as a pioneer of genetics. More recent myths about particle physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity are discredited too, and a number of dubious generalizations, like the notion that science and religion are antithetical, or that science can neatly be distinguished from pseudoscience, go under the microscope of history. Newton’s Apple and Other Myths about Science brushes away popular fictions and refutes the widespread belief that science advances when individual geniuses experience “Eureka!” moments and suddenly grasp what those around them could never imagine. “Delightful...thought-provoking...Every reader should find something to surprise them.” —Jim Endersby, Science “Better than just countering the myths, the book explains when they arose and why they stuck.” —The Guardian

Myth

Myth
Author: Robert Alan Segal
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2015
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0198724705

This Very Short Introduction explores different approaches to myth from several disciplines, including science, religion, philosophy, literature, and psychology. In this new edition, Robert Segal considers both the future study of myth as well as the impact of areas such as cognitive science and the latest approaches to narrative theory.

Science without Myth

Science without Myth
Author: Sergio Sismondo
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780791427330

This philosophical introduction to and discussion of social and political studies of science argues that scientific knowledge is socially constructed.

Science and Myth

Science and Myth
Author: Wolfgang Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2010-04
Genre:
ISBN: 9781597310987

In Science and Myth the author shows, in the first place, that science too has its mythology, unrecognized and unacknowledged though the fact be. These scientistic myths, however, turn out to constitute what he terms anti-myths: "a kind that would banish all others, and in so doing, undermine not only religion and morality, but indeed all culture in its higher modes." What invalidates the contemporary "scientific" world-view and renders it "mythical" in the pejorative sense, he goes on to contend, proves finally to be the underlying hypothesis that human perception terminates, not in an external object, but in a subjective phantasm. Not only does the author maintain cogently that visual perception, in particular, does penetrate to the external world, but basing himself on traditional sources-fromVedic to Biblical-he shows that sight as such opens in principle to a veritable gnosis: a "seeing of the Real."

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion
Author: Ronald L. Numbers
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2010-11-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0674057414

If we want nonscientists and opinion-makers in the press, the lab, and the pulpit to take a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion, Ronald L. Numbers suggests that we must first dispense with the hoary myths that have masqueraded too long as historical truths. Until about the 1970s, the dominant narrative in the history of science had long been that of science triumphant, and science at war with religion. But a new generation of historians both of science and of the church began to examine episodes in the history of science and religion through the values and knowledge of the actors themselves. Now Ronald Numbers has recruited the leading scholars in this new history of science to puncture the myths, from Galileo’s incarceration to Darwin’s deathbed conversion to Einstein’s belief in a personal God who “didn’t play dice with the universe.” The picture of science and religion at each other’s throats persists in mainstream media and scholarly journals, but each chapter in Galileo Goes to Jail shows how much we have to gain by seeing beyond the myths.