From Critical Science to Solutions

From Critical Science to Solutions
Author: Richard Clapp
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1351865641

First Published in 2017. In this volume, the editor collected articles that primarily appeared in the “Scientific Solutions” section of New Solutions, A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. The articles in the book are grouped into three general categories, starting with Critical Science. These articles are primarily critiques of “how science is done” or how science is incorporated into public health policy in the United States and elsewhere. The second category is what I have called Precautionary Science. These articles, such as the ones by Dement on asbestos and Solomon, and colleagues on the risks of manganese, essentially call for precautionary regulations to reduce exposures where there is substantial but, in the eyes of some, less than definitive scientific knowledge. The final category is Solutions Science. In some ways, this represents the current stage of precautionary science, where we have begun to look at larger societal issues and have moved beyond traditional scientific approaches and critiques.

Climate Change Solutions

Climate Change Solutions
Author: Diana Stuart
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2020-07-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0472038478

Climate Change Solutions represents an application of critical theory to examine proposed solutions to climate change. Drawing from Marx’s negative conception of ideology, the authors illustrate how ideology continues to conceal the capital-climate contradiction or the fundamental incompatibility between growth-dependent capitalism and effectively and justly mitigating climate change. Dominant solutions to climate change that offer minor changes to the current system fail to address this contradiction. However, alternatives like degrowth involve a shift in priorities and power relations and can offer new systemic arrangements that confront and move beyond the capital-climate contradiction. While there are clear barriers to a systemic transition that prioritizes social and ecological well-being, such a transition is possible and desirable.

The Thinker's Guide to Scientific Thinking

The Thinker's Guide to Scientific Thinking
Author: Richard Paul
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2019-06-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1538133849

The Thinker’s Guide to Scientific Thinking focuses on developing the intellectual skills inherent in the well-cultivated practice of every area of scientific research and study. It helps students and practicing scientists come to reason within the logic of science and to see the field as a cohesive whole. From astronomers to zoologists and physicists to chemists, skilled scientists use careful analysis to question data, test theories, draw logical conclusions, and propose feasible solutions. Students in science courses, and scientists themselves will find their analytical abilities enhanced by the engaging framework of inquiry set forth by Richard Paul and Linda Elder in this guide. As part of the Thinker’s Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.

Drawdown

Drawdown
Author: Paul Hawken
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2017-04-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1524704652

• New York Times bestseller • The 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world “At this point in time, the Drawdown book is exactly what is needed; a credible, conservative solution-by-solution narrative that we can do it. Reading it is an effective inoculation against the widespread perception of doom that humanity cannot and will not solve the climate crisis. Reported by-effects include increased determination and a sense of grounded hope.” —Per Espen Stoknes, Author, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming “There’s been no real way for ordinary people to get an understanding of what they can do and what impact it can have. There remains no single, comprehensive, reliable compendium of carbon-reduction solutions across sectors. At least until now. . . . The public is hungry for this kind of practical wisdom.” —David Roberts, Vox “This is the ideal environmental sciences textbook—only it is too interesting and inspiring to be called a textbook.” —Peter Kareiva, Director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline. These measures promise cascading benefits to human health, security, prosperity, and well-being—giving us every reason to see this planetary crisis as an opportunity to create a just and livable world.

Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience

Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience
Author: Caleb W. Lack, PhD
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2016-03-08
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0826194265

This unique text for undergraduate courses teaches students to apply critical thinking skills across all academic disciplines by examining popular pseudoscientific claims through a multidisciplinary lens. Rather than merely focusing on critical thinking grounded in philosophy and psychology, the text incorporates the perspectives of biology, physics, medicine, and other disciplines to reinforce different categories of rational explanation. The book is also distinguished by its respectful approach to individuals whose ideas are, according to the authors, deeply flawed. Accessible and engaging, it describes what critical thinking is, why it is important, and how to learn and apply skillsóusing scientific methods--that promote it. The text also examines why critical thinking can be difficult to engage in and explores the psychological and social reasons why people are drawn to and find credence in extraordinary claims. From alien abductions and psychic phenomena to strange creatures and unsupported alternative medical treatments, the text uses examples from a wide range of pseudoscience fields and brings evidence from diverse disciplines to critically examine these erroneous claims. Particularly timely is the text's examination of how, using the narrative of today's "culture wars," religion and culture impact science. The authors focus on how the human brain, rife with natural biases, does not process information in a rational fashion, and the social factors that prevent individuals from gaining an unbiased, critical perspective on information. Authored by a psychologist and a philosopher who have extensive experience teaching and writing on critical thinking and skeptical inquiry, this work will help students to strengthen their skills in reasoning and debate, become intelligent consumers of research, and make well-informed choices as citizens. Key Features: Addresses the foundations of critical thinking and how to apply it through the popular activity of examining pseudoscience Explains why humans are vulnerable to pseudoscientific claims and how critical thinking can overcome fallacies and biases Reinforces critical thinking through multidisciplinary analyses of pseudoscience Examines how religion and culture impact science Enlightens using an engaging, entertaining approach Written by experienced and innovative scholar/educators well known in the skeptic community Features teaching resources including an Instructor's Guide and Powepoint slides

Communicating Science Effectively

Communicating Science Effectively
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2017-03-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309451051

Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will be most effective for specific audiences and circumstances are not obvious. Fortunately, there is an expanding science base from diverse disciplines that can support science communicators in making these determinations. Communicating Science Effectively offers a research agenda for science communicators and researchers seeking to apply this research and fill gaps in knowledge about how to communicate effectively about science, focusing in particular on issues that are contentious in the public sphere. To inform this research agenda, this publication identifies important influences â€" psychological, economic, political, social, cultural, and media-related â€" on how science related to such issues is understood, perceived, and used.

Rationality and Cultural Interpretivism

Rationality and Cultural Interpretivism
Author: Kei Yoshida
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2014-08-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0739174002

Rationality and Cultural Interpretivism: A Critical Assessment of Failed Solutions critically assesses cultural interpretivism by scrutinizing five different proponents of it and their solutions to the problem of rationality. The book examines the works of Peter Winch, Charles Taylor, Clifford Geertz, Marshall Sahlins, and Gananath Obeyesekere and their contributions to the so-called rationality debate in the philosophy of the social sciences. This debate began with Winch’s criticism of Edward Evans-Pritchard and has become one of the central debates in the field since 1960s, continuing as a controversy between Sahlins and Obeyesekere. Kei Yoshida reveals the need for a cogent solution to the problem of rationality. He identifies two main problems with previous theories: first, that they exaggerate the differences between the natural and the social/cultural, and hence they also exaggerate the differences between the natural and the social sciences; and second, that they ignore important social science problems, particularly outcomes from the unintended consequences of human actions. Yoshida urges social scientists not simply to interpret agents’ intentions or symbolic systems, but also to explain the unintended consequences of human actions. Still entangled in positivism, cultural interpretivists claim that the social sciences differ from the natural sciences and thus reject any unity of method. Yoshida argues that we need to overcome the mistaken positivist image of science in order to develop a more fruitful philosophy of the social sciences. The analysis presented in this book will be of value to students and scholars of social epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of the social sciences, and the social sciences themselves, as well as anyone interested in the philosophical problem of rationality and relativism.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

A Framework for K-12 Science Education
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2012-02-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309214459

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

Perspectives and Opinions in Health Services

Perspectives and Opinions in Health Services
Author: Andrea Cioffi
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 85
Release: 2024-10-16
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 2832555918

This Research Topic includes high-quality Perspective articles and Opinion articles published in Frontiers in Health Services in 2022. The mission of the journal is to ultimately contribute to helping health systems improve both experiences and outcomes of patients, and make health systems more efficient. Perspective articles aim to present a viewpoint on a specific area within Health Services. The articles in this collection may discuss current advances and future directions and clearly present the author's perspective. Perspective articles should also provide an accurate presentation and citations of other authors’ work and may include original data as well as personal insights and opinions.