A House Built on Sand

by Noretta Koertge

Book Overview

Cultural critics say that "science is politics by other means," arguing that the results of scientific inquiry are profoundly shaped by the ideological agendas of powerful elites. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion of sexist, racist, capitalist, colonialist and/or professional interests into the very content of science. Physicist Alan Sokal recently poked fun at these claims by foisting a...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195117255
• ISBN13: 9780195117257
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Triumph of Reason

An excellent collection of essays highlighting the absurdities and potential dangers of the recent fad for the rejection of rationality. The arguments presented are clear and calm. There is no resort to ridicule, no matter how ridiculous the POMO examples are. The only counter criticisms of this collection seem to amount to "Boo Hoo, why are you picking on poor post-modernists". A bit rich when you really start to understand what the post-modernists have been doing to the pursuit of knowledge. If Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World" were made part of the high school curriculum, I do not think the POMO academics would have been able to fool so many for so long. They would have taken their righful place beside the conspiracy theorists, channellers, New Agers, and UFOlogists. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in clear and readable accounts illustrating the deceptive and flawed claims of some of the most popular Postmodernist academics.

Counterstrike from the besieged

Noretta Koertge deserves the highest praise for assembling this group of essays. Anyone feeling the "postmodernist" assault on literature or philosophy has deteriorated will learn that science remains besieged by the cult of "cultural relativism". Each author provides a counterstrike against selected issues the "pomos" have launched to discredit science and/or scientists. In brief, postmodern attacks on science are uniformly devoid of understanding how science works. The critics of science distort history, fabricate or selectively edit texts and create meaningless issues. The collection illuminates these practices, exposing a wealth of poor scholarship and specious reasoning. The writing quality in these selections is uniformly good, although some topics may prove difficult for readers unfamiliar with the material. "Superstring" theory, for example, is perhaps the most arcane topic in physics, but Norman Levitt underscores its importance in a finely developed essay on the future of science. Difficult subjects may cause some readers to avoid delving into this collection as being too remote. Never fear - this anthology has urgent value for you. To best understand why, you should read this series starting near the back. Koertge's essay on the impact of postmodernism on education is more than a little frightening. Koertge labels the application of "pomo" on education as "Civilian Casualties", amply demonstrating why this book should receive wide readership. She clearly demonstrates how far ideology attempts, and to some extent succeeds, in distorting the teaching of many fields such as mathematics.While the essays cover a wide spectrum of topics, a recurring theme is the impact of "feminist" writers. Feminist attacks on science hinge on the dominant role men have played in science in the past. Instead of simply calling for more women to enter research fields, feminist ideologues blitz the entire scientific programme. Koertge and the others here demonstrate that science and mathematics teaching is being politicised. "Feminist science", whatever that is, aims to revise fundamentally how science is done. These essays confirm that ambition is misleading and destructive. Yet, as the collection clearly shows, this objective has permeated North American education and media. "Ethnoscience", a derivative of the feminist ideology and purporting to supplant empirical science methods, is in ascendancy here and elsewhere. Koertge and her colleagues examine and repudiate the underlying concepts of this movement. A telling essay by Meera Nanda shows how postmodernist ideology has invaded the Third World in fomenting bad science in the name of ultra-nationalism and against a perceived "neo-colonialism" from the West. Proponents of "Islamic Science" have openly adopted Western feminist writers in their tactics. This book is a campaign document, but shouldn't be faulted for that. It is, after all, responding to a crusade eroding three centuri

good collection

This is a good collection of useful material. There is an opening section concentrating on Sokal's Hoax, with Sokal and others commenting on the affair. Gross and Levit, of Higher Superstition fame, log in with contributions that are well worth reading. There are essays addressing the Strong Programme, and discussions of Hobbes and the Airpump. Only three papers become very technical. A couple more are somewhat difficult. Meera Nanda's account of how radical science critique is playing out in the third world is excellent and chilling. The postmodernists have strengthened the hand of repressive regimes who reject science as western rationalism, and then set out to fashion an Islamic science or a Hindu arithmetic, etc. Nanda has case studies to back her up. Koertge contributed a nice paper on scientific literacy. Levit's attack on the central dogmas of science studies is quite a punch. I enjoyed every minute of this collection and we need more essays like these.

A balanced look at a strange phenomenom

This book is a collection of essays, and as is usual in such an anthology, the quality of the writing and of the arguments is variable. However, the editor did a terrific job of selecting writers who understand their topics, are not too terribly polemical, and write well enough to articulate their viewpoints.The book ranges over a variety of responses to the post-modernist attack on science. I found the book quite informative on the content of the anti-science arguments, and while I have not read all of them, the ones I have read are reported fairly in this book. Then they are demolished. Ini a similar way, I am only competent to judge about half of the science that is presented in the book, but again, what I do know independently is described accurately and articulately in this volume. This book shows that it is possible to write coherently about science and about social issues at the same time. I found the book useful in my attempt to understand the anti-science attacks more clearly than I had been able to do on my own, and I enjoyed the elegant, spirited rebuttals. Read this book, and then think for yourself. You should enjoy the process, no matter which side of the argument you end up on.

Needed

Another wonderful book in the so-called "science wars" which demonstrates that many of the critics of science, rationality, objectivity, etc. don't have a leg to stand on intellectually.