The traditional mode of academic science research is not just a \'method\': it is a distinctive culture, whose members win esteem and employment by making their findings public. This culture, strictly regulated by established practices such as peer review, comprises highly specialized international communities of independent experts who form spontaneously and generate the type of knowledge we call \'scientific.\' Ziman shows how scientific knowledge is tied closely to the ordinary cognitive capabilities and peculiar social relationships of the scientists responsible for it. Unlike most other similar books, this systematic, carefully reasoned, and nontechnical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge opens the way to reconciliation in the \'science wars.\' By describing how academic scientists actually undertake research and communicate their findings, it shows that the philosophy, psychology, and sociology are inextricably intertwined, and that \'realism\' and \'relativism\' are just two sides of the same coin.

"For anyone wanting a detailed, realistic, well-rounded view of science, Ziman's Real Science is your book." Nature"Any scientist interested in establishing a more constructive dialogue with the science and technology studies community would be well-advised to read this work." Physics Today

"In sum this is an important book about the practice of science from someone who has been there...must be read by anyone who wants to understand modern science as it is practised." Times Higher Educational Supplement"Any scientist interested in establishing a more constructive dialogue with the science and technology studies community would be well-advised to read this work." Physics Today"Although the idea that science is pure method is a myth, and although particular claims of science are often highly questionable, a more convincing theory of science providing it with a moral basis is still possible. This important book takes many steps in that direction." The Virginia Quarterly Review"For anyone wanting a detailed, realistic, well-rounded view of science, Ziman's Real Science is your book." Nature"This is an interesting book by a respected scientist. Real Science contains 10 chapters, covering such diverse subjects as science under attack, research as an inquiry, academic science as a culture, originality, science policy, funding, bureaucratization, trust, objectivity, and many others." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine"important book. I highly recommend it." Jrnl of Coating Technology

A systematic but non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge.

This systematic, carefully reasoned, but non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge opens the way to reconciliation in the 'science wars'. By describing how academic scientists actually undertake research and communicate their findings, it shows that the philosophy, psychology and sociology of science are inextricably entwined.

Unlike most other similar books, this systematic, carefully reasoned, non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge opens the way to reconciliation in the 'science wars'. By describing how academic scientists actually undertake research and communicate their findings, it shows that the philosophy, psychology and sociology of science are inextricably entwined, and that 'realism' and 'relativism' are just two sides of the same coin. The writing is well-informed, down-to-earth and lucid.

A systematic, carefully reasoned, but non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge.

John Ziman is well known internationally for his many scholarly and popular books on condensed-matter physics and on science, technology and society. He was born in 1925, and was brought up in New Zealand. He took his DPhil at Oxford and lectured at Cambridge before becoming Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bristol in 1964. His research on the electrical properties of metals earned his election to the Royal Society in 1967. After voluntary early retirement from Bristol in 1982 he devoted himself to the systematic analysis and public exposition of various aspects of the social relations of science and technology, on which he is a recognised world authority. He was for many years chairman of the council for Science and Society, and between 1986 and 1991 he headed the Science Policy Support Group. He is currently Convenor of the Epistemology Group.

Preface; 1. A peculiar institution; 2. Basically, it's purely academic; 3. Academic science; 4. New modes of knowledge production; 5. Community and communication; 6. Universalism and unification; 7. Disinterestedness and objectivity; 8. Originality and novelty; 9. Scepticism and the growth of knowledge; 10. What then, can we believe?; Bibliography; Index.