Synopses & Reviews
This book offers a new account of what makes science special among other human pursuits, critically engaging with a variety of approaches, especially constructivist and relativist studies of science and technology. It focuses on the studied "lack of haste" of science, its relative freedom from stress and its socially sanctioned withdrawal from the swift pace of ordinary life. Unhastening Science offers a balanced and thoughtful argument which emphasizes the dangers of cosseting science from the "scourge" of internal competition while at the same time highlighting the need for "distance" between the process of scientific thought and the faster machinery of politics, business, sports, and the media.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. The Timescape of Science
2. What (Again) is So Special about Science?
3. Two Traditions in the Social Theory of Knowledge
4. The Natural Proximity of Facts and Values
5. Knowledge Politics and Anti-Politics: Bourdieu on Science and Intellectuals
6. The Politics of Symmetry
7. Reflexivity: One Step Up
8. Intellectual Autonomy and the Politics of Slow Motion
Epilogue: Weak Social Theory
Notes
Bibliography
Index