Research Catalog

Title

Styles of knowing : a new history of science from ancient times to the present / Chunglin Kwa ; translated by David McKay.

Author

Kwa, Chunglin

Publication

Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, c2011.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

viii, 366 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

• "Now available in English, Styles of Knowing explores the development of various scientific reasoning processes in cultural-historical context. Influenced by historian Alistair Crombie's Styles of Scientific Thinking in the European Tradition, Chunglin Kwa organizes his book according to six distinct styles: deductive, experimental, hypothetical-analogical, taxonomic, statistical, and evolutionary. Each chapter explains the historical applications of each style's unique criterion for good science. Kwa also shows how styles have influenced each other and transformed over time. In a chapter written especially for American audiences, Kwa examines how changes in engineering and technology during the twentieth century affected the balance among the various styles of science. Based on extensive research in Greek and Latin primary sources and numerous modern secondary sources, Kwa demonstrates the heterogeneous nature of scientific discovery. This accessible and innovative introduction to scientific change provides a foundational history for the classroom, historians, and nonspecialists"--
• "Inspired by A. C. Crombie's Styles of Scientific Thinking in the European Tradition, Kwa offers a full overview of scientific development in cultural and historical context. He introduces readers to the different forms of reasoning used by different sciences. Each chapter examines a different scientific style, illuminating how each style emerges gradually and continues to evolve. Older styles sometimes combine with newer while each also still continues along a solo trajectory. Styles investigated include the deductive, the experimental, the analogical-hypothetical, the taxonomic, the statistical, and the evolutionary. Although primarily designed for use in the classroom, this sophisticated book is also accessible to nonspecialists"--

Uniform Title

Project Muse UPCC books.

Alternative Title

New history of science from ancient times to the present

Subject

• SCIENCE / History
• Science > History
• Science > history

Genre/Form

History

Note

• Originally published in Dutch as: De ontdekking van het weten : een andere geschiedenis van de wetenschap. Amsterdam : Boom, c2005.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-354) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction: The six styles of knowing -- The deductive style of science -- The deductive style in a Christian context -- From scholar to virtuoso: the Renaissance origins of the experimental style -- The experimental style II: The skeptics and their opponents -- The experimental style III: alchemy and the new science -- The hypothetical style: analogies between nature and technology -- The taxonomic style -- Statistical analysis as a style of science -- The evolutionary style -- Science in the twentieth century.

ISBN

• 9780822961512 (pbk.)
• 0822961512 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2011004071

OCLC

687677644

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library