Buy new:

$91.63

FREE delivery: 2 - 9 June

Fastest delivery: 1 - 3 June

Only 1 left in stock.

[{"displayPrice":"$91.63","priceAmount":91.63,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"91","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"63","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Ycp6TdN4FqxiEqfVKvqDzDX7C4a5lt164AH5GY3hWx%2BIAc86ci%2BD47MHcURnLnrFPcMLwDPgC27jD3A7sFeGczlfonYAJnGWRZ02JxTWLQ80jOmoNRa%2FDECUYI%2FxrlNJpEDF8olH%2FbM9WpmvQbwvbex3VYFgydxm46am6yKxk0%2F5xWP0o4GuCkuIUzSvoaRF","locale":"en-AU","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]

$$91.63 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

FASTBOOKCENTRE1

Sold by

FASTBOOKCENTRE1

Details

Ships from

FASTBOOKCENTRE1

Sold by

FASTBOOKCENTRE1

Share <Embed>

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Lee McIntyre

The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience Hardcover – 15 April 2019

by Lee McIntyre (Author)

93 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$15.48

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$91.63

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$25.13

—

Audio CD, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$59.68

$58.08

Enhance your purchase

An argument that what makes science distinctive is its emphasis on evidence and scientists' willingness to change theories on the basis of new evidence. Attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science, that evolution is only a theory, and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its discoveries (penicillin! relativity!) without explaining exactly why scientific claims are superior. In this book, Lee McIntyre argues that what distinguishes science from its rivals is what he calls the scientific attitudecaring about evidence and being willing to change theories on the basis of new evidence. The history of science is littered with theories that were scientific but turned out to be wrong; the scientific attitude reveals why even a failed theory can help us to understand what is special about science. McIntyre offers examples that illustrate both scientific success (a reduction in childbed fever in the nineteenth century) and failure (the flawed discovery of cold fusion in the twentieth century). He describes the transformation of medicine from a practice based largely on hunches into a science based on evidence; considers scientific fraud; examines the positions of ideology-driven denialists, pseudoscientists, and skeptics who reject scientific findings; and argues that social science, no less than natural science, should embrace the scientific attitude. McIntyre argues that the scientific attitudethe grounding of science in evidenceoffers a uniquely powerful tool in the defense of science.

Print length

296 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The MIT Press
Publication date

15 April 2019
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.54 x 22.86 cm
ISBN-10

0262039834
ISBN-13

978-0262039833
See all details

New children's books bundles!

Book bundles for children's growth and development. Shop now

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total Price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items dispatch sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Lee McIntyre Hardcover
$91.63
Only 1 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by FASTBOOKCENTRE1.
FREE Delivery
by Lee Mcintyre Paperback
$21.25
Only 4 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
by Lee McIntyre Paperback
$54.99
In stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon AU.
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 26

Lee Mcintyre
66
Hardcover
15 offers from $32.63
Lee Mcintyre
328
Paperback
13 offers from $15.34
James C. Zimring
48
Paperback
11 offers from $31.89
Naomi Oreskes
102
Hardcover
13 offers from $33.80
Naomi Oreskes
842
Paperback
11 offers from $23.66
Sinatra
20
Hardcover
7 offers from $51.82

Product description

Review

Perhaps society would benefit from a better understanding of how research is conducted and results are interpreted because if the goal is to 'defend science from denial, fraud, and pseudoscience' you must be able to engage all audiences in the discussion. For this reason, works like The Scientific Attitude are important.... McIntyre does remind us of the good that can come from approaching science with the noble attitude that has advanced modern medicine from guesswork and intuition to the evidence-based practice it is today.

'Chemistry World

About the Author

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. He is the author of Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior and Post-Truth, both published by the MIT Press.

Start reading The Scientific Attitude on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; 1st edition (15 April 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262039834
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262039833
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.54 x 22.86 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 331,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 487 in Scientific Research
- 1,840 in History of Science (Books)
- 2,349 in Biology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
93 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Lee McIntyre

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Lee McIntyre is a philosopher from the Boston area who writes fiction and nonfiction aimed at the general public. Though trained as a scholar, his writing seeks to engage a wide audience in philosophical topics that are relevant to current events. He has also edited several anthologies for philosophy teachers and scholars.

His most recent book is How To Talk To A Science Denier (MIT Press, 2021). He is also the author of The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience (MIT Press, 2019), Post-Truth (MIT Press, 2018), Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age (Routledge, 2015), Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior (MIT Press, 2006), and Laws and Explanation in the Social Sciences (Westview, 1996).

McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and has taught previously at Colgate, Tufts, Simmons, and Boston University. A black belt martial artist, he lives with two German Shepherds and the rest of his family just outside Boston.

Customer reviews

5 star		68%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Fernanda Domingos

Qualidade

Reviewed in Brazil on 7 August 2020

Verified Purchase

O produto é de ótima qualidade.Ainda não tive a oportunidade de lê-lo. Pretendo usá-lo em algumas reuniões de grupo de estudo.

Translate review to English

Immer

The Philosophical Attitude

Reviewed in the United States on 24 June 2019

Verified Purchase

The Philosophical Attitude

Lee McIntyre’s The Scientific Attitude from MIT Press is a well constructed book, and for that matter well written, yet, it reads like Philosophy 101. Though there is no arguing the logic, as a reviewer, I found the book to be rather bland, and a slog to get to the end. My introduction to McIntyre was through an essay he wrote after his attendance at a flat earth conference. As the anti-science movement in the country expands, I thought I would give The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science From denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience a read. As a person of science, I do grow weary at the criticism and ignorance expressed by anti-science cabal.

But, McIntyre began to lose my interest in the first chapter, The Scientific Method and the Problem Of Demarcation, basically Science is not the scientific method, and where does one draw the line between what is and is not science. Perhaps not all problems in science are addressed using the scientific method, but some sort of process is required to submit for peer review, of which McIntyre spends much time. In the past, I gave my students a problem, helped them with a hypothesis/abstract and then turned them loose on lab tables loaded with equipment and told them to make it work. But I also emphasized the Scientific Method in that their lab write-up was subject to review. Anybody else in the classroom should be able to read their write-up using the SM, and get identical results. If not, your write up was wrong, or the reviewers couldn’t read.

Again, as a reviewer, I find myself as very philosophical about life, but find the discipline of philosophy about as dry as attempting to whistle with a mouth full of graham crackers. McIntyre quotes Hume in regard to induction “... I dine, I play a game of backgammon, I converse and am merry with my friends, and when after three or four hours of amusement, I would return to these speculations, they appear cold, and strained, and ridiculous, that I cannot find in my heart to enter into them any farther.” I quite often felt this way about reading McIntyre’s book.

McIntyre provides fodder for the anti science folks with statements such as, “The most important thing about science is that we try and find failure.” I would submit that the most important thing about science is that we try to find truth, and along the way, in sciences self correcting nature, we expose failure. Quoting Pigliucci, “Science is an inherently social activity, dynamically circumscribed by its methods, it’s subject matters, it’s social customs (including peer review, grants etc), and its institutional role (inside and outside of the academy, government agencies, the private sector).”

McIntyre shines when addressing: scientific failure and self correction with the cold fusion and anti-vaccine fiasco, all the while refuting: climate change deniers; creationism/intelligent design; flat earth, etc. I understand he wants to establish a solid logic based platform on which to mount his attacks and defenses, he just takes too long getting there. Then he goes off on tangents about how the social sciences might become “science”, using medicine as a prime example of a pathway to be followed.

Basically, McIntyre is preaching to the choir, and during the times in which we live, the logic he cites to support his argument is wasted upon those from whom he attempts to defend science, as they are solid in their “faith” or mindset. Perhaps if science is really under attack, it’s defenders should develop more of a spine, and invite those who detract from science a trip back to the Middle Ages and the times that preceded them. If your cup of tea is the language of philosophy, with an emphasis in science, this book is probably for you. If you find the language of philosophy as per the above mentioned section of Hume’s quote, this book may provide an anguishing journey.

43 people found this helpful

Katie Flanagan

Misses the point

Reviewed in the United States on 15 November 2021

Verified Purchase

This book expends a lot of prose cheerleading the scientific ideals, which is easy to do. The more substantive conversation is about the failings of science, where it falls short of its ideals, and why and how to fix it. This book cherry-picks easy situations, such as cold fusion, where science was self-fixing, but it dodges the hard questions, such as the Mann hockey stick deception, or the demonization of IQ due to political objections. A missed opportunity and in the end, an empty read.

4 people found this helpful

PB

More than a defense of science; a very accessible celebration of what makes science special

Reviewed in the United States on 9 May 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is much more than a defense of science. It is a celebration of what makes science special, which is the approach to seeking truth, constantly comparing theories to evidence, and being open to new theories when new evidence is discovered. It is both philosophical and practical, and an accessible book for readers who are neither scientists or philosophers. While many politicians want to focus on, debate and exploit uncertainty in science, the rest of us on all sides of the political spectrum would do well to read this book to better understand why there will always be uncertainty in science and why that uncertainty, and the scientific approach to it, is a strength. This is an easy read and a very good follow up to Post-Truth.

12 people found this helpful

Ryan K.

A Religion Book

Reviewed in the United States on 15 March 2022

Verified Purchase

There is a part of the brain that seeks something "higher" which traditionally had been the field of religion. But over the last few centuries, and which is now commonplace, people put their FAITH in science. Understandably, philosophers have coined the term "scientism" - a worldview that puts faith in the person of the scientist. That is what this book spews. No rational person would question the validity of the science. The problem is when scientists speak beyond the science. Any scientific claim comes with an error - from the error bars in each measurement to the error in the result of a calculation based on these measurements. Apparently they don't teach this anymore, even in undergraduate physics. He says science makes "rational and justified" claims. Well, sometimes, they do. When scientists make SCIENTIFIC claims that is usually the case. But the new breed of scientist claims to be a master of all disciplines - a true "thinker" that cannot be wrong. For example, evolution and natural selection is a hand-waving theory that completely explains observations. And now that we understand DNA and mutations, the theory is even more believable. Since any competing theory is nowhere near as complete, any rational person would believe it. Even without measurement, we presume this to be true because it explains things better than competing theories. A counter example: climate change. Specifically, man-made global warming. Not so believable here. The calculations, based on well-known faulty measurements, and the "tossing in" of constants to yield what you want (fudge factors), leads many famous, otherwise highly respected scientists to consider the theory "scientific crap." Not that it's wrong, but that it is so incomplete that it is not even science. Freeman Dyson was famous for this position. McIntyre wants you to TRUST the scientific community. I certainly do - when it comes to real science. The computer I'm using to type this review is the culmination of a lot of good science based on measurement that yielded theory that was handed over to the engineers. But over the last 30 years scientists have developed a true hubris: "I am smarter than you, follow my science, which means make the moral choices I would make based on the beliefs I have that are based on little measurement." Hypothesis is now called theory if enough scientists believe it! And they believe what liberal academics WANT to believe. EXAMPLE: "There is no evidence that Covid came from a lab in Wuhan." Really? So a novel virus just sprang naturally from bats within walking distance from a one-of-a-kind lab that does this research? Either this is an absolutely amazing coincidence, or this fact is evidence itself. Believe the scientists? No, McIntyre's book is about believing the magisterium - the modern day clerics who call themselves scientists. I will believe their measurements, and I will take their theories into account as possibly the best explanations for these measurements. But a "scientific attitude" is nothing more than an opinion no more valid than any person's in any discipline. And making moral decisions? I find that scientists do not have the mental faculties to do such reasoning.

See all reviews

Buy new:

$91.63

Follow the Author

The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience Hardcover – 15 April 2019

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product description

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Lee McIntyre

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new: $91.63

Follow the Author

The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience Hardcover – 15 April 2019

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product description

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the author

Lee McIntyre

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$91.63