Full Description
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 stress-freeness and its socially sanctioned withdrawal from the swift pace of ordinary life. Unhastening Science offers a balanced and thoughtful argument which emphasises 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.
Contents
Acknowledgements1. The Timescape of Science2. What (Again) is So Special about Science?3. Two Traditions in the Social Theory of Knowledge4. The Natural Proximity of Facts and Values5. Knowledge Politics and Anti-Politics: Bourdieu on Science and Intellectuals6. The Politics of Symmetry7. Reflexivity: One Step Up8. Intellectual Autonomy and the Politics of Slow MotionEpilogue: Weak Social TheoryNotesBibliographyIndex
