David Harker is Associate Professor of Philosophy at East Tennessee State University. He has published articles in journals including British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Philosophical Studies and Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.
Introduction: scientific authority and the created controversy
Part I. Lessons from the Philosophy of Science: 1. Defining science and the empiricist approach
2. Two challenges for the naïve empiricist
3. A revolution in how we think about sciences
4. Sciences as historically and socially situated
Points to remember: Part I
Part II. Biases, Arguments and Created Controversies: 5. Inherent irrationality: cognitive biases and heuristics
6. Thinking more clearly: arguments, reasoning and informal fallacies
7. Created controversies and how to detect them
Points to remember: Part II
Part III. Exposing Created Controversies: 8. Environmental scare: the case of anthropogenic climate change
9. Sciences, religion and an intelligently design controversy?
10. Issues of public health: aids, autism and GMOs
Points to remember: Part III
Concluding remarks
References
Index.
