Science Defied and Science Deified: The Historical Significance of Science in Western Culture from the Bronze Age to the Beginning of the Modern Era, ca. 3500 B.C. to ca. A.D. 1640 by Richard Olson (review)

Uawkitis), the iiidii itiual (Stcphcii 1‘1y Croultl) and population\ (\cartered). as if one level is the only ini it 01 e \ ~ l i i t i o nand the other levels habe iiear-/et-o input. I recognize the utility of exaggeration to1 the \ a k t 01 rniphasis. hut suggest that all le\ el\ can have \omc selective pressures. Adaptation i i t h e ;idju\tinent t o environmental condition. and ean he very rapid (e.g. iris dilation) o r extreni evolutlonarv change in sk nicely pointed out by adaptation I\ a dynaniic function, changing with the environment and rarel! resulting in complete adaptation Aii environmental problem leads fo a partial adaptive solution. which may lead t o other problems and solutions. and s o mi. .As Lewontin explains. “Natural selection simply kceps tlie species from falling too tar behind the constantly but slouly changing environment” (p. 25 I). Lewontin attribute\ this po\ition t o “modern adaptationists” and doe\ not clearly espouse i t himwlf Arguing dlcged po\itions 0 1 other factions is conimoii thrughoutthe book. Reductionisni I\ : I luiidanientnl probleni lor all science. including cvolutionarv biology. I n reducing Mendeliari gene biology. the iitti-acti\enc complex characteristics as sequence of nucleic acids is c others arguethat thereis agestalt function (not Nagel‘s term). in that there I\ more t o the characteristics :han the \uni of the parts. Kenneth Scliaffner and Michael Ruse spend much t i m e and ettort refuting David Hull’s rejection of the logical empiricist analysis of reduction. I t seem\ t o me that they talk to each other rather than addre\\ the ISSLICS directly. The section on the \pccie\ concept is the largest. and the hest. of the hook. Ernst Mayr begins this section with 21 good account o f u h a t a species is. although his arrogance shows a hit as he cites himielf I X times in nine pages. Robri-t Sokal and Tlicodoi-e C ‘ i - 0 ~ e I l ~ ~ give ; I useful ”flow chart for recogniimg biological species” (which I\ criticired (in page 592 by David Hull). 11u11. in :I \econd paper on the subject. says. “Biological \pecies havc been treated traditionall! a \petioteniporally unrestricted classes” (p. 623). He thu\ ignoresthe entire fields of biogeography and paleontology! Species are \ornewhat spatiotemporally restricted. hut not to the degree of precision required to detcribc an organlam. I n paleontology. for example. the birth. death and position can he detcl-mined w i t h reasonable accuracy The book snda with a discussion o n the biological clasaiticat ion controv e n > between phenetics, cladistics and evolution:iry classification . While Mayr plead\ tor the ~ i s e of the best components of all three method\ in the multi-step procedure. other\ argue their own special interests. often ;idding ncw terminology More arguments could be made for and against various statements in thls book. I believc that when tlie Ou\t settles \ulficientl>. none of the \pecial pleadings will prevail; rather. this antholoD will be !regarded as the compilation ot se\ eriil emerging positions. Such diversity ol views I\ n o t iinusual in the history of \ciencc o r philosophy. As coiltrasting views deielop. they are likely to be clothed i n complex tcrminolo definition, and weak interpretation of histot-ical and curt cnt work in the field. The diff1cuIty 01 toI lowinp the\ e arguments sugge\t\ that only ;t iiiasoclii\t would read thi\ hook !or aniu\enieiit. Beloiw I reconimeiicl ;in) h. 19Xi. 129 pp.. i1111\. Paper. 29 95. (’loth $32.50. ISBN. 0-570-04716-8. ‘I 1115 book makes : I signil~icantcontrib~itioti to modei-n Iirerat tii-e assessingt he place ofscicnce 111 oui- culture The author. a historian of \cicticc &II 2lanc.y Mudtl Collegc. prop(i\c\ to remedy ; I perceived deficiency in the exihttng genei-aleducatioiial literature on “the roles of scirntil.ic knowledge. attitude\. and actib ties in the Western World.” Olson’\ introduction present\ his definition 01 kcience and his analvsi\ of its current contlicts iii relationship to the larger wciety. The i-e\t 0 1 the book give\ a hi\toric...