''The No Nonsense Guide to Science'' is a 2006 book on

Post-normal science Post-normal science (PNS) was developed in the 1990s by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz.Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economics: ...

(PNS). It was written by American born British historian and philosopher of science

Jerome Ravetz Jerome (Jerry) Ravetz is a philosopher of science. He is best known for his books analysing scientific knowledge from a social and ethical perspective, focussing on issues of quality. He is the co-author (with Silvio Funtowicz) of the NUSAP no ...

.Ravetz, Jerome R. 2005. The No Nonsense Guide to Science. Oxford: New Internationalist.

Main

What should a young person do who aspires to make the world a better place and to make their way in science? This is how this work's ambition was summarized.Latham, Jonathan. 2008. “The No-Nonsense Guide to Science.” Independent Science News, June 4, 2008. https://www.independentsciencenews.org/reviews/guide-to-science/. Written in 2006 by one of the founding fathersCarrozza, C. (2015). Democratizing Expertise and Environmental Governance: Different Approaches to the Politics of Science and their Relevance for Policy Analysis. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 17(1), 108-126. of

Post-normal Science Post-normal science (PNS) was developed in the 1990s by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz.Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economics: ...

- the other being

Silvio Funtowicz Silvio O. Funtowicz (born 1946) is a philosopher of science active in the field of science and technology studies. He created the NUSAP, a notational system for characterising uncertainty and quality in quantitative expressions, and together with ...

- its 142 pages cover several themes, in part synthesizing previous works such as ''

Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems ''Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems'' is a 1971 book by Jerome Ravetz Jerome (Jerry) Ravetz is a philosopher of science. He is best known for his books analysing scientific knowledge from a social and ethical perspective, focussing ...

'', '' The Merger of Knowledge with Power'', and ''

Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy ''Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy'' is a 1990 book by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome Ravetz, in which the authors explain the notational system NUSAP (numeral, unit, spread, assessment, pedigree) and applies it to several examples from t ...

'' (with Funtowicz), and introduces the ideas of

. Topics include: * The problem of science being at once 'little' and big or 'mega', embedded in institutions and corporations * The fallibility of science, against a possibly 'dogmatic' teaching of the power of science * The democratization of science as a necessary and realistic antidote to its hubris * The opportunity of forming extended peer communities - inclusive of whistle blowers and investigative journalists as well as academics and interested stakeholders, when science is called to answer conflicted policy questions. * The relationship between science and society The book makes themes that are well known to philosophers and sociologists of science accessible to a larger, less specialized audience, including young scientists. The foreword was written by

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

, who approves of Ravetz' "direct and provocative" approach to describing science, inclusive of its self-destructive tendencies as well as of its hopes and promises.

Reception

''No Nonsense Guide to Science'' was translated and published in Japan in 2012. Ravetz's work has found use for teaching philosophy and ethics of science, e.g at the University of Copenhagen. The volume may help to develop the competencies that scientists need to perform ethicallyKønig, Nicolas, Tom Børsen, and Claus Emmeche. 2017. “The Ethos of Post-Normal Science.” Futures, Post-Normal science in practice, 91 (August): 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.12.004. in postnormal research, by developing the ability to identify issues that fit postnormal settings where "facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decision urgent"''.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:No Nonsense Guide To Science, The Scientific method Philosophy of science Science and technology studies