The War on Science edited by Lawrence M. Krauss
Summary:
An unparalleled group of prominent scholars from wide-ranging disciplines detail ongoing efforts to impose ideological restrictions on science and scholarship throughout western society.
From assaults on merit-based hiring to the policing of language and replacing well-established, disciplinary scholarship by ideological mantras, current science and scholarship is under threat throughout western institutions. As detailed by this group of prominent scholars – who range across many different disciplines and political leanings – the very future of free inquiry and scientific progress is at risk.
Many who have spoken up against this threat have lost their positions, and a climate of fear has arisen that strikes at the heart of modern education and research. Banding together to finally speak out, this brave and unprecedented group of scholars issues a clarion call for change.
Contributors: Richard Dawkins; Alan Sokal; Niall Ferguson; Gad Saad; Anna Krylov; Jay Tanzman; John Armstrong; Jerry Coyne; Luana Maroja; Sally Satel; Geoff Horsman; Alessandro Strumia; Roger Cohen; Amy Wax; Alex Byrne; Moti Gorin; Judith Suissa; Alice Sullivan; Dorian Abbot; Steven Pinker; Nicholas Christakis; Richard E. Redding.
Excerpt:
The only fully reliable truth is a truth supported by objective, publicly inspectable evidence.
I once had an argument with a social anthropologist who said, “As a western scientist, you look at the moon and see a lump of rock obeying Newton’s Laws, some 240,000 miles away. But if there are a tribal people who believe the moon is an old cooking pot tossed into the sky not far above the treetops, their belief is equally true. You believe what you believe because you are a Western scientist. But your truth is no more valid than their truth.” No, a thousand times no. - Richard Dawkins.
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