Imagining Science

Imagining Science

Author: Sean Caulfield

Publisher:

Published: 2008-11-06

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13:

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Imagining Science brings together internationally recognized artists, scientists, and social commentators to feature a body of original artwork and essays which explores the complex legal, ethical, and social concerns about advances in biotechnology, such as stem cell research, cloning, and genetic testing. Many important questions and themes emerge from this exchange, highlighting the linkages between scientific and creative research. This collaboration also stresses the vital role art can play in critiquing these biomedical technologies, particularly as advancements in science begin to challenge our ethical boundaries.


Book Synopsis Imagining Science by : Sean Caulfield

Download or read book Imagining Science written by Sean Caulfield and published by . This book was released on 2008-11-06 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagining Science brings together internationally recognized artists, scientists, and social commentators to feature a body of original artwork and essays which explores the complex legal, ethical, and social concerns about advances in biotechnology, such as stem cell research, cloning, and genetic testing. Many important questions and themes emerge from this exchange, highlighting the linkages between scientific and creative research. This collaboration also stresses the vital role art can play in critiquing these biomedical technologies, particularly as advancements in science begin to challenge our ethical boundaries.


Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (Easyread Large Edition)

Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (Easyread Large Edition)

Author: Yuval Levin

Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1458763544

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From stem cell research to global warming, human cloning, evolution, and beyond, political debates about science in recent years have fallen into the familiar categories of America's culture wars. Imagining the Future explores the meaning of science and technology in American politics today. The science debates, Yuval Levin argues, expose the deepest strengths and greatest weaknesses of both the left and the right, and present serious challenges to American democratic self-government. What do arguments about embryos, climate, or the origins of man reveal about contemporary America? Why do issues involving science seem to divide us along the same fault lines as so many other issues in our political life? Is science morally neutral, or is it an endeavor filled with moral promise - and peril? Are American conservatives really waging war on science? Is the American left justified in calling itself the party of science? Most of the science debates, Levin concludes, are not about particular theories or facts or technologies. Rather, they come down to a profound dispute between liberals and conservatives about the right way to think about the future. Science is only one subject of this broader dispute; but today's science debates can illuminate the contours of our politics and clarify the rift at the heart of our polity.


Book Synopsis Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (Easyread Large Edition) by : Yuval Levin

Download or read book Imagining the Future: Science and American Democracy (Easyread Large Edition) written by Yuval Levin and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From stem cell research to global warming, human cloning, evolution, and beyond, political debates about science in recent years have fallen into the familiar categories of America's culture wars. Imagining the Future explores the meaning of science and technology in American politics today. The science debates, Yuval Levin argues, expose the deepest strengths and greatest weaknesses of both the left and the right, and present serious challenges to American democratic self-government. What do arguments about embryos, climate, or the origins of man reveal about contemporary America? Why do issues involving science seem to divide us along the same fault lines as so many other issues in our political life? Is science morally neutral, or is it an endeavor filled with moral promise - and peril? Are American conservatives really waging war on science? Is the American left justified in calling itself the party of science? Most of the science debates, Levin concludes, are not about particular theories or facts or technologies. Rather, they come down to a profound dispute between liberals and conservatives about the right way to think about the future. Science is only one subject of this broader dispute; but today's science debates can illuminate the contours of our politics and clarify the rift at the heart of our polity.


The Scientific Imagination

The Scientific Imagination

Author: Peter Godfrey-Smith

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2019-12-03

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0190212306

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The imagination, our capacity to entertain thoughts and ideas "in the mind's eye," is indispensable in science as elsewhere in human life. Indeed, common scientific practices such as modeling and idealization rely on the imagination to construct simplified, stylized scenarios essential for scientific understanding. Yet the philosophy of science has traditionally shied away from according an important role to the imagination, wary of psychologizing fundamental scientific concepts like explanation and justification. In recent years, however, advances in thinking about creativity and fiction, and their relation to theorizing and understanding, have prompted a move away from older philosophical perspectives and toward a greater acknowledgement of the place of the imagination in scientific practice. Meanwhile, psychologists have engaged in significant experimental work on the role of the imagination in causal thinking and probabilistic reasoning. The Scientific Imagination delves into this burgeoning area of debate at the intersection of the philosophy and practice of science, bringing together the work of leading researchers in philosophy and psychology. Philosophers discuss such topics as modeling, idealization, metaphor and explanation, examining their role within science as well as how they affect questions in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of language. Psychologists discuss how our imaginative capacities develop and how they work, their relationships with processes of reasoning, and how they compare to related capacities, such as categorization and counterfactual thinking. Together, these contributions combine to provide a comprehensive and exciting picture of the scientific imagination.


Book Synopsis The Scientific Imagination by : Peter Godfrey-Smith

Download or read book The Scientific Imagination written by Peter Godfrey-Smith and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The imagination, our capacity to entertain thoughts and ideas "in the mind's eye," is indispensable in science as elsewhere in human life. Indeed, common scientific practices such as modeling and idealization rely on the imagination to construct simplified, stylized scenarios essential for scientific understanding. Yet the philosophy of science has traditionally shied away from according an important role to the imagination, wary of psychologizing fundamental scientific concepts like explanation and justification. In recent years, however, advances in thinking about creativity and fiction, and their relation to theorizing and understanding, have prompted a move away from older philosophical perspectives and toward a greater acknowledgement of the place of the imagination in scientific practice. Meanwhile, psychologists have engaged in significant experimental work on the role of the imagination in causal thinking and probabilistic reasoning. The Scientific Imagination delves into this burgeoning area of debate at the intersection of the philosophy and practice of science, bringing together the work of leading researchers in philosophy and psychology. Philosophers discuss such topics as modeling, idealization, metaphor and explanation, examining their role within science as well as how they affect questions in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of language. Psychologists discuss how our imaginative capacities develop and how they work, their relationships with processes of reasoning, and how they compare to related capacities, such as categorization and counterfactual thinking. Together, these contributions combine to provide a comprehensive and exciting picture of the scientific imagination.


Wonder and Science

Wonder and Science

Author: Mary Baine Campbell

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2004-12-10

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1501705059

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During the early modern period, western Europe was transformed by the proliferation of new worlds—geographic worlds found in the voyages of discovery and conceptual and celestial worlds opened by natural philosophy, or science. The response to incredible overseas encounters and to the profound technological, religious, economic, and intellectual changes occurring in Europe was one of nearly overwhelming wonder, expressed in a rich variety of texts. In the need to manage this wonder, to harness this imaginative overabundance, Mary Baine Campbell finds both the sensational beauty of early scientific works and the beginnings of the divergence of the sciences—particularly geography, astronomy, and anthropology—from the writing of fiction. Campbell's learned and brilliantly perceptive new book analyzes a cross section of texts in which worlds were made and unmade; these texts include cosmographies, colonial reports, works of natural philosophy and natural history, fantastic voyages, exotic fictions, and confessions. Among the authors she discusses are André Thevet, Thomas Hariot, Francis Bacon, Galileo, Margaret Cavendish, and Aphra Behn. Campbell's emphasis is on developments in England and France, but she considers works in languages other than English or French which were well known in the polyglot book culture of the time. With over thirty well-chosen illustrations, Wonder and Science enhances our understanding of the culture of early modern Europe, the history of science, and the development of literary forms, including the novel and ethnography.


Book Synopsis Wonder and Science by : Mary Baine Campbell

Download or read book Wonder and Science written by Mary Baine Campbell and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2004-12-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early modern period, western Europe was transformed by the proliferation of new worlds—geographic worlds found in the voyages of discovery and conceptual and celestial worlds opened by natural philosophy, or science. The response to incredible overseas encounters and to the profound technological, religious, economic, and intellectual changes occurring in Europe was one of nearly overwhelming wonder, expressed in a rich variety of texts. In the need to manage this wonder, to harness this imaginative overabundance, Mary Baine Campbell finds both the sensational beauty of early scientific works and the beginnings of the divergence of the sciences—particularly geography, astronomy, and anthropology—from the writing of fiction. Campbell's learned and brilliantly perceptive new book analyzes a cross section of texts in which worlds were made and unmade; these texts include cosmographies, colonial reports, works of natural philosophy and natural history, fantastic voyages, exotic fictions, and confessions. Among the authors she discusses are André Thevet, Thomas Hariot, Francis Bacon, Galileo, Margaret Cavendish, and Aphra Behn. Campbell's emphasis is on developments in England and France, but she considers works in languages other than English or French which were well known in the polyglot book culture of the time. With over thirty well-chosen illustrations, Wonder and Science enhances our understanding of the culture of early modern Europe, the history of science, and the development of literary forms, including the novel and ethnography.


Imagination

Imagination

Author: Jim Davies

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1643132881

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We don’t think of imagination the way that we should. The word is often only associated with children, artists and daydreamers, but in reality, imagination is an integral part of almost every action and decision that we make. Simply put, imagination is a person’s ability to create scenarios in his or her head: this can include everything from planning a grocery list, to honing a golf swing, to having religious hallucinations. And while imagination has positive connotations, it can also lead to decreased productivity and cooperation, or worse, the continuous reliving of past trauma.The human brain is remarkable in its ability to imagine—it can imagine complex possible futures, fantasy worlds, or tasty meals. We can use our imaginations to make us relaxed or anxious. We can imagine what the world might be, and construct elaborate plans. People have been fascinated with the machination of the human brain and its ability to imagine for centuries. There are books on creativity, dreams, memory, and the mind in general, but how exactly do we create those scenes in our head? With chapters ranging from hallucination and imaginary friends to how imagination can make you happier and more productive, Jim Davies' Imagination will help us explore the full potential of our own mind.


Book Synopsis Imagination by : Jim Davies

Download or read book Imagination written by Jim Davies and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We don’t think of imagination the way that we should. The word is often only associated with children, artists and daydreamers, but in reality, imagination is an integral part of almost every action and decision that we make. Simply put, imagination is a person’s ability to create scenarios in his or her head: this can include everything from planning a grocery list, to honing a golf swing, to having religious hallucinations. And while imagination has positive connotations, it can also lead to decreased productivity and cooperation, or worse, the continuous reliving of past trauma.The human brain is remarkable in its ability to imagine—it can imagine complex possible futures, fantasy worlds, or tasty meals. We can use our imaginations to make us relaxed or anxious. We can imagine what the world might be, and construct elaborate plans. People have been fascinated with the machination of the human brain and its ability to imagine for centuries. There are books on creativity, dreams, memory, and the mind in general, but how exactly do we create those scenes in our head? With chapters ranging from hallucination and imaginary friends to how imagination can make you happier and more productive, Jim Davies' Imagination will help us explore the full potential of our own mind.


Imagining Imaging

Imagining Imaging

Author: Michael R. Jackson

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2021-11-25

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 1000475492

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From Roentgen to Rembrandt, Hounsfield to Hollywood and Vesalius to videogames, Imagining Imaging explores the deeply entwined relationship between art (and visual-based culture) and radiology / medical imaging. Including artworks from numerous historical eras representing varied geographic locations and visual traditions, alongside a diverse range of contemporary artists, Dr Jackson argues that the foundations of medical image construction and interpretation were laid down in artistic innovations dating back hundreds and thousands of years. Since the discovery of X-rays, artists and moviemakers have, in turn, drawn rich inspiration from radiographic imagery and concepts, but the process of cross-pollination between art and science has continued, with creative endeavour continuing to mould medical imaging examinations to this day. Blending a unique mix of art, science and medical history, together with aspects of visual neurophysiology and psychology, Imagining Imaging is essential reading for radiologists, radiographers and artists alike. Peppered with familiar TV and film references, personal insights into the business of image interpretation, and delivered in an accessible and humorous style, the book will also appeal to anyone who enjoys looking at pictures. Key features: Engaging synthesis of art and medical history, combined with anecdotes and experiences from a working clinical radiologist Diverse range of visual reference points including astronomy, botany and cartography, alongside comprehensive discussion of medical imaging modalities including plain radiography, ultrasound, CT and MRI 200 full colour illustrations


Book Synopsis Imagining Imaging by : Michael R. Jackson

Download or read book Imagining Imaging written by Michael R. Jackson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-11-25 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Roentgen to Rembrandt, Hounsfield to Hollywood and Vesalius to videogames, Imagining Imaging explores the deeply entwined relationship between art (and visual-based culture) and radiology / medical imaging. Including artworks from numerous historical eras representing varied geographic locations and visual traditions, alongside a diverse range of contemporary artists, Dr Jackson argues that the foundations of medical image construction and interpretation were laid down in artistic innovations dating back hundreds and thousands of years. Since the discovery of X-rays, artists and moviemakers have, in turn, drawn rich inspiration from radiographic imagery and concepts, but the process of cross-pollination between art and science has continued, with creative endeavour continuing to mould medical imaging examinations to this day. Blending a unique mix of art, science and medical history, together with aspects of visual neurophysiology and psychology, Imagining Imaging is essential reading for radiologists, radiographers and artists alike. Peppered with familiar TV and film references, personal insights into the business of image interpretation, and delivered in an accessible and humorous style, the book will also appeal to anyone who enjoys looking at pictures. Key features: Engaging synthesis of art and medical history, combined with anecdotes and experiences from a working clinical radiologist Diverse range of visual reference points including astronomy, botany and cartography, alongside comprehensive discussion of medical imaging modalities including plain radiography, ultrasound, CT and MRI 200 full colour illustrations


Black Space

Black Space

Author: Adilifu Nama

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0292778767

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Winner, Rollins Book Award, Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, 2008 Science fiction film offers its viewers many pleasures, not least of which is the possibility of imagining other worlds in which very different forms of society exist. Not surprisingly, however, these alternative worlds often become spaces in which filmmakers and film audiences can explore issues of concern in our own society. Through an analysis of over thirty canonic science fiction (SF) films, including Logan's Run, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Gattaca, and Minority Report, Black Space offers a thorough-going investigation of how SF film since the 1950s has dealt with the issue of race and specifically with the representation of blackness. Setting his study against the backdrop of America's ongoing racial struggles and complex socioeconomic histories, Adilifu Nama pursues a number of themes in Black Space. They include the structured absence/token presence of blacks in SF film; racial contamination and racial paranoia; the traumatized black body as the ultimate signifier of difference, alienness, and "otherness"; the use of class and economic issues to subsume race as an issue; the racially subversive pleasures and allegories encoded in some mainstream SF films; and the ways in which independent and extra-filmic productions are subverting the SF genre of Hollywood filmmaking. The first book-length study of African American representation in science fiction film, Black Space demonstrates that SF cinema has become an important field of racial analysis, a site where definitions of race can be contested and post-civil rights race relations (re)imagined.


Book Synopsis Black Space by : Adilifu Nama

Download or read book Black Space written by Adilifu Nama and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner, Rollins Book Award, Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, 2008 Science fiction film offers its viewers many pleasures, not least of which is the possibility of imagining other worlds in which very different forms of society exist. Not surprisingly, however, these alternative worlds often become spaces in which filmmakers and film audiences can explore issues of concern in our own society. Through an analysis of over thirty canonic science fiction (SF) films, including Logan's Run, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Back to the Future, Gattaca, and Minority Report, Black Space offers a thorough-going investigation of how SF film since the 1950s has dealt with the issue of race and specifically with the representation of blackness. Setting his study against the backdrop of America's ongoing racial struggles and complex socioeconomic histories, Adilifu Nama pursues a number of themes in Black Space. They include the structured absence/token presence of blacks in SF film; racial contamination and racial paranoia; the traumatized black body as the ultimate signifier of difference, alienness, and "otherness"; the use of class and economic issues to subsume race as an issue; the racially subversive pleasures and allegories encoded in some mainstream SF films; and the ways in which independent and extra-filmic productions are subverting the SF genre of Hollywood filmmaking. The first book-length study of African American representation in science fiction film, Black Space demonstrates that SF cinema has become an important field of racial analysis, a site where definitions of race can be contested and post-civil rights race relations (re)imagined.


Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion

Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author: E. Thomas Lawson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-08-24

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1350355895

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Uniting Thomas Lawson's essays on the cognitive science of religion, this volume explores theoretical issues in the study of cultural phenomena such as religion, the role of imagination, and the experiments that emerge from these theories. The book begins with Lawson's influential essay “Towards a Cognitive Science of Religion,” which was the first to employ the phrase, and has since become widely adopted in many different disciplines. It signals to scholars in the humanities that the cognitive revolution has finally reached them and serves to introduce them to the world of science. The rest of the book focuses on theoretical issues in the study of cultural phenomena and describes experiments by scholars working on the connections between cognition and culture. Described as "the grandfather of the cognitive science of religion," Lawson offers a unique perspective on the development of the field and the principles that underlie it, which will be relevant to both newcomers and established scholars.


Book Synopsis Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion by : E. Thomas Lawson

Download or read book Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion written by E. Thomas Lawson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-08-24 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uniting Thomas Lawson's essays on the cognitive science of religion, this volume explores theoretical issues in the study of cultural phenomena such as religion, the role of imagination, and the experiments that emerge from these theories. The book begins with Lawson's influential essay “Towards a Cognitive Science of Religion,” which was the first to employ the phrase, and has since become widely adopted in many different disciplines. It signals to scholars in the humanities that the cognitive revolution has finally reached them and serves to introduce them to the world of science. The rest of the book focuses on theoretical issues in the study of cultural phenomena and describes experiments by scholars working on the connections between cognition and culture. Described as "the grandfather of the cognitive science of religion," Lawson offers a unique perspective on the development of the field and the principles that underlie it, which will be relevant to both newcomers and established scholars.


Controversy in Science Museums

Controversy in Science Museums

Author: Erminia Pedretti

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-04-30

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0429017758

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Controversy in Science Museums focuses on exhibitions that approach sensitive or controversial topics. With a keen sense of past and current practices, Pedretti and Navas Iannini examine and re-imagine how museums and science centres can create exhibitions that embrace criticality and visitor agency. Drawing on international case studies and voices from visitors and museum professionals, as well as theoretical insights about scientific literacy and science communication, the authors explore the textured notion of controversy and the challenges and opportunities practitioners may encounter as they plan for and develop controversial science exhibitions. They assert that science museums can no longer serve as mere repositories for objects or sites for transmitting facts, but that they should also become spaces for conversations that are inclusive, critical, and socially responsible. Controversy in Science Museums provides an invaluable resource for museum professionals who are interested in creating and hosting controversial exhibitions, and for scholars and students working in the fields of museum studies, science communication, and social studies of science. Anyone wishing to engage in an examination and critique of the changing roles of science museums will find this book relevant, timely, and thought provoking.


Book Synopsis Controversy in Science Museums by : Erminia Pedretti

Download or read book Controversy in Science Museums written by Erminia Pedretti and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Controversy in Science Museums focuses on exhibitions that approach sensitive or controversial topics. With a keen sense of past and current practices, Pedretti and Navas Iannini examine and re-imagine how museums and science centres can create exhibitions that embrace criticality and visitor agency. Drawing on international case studies and voices from visitors and museum professionals, as well as theoretical insights about scientific literacy and science communication, the authors explore the textured notion of controversy and the challenges and opportunities practitioners may encounter as they plan for and develop controversial science exhibitions. They assert that science museums can no longer serve as mere repositories for objects or sites for transmitting facts, but that they should also become spaces for conversations that are inclusive, critical, and socially responsible. Controversy in Science Museums provides an invaluable resource for museum professionals who are interested in creating and hosting controversial exhibitions, and for scholars and students working in the fields of museum studies, science communication, and social studies of science. Anyone wishing to engage in an examination and critique of the changing roles of science museums will find this book relevant, timely, and thought provoking.


Imagining the Future of Climate Change

Imagining the Future of Climate Change

Author: Shelley Streeby

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 0520294440

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#NoDAPL : native American and indigenous science, fiction, and futurisms -- Climate refugees in the greenhouse world : archiving global warming with Octavia E. Butler -- Climate change as a world problem : shaping change in the wake of disaster


Book Synopsis Imagining the Future of Climate Change by : Shelley Streeby

Download or read book Imagining the Future of Climate Change written by Shelley Streeby and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #NoDAPL : native American and indigenous science, fiction, and futurisms -- Climate refugees in the greenhouse world : archiving global warming with Octavia E. Butler -- Climate change as a world problem : shaping change in the wake of disaster