The Values Of Science: Oxford Amnesty Lectures 1997 (Oxford Amnesty Lectures Series) by Williams, Wes

Boulder, CO.: Westview Press, 1999. In this scholarly collection, introduced by Jonathan Rée, six eminent scientists and thinkers explore and explain how we can bridge the gap between the values of science and human values. Richard Dawkins, in a powerful critique of cultural relativism, restates the scientists’ belief that there is something almost sacred about nature’s universal truths. Environmental campaigner George Monbiot points out that however successful it may be as an objective description of nature’s ways, biotechnology is also a force in commerce and politics. Nicholas Humphrey denies the assumption that questions of morality are distinct from those of science. For him, science is itself a moral good and therefore a fundamental human right. John D. Barrow describes how scientific interest has recently shifted from simple and universal laws of nature of the kind formulated by Newton, to the study of complexity and chaos. Daniel C. Dennett, like Dawkins, gives a sturdy… Read More