Bernie Taylor’s following book review of The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science (2020) by Michael Strevens as printed in the October 2021 issue of the Journal of Geography (journal of the National Council for Geographic Education).
By Bernie Taylor | Bernie’s Blog
Social: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Academia
Published October 19, 2021
Few topics exist that are off limits to the scientific community. Paramount among these taboos is the legitimacy of the scientific method, as any such interrogation places libraries of research and ages of established theories into question. New York University Professor of Philosophy Michael Strevens describes how human behavior poses limits on scientific objectivity with The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science.
This tall order is best addressed during a crisis moment in the book with two luminaries from the field of physics on fundamentally different cosmic trajectories. In one corner, there is the challenger Albert Einstein with his General Theory of Relativity, which predicts whether massive bodies bend space and time around them. In the opposite corner is the old guard or prevailing paradigm, as represented by the then unchallenged work of Sir Isaac Newton on gravitational forces in the universe. Newton’s hypothesis posits why there is seemingly an order in the cosmos without the continual collision of stars and planets in real time.
In 1919, astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington shipped two teams and equipment to locations in northern Brazil and on an island off the coast of West Africa. In these places, they tested relativity versus gravity by recording how the sun bends light from different viewpoints during a solar eclipse. The British astronomer was intent on resolving the debate. Solar eclipse photographs from Brazil supported Newton but were slightly blurred and thus rejected. The clearer West African set of images favored Einstein. The young physicist’s ideas won the contest, a fundamental question in physics was experimentally tested, and science steamed forward. But wait, is that how science should be conducted?
Ignoring the flaws of Eddington’s study is one instance of the irrationality that created modern science which Strevens subtitles his book. Through the stories of Eddington and others, Strevens delves into fundamental questions for and against what we commonly conceive as the scientific method. What science is and how it truly functions by a range of researchers vary, according to Strevens. The author sets the stage in his introduction with, “Some scientists say that the essence of science is controlled or repeatable experiment, forgetting that experiments are of relatively little importance in cosmology or evolutionary biology. Some say advanced mathematical techniques are crucial, forgetting that the discoverers of genetics, for example, had no use for sophisticated math” (5). The scientific method, in other words, is not set in stone.
The topic conjures several questions for geographers to consider. Where do we go from here as practitioners, consumers, and educators of science? How does any existing scientific method or theory stand? Can a prevailing paradigm be fundamentally changed if it is the precept for existing understandings and emerging hypotheses?
All is not lost. Strevens suggests that science doesn’t need to be separated into static dogmatic or politically wavering camps. Eddington’s haphazard approach to data collection is not the only avenue to overturn a prevailing paradigm. The author probes these human behavioral conundrums and provides much for readers to contemplate regarding the relationship between scientists and their research. As a side note, Einstein’s theory has been independently reconfirmed during subsequent solar eclipse observations.
Through The Knowledge Machine, readers encounter the insights of a four-time published author and Guggenheim Fellow who has a firm grasp of his subject matter and the art of popular science storytelling. The philosopher doesn’t use examples from the geographic discipline, as this work is intended for a wider armchair audience. Nevertheless, his analyses of scientific methodologies are relevant to how geographers approach their field and science in general. I highly recommend The Knowledge Machine for any geographer who seeks to comprehend the drama of scientific discovery and convey this knowledge in teaching, research, and service.
Bernie Taylor is the author of Before Orion: Finding the Face of the Hero (2017).
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