Preface 



? f H^ 



HAT IS SCIENCE? That question 

 seldom emerges when scientists talk with each other. Most scientists 

 believe they know quite well what science is and, since they all 

 share much the same fundamental presuppositions, their beliefs 

 rarely broach a subject for debate. However, the challenging ex- 

 perience of teaching students who do not intend to become scientists 

 —students willing to doubt fundamental presuppositions to which 

 they feel no commitment— has led me to a critical re-examination of 

 beliefs I once held unquestionable. In this book I have tried to ex- 

 plain the lines of reasoning and the kinds of considerations that have 

 led to what seems to me now a more tenable set of beliefs. Perhaps 

 this analysis will have some value for others (both students and 

 teachers ) who— having adopted the familiar textbook stereotype— are 

 yet not fully satisfied with this orthodox answer to the question: 

 "What is science?" I do not deceive myself that my answer will prove 

 acceptable to everybody, but I do believe that the reader who joins 

 me in exploring the paths here laid out will come at least to a better 

 understanding of the full scope of^that not-so-simple question. He 

 will, I hope, find that I have cleared a way for him through two 

 major difficulties that ordinarily block the road to understanding. 



First: I have sought everywhere to deal with "real" science, as it 

 has been created and appraised by "real" scientists. The "ideal" sci- 

 ence analyzed in neat philosophic syllogisms may be attractive in its 

 straightforwardness, but it is lamentably "ideal" in that nothing like 



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