Knowledge and Power: Toward a Political Philosophy of Science - Softcover

"This is the best, most elegant work I have seen that will bring readers up to speed on a variety of connected issues-realism, anti-realism, the relation between the natural and the human sciences-currently being debated in and beyond philosophy. It is also an original weaving together of Kuhn, Heidegger, feminist epistemology, and sociology of science which sets the stage for rethinking the philosophy of science."-David R. Hiley, Auburn University "An important work. Very few philosophers of science have even tried to connect the scientific community's methods of inquiry with the social forces utilizing scientific knowledge. Rouse begins to chart essential new directions for political philosophy and for the social studies of science."-Edward Woodhouse, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute "In a field currently beset by post-positives, anti-realists, and other philosophical downers, this book charts a hopeful course for the philosophy of science toward constructive social critique. In no other book will the reader be guided so gracefully and so purposefully through the thickets of continental social theory, the technicalities of analytic philosophy of science, and the provocative ethnographies of sociologists of science."-Steve Fuller, Executive Editor, Social Epistemology "Knowledge and Power is a work of quite wide interest in current discussions of philosophy and culture. It is a fine humanistic work that manifests real originality."-Ian Hacking, University of Toronto

This lucidly written book examines the social and political significance of the natural sciences through a detailed and original account of science as an interpretive social practice.