This classic MUP text discusses the historical development of science, technology and medicine in Western Europe and North America from the Renaissance to the present. Combining theoretical discussion and empirical illustration, it redefines the geography of science, technology and medicine.
Our environment and our civilization are in crisis. But the wisdom to chart a new course is available to us from unexpected sources, including the sacred traditions of our ancestors. From the Polynesian technique of remote viewing to the formative causation theory of Rupert Sheldrake, Other Ways of Knowing examines perceptions and practices that challenge the narrow perspective of the West.
Seven Ways of Knowing is an examination of what we mean when we say we know something, and the extent and sureness of this knowledge. It starts with an analysis of our perception of material objects, the role of evolution, and the nature of space and time. A non-mathematical description of relativity and quantum theory is given in the opening chapters (with a more technical treatment in two appendices). Abstract knowledge, knowledge derived from reading and the media (second hand knowledge), and how we know other persons are the subjects of the next three chapters. These are followed by a chapter on how objectively we can distinguish good and evil and then an appraisal of whether there can be a rational belief in any religion. The book ends with a theory of perception, which offers the possibility of a coherent understanding of all the topics: it is compulsive and entirely original.
The creative world of a northern Native community is revealed in this innovative book. Once semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Dene Tha of northern Canada today live in government-built homes in the settlement of Chateh. Their lives are a distinct blend of old and new, in which more traditional forms of social control, healing, and praying entwine with services supplied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a nursing station, and a Roman Catholic church. Many older cultural beliefs and practices remain: ghosts still linger, reincarnating and sometimes stealing children's souls; dreams and visions are powerful shapers of actions; and personal visions and experiences are considered the sources of true knowledge.
In developing, then, a general outline of Kierkegaard's views, Piety provides the foundational material for future contextualizing and comparative scholarship.--R. W. Fischer, University of Illinois at Chicago "Choice"
This broad collection of accessible essays helps readers develop a fuller appreciation of the nature of science and scientific knowledge in general. The focus throughout is on the relationships in science between fact and theory, about the nature of scientific theory, and about the kinds of claims on truth that science makes. Arranges essays according to three essential aspects of scientific practice: Method, theory, and discovery. For scientists looking to broaden their general knowledge of basic scientific theory.
How might we think differently? This book is an attempt to respond to this question. Its contributors are all interested in non-standard modes of knowing. They are all more or less uneasy with the restrictions or the agendas implied by academic modes of knowing, and they have chosen to do this by working with, through, or against one important Western alternative - that of the baroque. Why the baroque? One answer is that the baroque made space for and fostered many forms of otherness. It involved knowing things differently, extravagantly, excessively, and in materially heterogeneous ways, and it apprehended that which is other and could not be caught in a cognitive or symbolic net. It also involved knowing in ways that did not gather into a single point and knew itself to be performative. As part of a great Western division between rationalist and non-rationalist modes of knowing, the baroque is therefore a possible resource for creating ways of knowing differently - a storehouse of possible alternative techniques. To say this is not to say that it is the right mode of knowing. The book's authors do not seek to create a 'baroque social science' whatever that might be, but instead work in a range of ways to explore how drawing on the 'resources of the baroque' can help us to think differently.
This textbook brings together both new and traditional research methods in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Research methods include interviews and observations, ethnography, grounded theory and analysis of digital traces of behavior. Readers will gain an understanding of the type of knowledge each method provides, its disciplinary roots and how each contributes to understanding users, user behavior and the context of use. The background context, clear explanations and sample exercises make this an ideal textbook for graduate students, as well as a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners. 'It is an impressive collection in terms of the level of detail and variety.' (M. Sasikumar, ACM Computing Reviews #CR144066)
"Despite the progress of the women's movement, many women still feel silenced in their families and schools. This moving and insightful bestseller, based on in-depth interviews with 135 women, explains"