What I Read: Science and Human Values

Bronowski's "Science and Human Values" is a quick, compact little read. I finished it during a rest/recovery day over this vacation. (Introvert traveling means that you need an even mix of "busy" and "quiet" days.) If you follow Pharyngula,  you probably already saw the link. If you haven't read it yet (the whole thing is a free PDF), then it's worth taking the time to digest it.

I disagree with a few of Bronowski's points—there are parts that grossly mischaracterize (East) Asian culture and its effect on rigorous science, and I don't know if I hold with his epistemological claim about how science is the journey to find likenesses in disparate things—but the larger thesis is sound, and it's wonderfully written. Bronowski displays a broad knowledge of the humanities in addition to his science work; it's worth it just to "hear" a science writer quote Goethe in the original German.

Somehow Bronowski never came up in any of my philosophy classes, even though Karl Popper did. A new author to explore!