Tainted : how philosophy of science can expose bad science / Kristin Shrader-Frechette.

Electronic resource.

Speaking truth to power: uncovering flawed methods, protecting lives and welfare. Part I. Conceptual and logical analysis. Discovering dump dangers: unearthing hazards in hydrogeology -- Hormesis harms: the emperor has no biochemistry clothes -- Trading lives for money: compensating wage differentials in economics. Part II. Heuristic analysis and developing hypotheses. Learning from analogy: extrapolating from animal data in toxicology -- Conjectures and conflict: a thought experiment in physics -- Being a disease detective: discovering causes in epidemiology -- Why statistics is slippery: easy algorithms fail in biology. Part III. Methodological analysis and justifying hypotheses. Releasing radioactivity: hypothesis-prediction in hydrology -- Protecting Florida panthers: historical-comparativist methods in zoology -- Cracking case studies: why they work in sciences such as ecology -- Uncovering cover-up: inference to the best explanation in medicine. Part IV. Values analysis and scientific uncertainty. Value judgements can kill: expected-utility rules in decision theory -- Understanding uncertainty: false negatives in quantitative risk analysis -- Where we go from here: making philosophy of science practical.

This is the first book on practical philosophy of science and how to practically evaluate scientific findings that have life-and-death consequences. Showing how to uncover scores of scientific flaws -- typically used by special interests who try to justify their deadly pollution -- this book aims to liberate the many potential victims of environmentally-induced disease and death.

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