The One Culture?: A Conversation about Science

Does science have anything to fear from its critics? The reader of the surprisingly clear and straightforward collection The One Culture? A Conversation About Science probably won't think so after absorbing its range of opinions. Not to say that such criticism is toothless, overly narrow, or meaningless outside the academic context--far from it. The editors gathered 15 scientists and sociologists well known for their passionate but civil engagement in the science wars of the 1990s and asked them for position papers, responses, and rebuttals. The result is a valuable contribution to the field of science studies.

The problem of the nature of science, of course, isn't as simple as the pundits would imagine; it's neither a barbarians-at-the-gates assault on a precious institution nor a noble speaking of truth to power. The writers tend to agree with each other far more often than not, and their differences are calmly but firmly dissected. From Allen Sokal, the smart-aleck scientist who hoaxed the cultural studies journal Social Theory, to highly regarded historian of science Peter Dear, the breadth of interest and analysis is staggering. Inevitably, though, the potential reader will worry that such a book will be rendered unreadable by two sets of mutually exclusive jargon. It isn't. Though the ideas and debate will stretch the brains of practically every reader, The One Culture? should provoke no more dictionary trips than any other well-written set of essays. The topic at hand, of vital importance to us all, deserves more light and less heat; fortunately, editors Jay Labinger and H.M. Collins have delivered illumination. --Rob Lightner