released 6/19/2020

Historian of science Steven Shapin is the author of a number of thoughtful books and essays which serve to demystify the sciences and demonstrate how scientific pursuits are deeply human pursuits. In a way reminiscent of Michael Polanyi, Shapin’s historical sketches recover a view of scientific knowledge as personal knowledge, and thus not uniquely situated beyond all other forms of knowledge. In this Feature, he talks with Ken Myers about how the authority of “science” has been invoked carelessly by many political authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

18 minutes

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