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Against the Tide. A Critical Review by Scientists of How Physics and Astronomy Get Done

López Corredoira, Martín and Castro Perelman, Carlos and Campanario, Juan Miguel and Martin, Brian and Kundt, Wolfgang and Herndon, J. Marvin and Apostol, Marian and Arp, Halton C. and Van Flandern, Tom and Kirilyuk, Andrei P. and Bauer, Henry H. (2008) Against the Tide. A Critical Review by Scientists of How Physics and Astronomy Get Done.

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Abstract

Nobody should have a monopoly of the truth in this universe. The censorship and suppression of challenging ideas against the tide of mainstream research, the blacklisting of scientists, for instance, is neither the best way to do and filter science, nor to promote progress in the human knowledge. The removal of good and novel ideas from the scientific stage is very detrimental to the pursuit of the truth. There are instances in which a mere unqualified belief can occasionally be converted into a generally accepted scientific theory through the screening action of refereed literature and meetings planned by the scientific organizing committees and through the distribution of funds controlled by "club opinions". It leads to unitary paradigms and unitary thinking not necessarily associated to the unique truth. This is the topic of this book: to critically analyze the problems of the official (and sometimes illicit) mechanisms under which current science (physics and astronomy in particular) is being administered and filtered today, along with the onerous consequences these mechanisms have on all of us. The authors, all of them professional researchers, reveal a pessimistic view of the miseries of the actual system, while a glimmer of hope remains in the "leitmotiv" claim towards the freedom in doing research and attaining an acceptable level of ethics in science.

Item Type:Other
Additional Information:PDF, 188 pages, 13 chapters. Full version (14 chapters) published at: 2008, M. López Corredoira, C. Castro Perelman (Eds.), Universal Publishers, Boca Raton (Florida, USA), see http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1599429934
Subjects:Electronic Publishing > Archives
Computer Science > Complexity Theory
Philosophy > Philosophy of Science
Philosophy > Epistemology
Electronic Publishing > Peer Review
ID Code:6096
Deposited By: Kirilyuk, Andrei
Deposited On:13 Jun 2008 00:09
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:57

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