Abstract

Science is very successful in discovering the structure and history of the physical world, but its success is purchased by the modesty of its ambition. There is more to be told of the encounter with reality, including the nature of scientific inquiry itself, than can be gained from impersonal experience and experimental test. This book goes beyond science to consider the human context in which it operates and to pursue that wider understanding which we all seek. It looks to issues of meaning and value, intrinsic to scientific practice but excluded from science's consideration by its own self-denying ordinance. It raises the question of the significance of the deep mathematical intelligibility of the physical world and its anthropically fruitful history. It considers how we may find responsible ways to use the power that science places in human hands. Science is portrayed as an activity of human persons pursued within a convivial and truth-seeking community. This book neither over-values science (as if it were the only worthwhile source of knowledge) nor devalues it (as if it were to be treated with suspicion or not taken seriously). Beyond Science provides a considered and balanced account which firmly asserts science's place in human culture, maintained in mutually illuminating relationships with other aspects of that culture.