Understanding Scientific Reasoning

"Ronald N. Giere (Ph.D., Cornell University) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota and a former Director of the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Minnesota. In addition to many papers in the philosophy of science, he is the author of UNDERSTANDING SCIENTIFIC REASONING (4th ed 1997); EXPLAINING SCIENCE: A COGNITIVE APPROACH (1988); and SCIENCE WITHOUT LAWS (1999). He has also edited several volumes of papers in the philosophy of science, including, most recently, "Cognitive Models of Science" (1992) and "Origins of Logical Empiricism" (1996). Professor Giere is a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science, a long-time member of the editorial board of the journal "Philosophy of Science," and a past president of the Philosophy of Science Association. His current research focuses on scientific cognition as a form of distributed cognition and on the perspectival nature of scientific knowledge."

UNDERSTANDING SCIENTIFIC REASONING develops critical reasoning skills and works with students to improve their level of scientific and technological literacy. Giere teaches students how to understand and critically evaluate scientific information they encounter in popular and professional media. With its focus on science, Understanding Scientific Reasoning helps students learn how to examine scientific reports with a reasonable degree of sophistication. Giere explains how to reason through case studies using the same informal logic skills employed by scientists. Students sharpen their abilities to analyze a complex series of propositions and hypotheses in the same manner as scientists.