EP106 Michael Strevens on the Irrational History of Science

Michael Stevens talks to Jim about some of the ideas & stories in his book, The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science... Michael Stevens talks to Jim about some of the ideas & stories in his book, The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science: what the great method debate is & how Popper & Kuhn added to the topic, falsification & scientific progress, the messy history of testing Einstein's theories, understanding the theoretical cohort, Michael's iron rule, science vs natural philosophy, Francis Bacon's view on science, scientific convergence, the Tychonic principal, theory vs experimentation, Newton's trendsetting approach to science, the war against beauty in science, why science was born in western Europe, and much more. Episode Transcript Mentions & Recommendations Michael's Website Michael's book, The Knowledge Machine Michael Strevens is Professor of Philosophy at New York University, where since 2004 he has taught and thought about the nature of science, complex systems, the psychology of philosophy, the role of physical intuition in scientific discovery, and the nature of explanation and understanding, among other things. He was born and raised in New Zealand, graduated with a PhD in philosophy from Rutgers University, and has previously taught at Iowa State University and Stanford University. In 2017, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in New York City.