| Summary: | Dogmatism in Science and Medicine (DSM) by Henry H. Bauer is about the corruption of modern science. For practicing scientists it is a disturbing book to read. Medicine is bitter, yet we put up with it to get better. DSM is bitter medicine intended to improve the health of science.
Overview of the Book
DSM describes “knowledge monopolies” (KMs) which can be thought of as Kuhnian paradigms that have been hijacked to carry out nonscientific agendas—political, economic, or governmental—with disregard for the substantive scientific content. KMs subvert science for nonscientific purposes, thereby suppressing alternative scientific interpretations that threaten the hegemony of the KM; hence the monopoly aspect. KMs are bad since they repress the hallmark activities of science: modification of ideas based on honest, open critique of evidence acquired and interpreted based on technical and theoretical competence.
Several chapters are dedicated to detailing the three main examples of KMs: HIV/AIDs (which Dr. Bauer studied in detail (Bauer 2007), anthropogenic global warming, and the Big Bang Theory. Chapter 4 provides shorter descriptions of thirteen other KMs including, for example, antidepressant drugs, migration to America, dinosaur extinction. Perhaps surprisingly to some, the Special Theory of Relativity is even included as a KM.
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