Clinical Chemistry’s NIH Book Club Corner, NIH Biomedical Computing Interest Group Book Club Review of The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini.1
| Autor: | Gerald L. McLaughlin, Kara L. Kuntz-Melcavage, G. William Moore, Ellen J. Bicknell, Jim DeLeo, Rick Hansen, Alan T. Remaley |
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| Rok vydání: | 2009 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Clinical Chemistry. 55:1752-1753 |
| ISSN: | 1530-8561 0009-9147 |
| DOI: | 10.1373/clinchem.2009.130948 |
| Popis: | This clever and entertaining book provides a hundred philosophical puzzles that stimulate thought and dialogue on a variety of moral, social, and personal issues. Organized into brief chapters that each consist of a fictional scenario followed by discussion of the dilemma presented by the scenario, this book includes a wide range of thought-provoking topics. The instant reaction of many scientists to deem a philosophical book as beyond their field of interest would deprive them of considering some scenarios that are very much related to scientific interests. For example, the “Black and white and red all over” chapter discusses a color-blind scientist who is an expert in objective measures of the color red. The question of whether gaining color vision will alter the scientist’s impression of red is raised in the dialogue section, and the potential role of subjective impressions on the largely objective discipline of science is considered. Additional topics included in the book arise from science fiction scenarios, such as consideration of what traits will be most useful when populating a colony on Mars. The space colonization situation presented in “The veil of ignorance” chapter raises questions regarding societal organization, while “Bigger Brother” introduces a mind-reading computer that predicts a person’s actions, leading to a discussion of whether humans are nothing more than a machine-like mix of chemical reactions and electrical signals. Given the broad range of topics presented in the 100 “thought experiments” within this book, most readers will find at least one chapter captivates their interest, although it is more likely that a reader will have several favorite chapters. As revealed in the Commentaries section … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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