In these days when everything seems to be being questioned – sometimes honestly, other times with nearly palpable disingenuousness – the idea that someone would actually ask the question “why trust science?” is not particularly surprising. To those of us who have spent our lives studying one or more of the various disciplines of science, or who simply find ourselves naturally turning to science for answers to many of life’s challenges, both large and small, the question at first seems illogical. One might as well ask “why breath air?”

Naomi Oreskes, however, doesn’t see it that way, nor does she back down from a challenge. Rather than dismiss the question, or re-direct to something more easily answered, Prof. Oreskes decided to take it up head-on in her Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University. Her new book, Why Trust Science? is based on these lectures, as well as the critical responses to them by such respected scholars as Ottmar Edenhofer, Martin Kowarsch, Jon Krosnick, Marc Lange, and Susan Lindee.

And, for those who might like a little extra philosophy of science goodness for their listening pleasure, Prof. Oreskes recently sat for an interview with Colleen MacDonald on the Union of Concerned Scientists‘ Got Science? podcast to discuss the book and some of the ideas she presents in it.