An argument that what makes science distinctive is its emphasis on evidence and scientists'
willingness to change theories on the basis of new evidence. Attacks on science have become
commonplace. Claims that climate change isn't settled science that evolution is only a theory
” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are
staples of some politicians' rhetorical repertoire. Defenders of science often point to its
discoveries (penicillin! relativity!) without explaining exactly why scientific claims are
superior. In this book Lee McIntyre argues that what distinguishes science from its rivals is
what he calls the scientific attitude”—caring about evidence and being willing to change
theories on the basis of new evidence. The history of science is littered with theories that
were scientific but turned out to be wrong the scientific attitude reveals why even a failed
theory can help us to understand what is special about science. McIntyre offers examples that
illustrate both scientific success (a reduction in childbed fever in the nineteenth century)
and failure (the flawed discovery” of cold fusion in the twentieth century). He describes the
transformation of medicine from a practice based largely on hunches into a science based on
evidence considers scientific fraud examines the positions of ideology-driven denialists
pseudoscientists and skeptics” who reject scientific findings and argues that social science
no less than natural science should embrace the scientific attitude. McIntyre argues that the
scientific attitude—the grounding of science in evidence—offers a uniquely powerful tool in the
defense of science.
