Selectivity And Discord

That experimentalists select only their 'good data' and eventually accept only one of several discordant experimental results have been central to the claim that physics and other sciences are socially constructed. In this impressive book, Allan Franklin tackles these two problems head on, demonstrating persuasively that physics is at root a rationally constructed science.

* Roger H. Stuewer, University of Minnesota *

No one has done more than Allan Franklin to show how the intricacies of experimental reasoning in physics provide safeguards against being misled by individual experimental results.

* George E. Smith, Tufts University *

Franklin is one of a very small number of people who have both the knowledge needed to understand complicated experiments in physics and the skill needed to explain to a nonprofessional audience how the experiments work. . . . A welcome counterweight to postmodernist interpretations of science.

* John Earman, University of Pittsburgh *

Accessible to anyone with a college-level education in physics, this lucid and persuasive book collects Franklin's previously published investigations on the epistemology of experiment and is a 'must read' for either students or professionals with an interest in the history and philosophy of science.

* Philosophy in Review *

All of the cases Franklin considers are presented with a wealth of clear, relevant, and interesting experimental detail.

* American Journal of Physics *

A valuable addition to the literature on scientific experiments and their role in justifying theoretical hypotheses. I recommend it.

* ISIS