Introductory notes

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'Review Hopos' aims is to strengthen critical voices in the HOPOS community through critical reviews of recently published monographs, edited volumes, and pamphlets.

Reviews will be published regularly, hopefully, one article per week.

If you have any suggestions (criticism, notes, remarks, or wants to see books reviewed here), please feel free to comment on the site.

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Volume 4, Issue 4: From method to attitude: science and pseudoscience

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  From method to attitude: science and pseudoscience   Lee McIntyre:  The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience . MIT Press, 2019. pp. 296. Hardcover ISBN  9780262039833     If something aspires for general interest and practical usage nowadays, the question of science, pseudoscience, and their relations are surely in frontline. When Lee McIntyre published his book (that was followed already by others, one of which will be reviewed here shortly) about  The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience , he could not think how its (even existential) relevance will grow day by day within a year. The global pandemic gave birth to new forms of science-denial, conspiracy theories, fraud, negligence, and mimicry of science – all of them presented new challenges, and old problems in new settings.             Demarcating science from pseudoscience was one of the major and enduring is sues of philosophy of science in the twen
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Volume 3, Issue 4: Vaccines and humanized medicine

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    Vaccines and humanized medicine   Maya J. Goldenberg,  Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021, pp. xii + 251. Hardcover ISBN  978-0-8229-4655-7.  $45.00     When Maya Goldenberg, philosopher at the University of Guelph, has started to write her book on  Vaccine Hesitancy , she did not have a clue that by the time of publication, it will be so actual. Many consider vaccines as the most effective preventing tool of the coronavirus pandemic, and though many countries are producing nice numbers, vaccines are still surrounded by uncertainty, misbeliefs, and mistrust. Goldenberg’s book will not change the world, of course, but her remarkable views and sop histicated approach will emerge from the literature.              In 1998, Andrew Wakefield published a study in the world’s oldest journal,  The Lancet  medical journal; he claimed that evidence was allegedly found about the relation between certain vaccines
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Volume 5, Issue 1: Not all evidence proves, but all that proves is evidence

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  Not all evidence proves, but all that proves is evidence   Karin Zachmann, Mariacarla Gadebusch Bondio, Saana Jukola, and Olga Sparschuch (eds.),  Evidence Contestation: Dealing with Dissent in Knowledge Societies . London and New York: Routledge, 2003, pp. xvi + 329. Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-032-21910-3.  OPEN ACCESS     There are many riddles that keep mankind in moving. Some have been with us since ancient times, others maybe just for a few days. Why people are unable to accept proven facts is probably one of the older ones. As well as how, when all the evidence and data have been lined up in favor of a certain point of view, why are people still able to act and believe contrary to it. The problem is perhaps similar to the ancient problem of weakness of will (akrasia) – if a person knows what is good for him, what is the right practice, why does he act contrary to it?   Evidence wars Recently, the tendency to fundamentally dispute, question, and discredit the evidence, data, consider
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