In this wide ranging review the manifold connections between science and the humanities are analysed and a strong plea is made for scientists of all disciplines to learn from the humanities. The review includes such subjects as communicating science, conception of truth, ignorance and knowledge, decision making, scholarship and education, organising research, the role of the media, the question of responsibility, the ethics of nuclear energy, ‘alternative’ scientists, the weighing of decisions and alternatives, and rhetoric, reaching the final conclusion that if the sciences and the humanities are to come closer, then they must continue to ‘talk to each other’.
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