LAUSR

Some manuscripts affect our field like the arrival of an alien spaceship (Kuhn’s Structure) or sound out like a call to join the revolution (Feyerabend’s Against Method ). Allan Franklin’s 2016 book exemplifies a different style of philosophy entirely. The contribution of this work is that of tending, stoking, nurturing—of keeping alive a tradition and of continuing the process of thinking through an important matter. What makes a good experiment? Franklin concludes: “I do not have an answer to the question” (296). He names Mendel’s experiments in plant hybridization as “the best experiments ever done” but suggests that “there is no simple algorithm for evaluating or ranking good experiments” (304, 306). At the end of the day, Franklin claims to leave readers “to make their own judgements” (306). In fact, he provides somewhat more in the way of an answer to the work’s guiding question. For Franklin, “methodological goodness” is a necessary condition for an experiment to be good, and adding “to scientific knowledge” or being “helpful in acquiring that knowledge” are further desiderata (297, 300–301). The aim of the book is to present the details of actual experiments so that the reader can see concretely in what such goodness consists. Reading Franklin’s book is not unlike being taught by a connoisseur to use a field guide, such as The Sibley Guide to Birds, to identify notable avian characteristics. “Attend to the silhouette, the flight pattern, and the field marks on the head and on the wing” an experienced birder might advise.