The role of science in society, along with its nature and development, are commonly misunderstood by students in the social sciences and humanities, and even those studying in the field. Fernando Espinoza shines light on these misconceptions to give readers a deeper understanding of science and its effect and influence upon society, through historical, philosophical, and sociological perspectives. This book incorporates the mandates by national organizations such as the National Research Council and National Science Teachers Association and is a useful text for required courses of general education majors and science courses for preservice teachers. This book contains the following chapters: (1) The Need for Scientific Literacy; (2) The Origins of Accomplishing Tasks: From Individual to Organized Efforts; (3) The Earliest Comprehensive and Rationalistic Syntheses; (4) Knowing, Doing and the Inevitability of Curiosity and Exploration; (5) From the Transcendent to the Temporal - A Transformative Experience; (6) From Qualities to Quantities: The Mathematization of Nature; (7) Internalizing Naturalistic Explanations: Benefit or Threat?; (8) Dispensing with Philosophy and Entertaining Limits to Human Knowledge; (9) Scientifically Speaking, We Know a Lot --or Do We?; (10) The Need for a Context; (11) The Rightful Place of Science in Society; and (12) Concluding Reflections. Appendices, Notes, and an index are also included.