1 in Ireland; Philosophical work Paradigm Shift Paradigm Shift: How Expert Opinions Keep Changing on Life, the Universe and Everything (Imprint Academic UK September 2015) is a book by Cohen. It claims that scientific knowledge is less certain than it is usually portrayed. Cohen offers a number of examples to back up this claim, which he traces back to Thomas Kuhn, and the original theory of 'paradigm shifts' in 1962, in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. In this key social science text, Kuhn claims that the progress of scientific knowledge is not the steady accumulation of pieces of a great jigsaw but rather a haphazard, political affair involving periodic paradigm shifts in which much of the old certainties are abandoned in order to open up new approaches to understanding that scientists would never have considered valid before. The idea behind Cohen's book is to treat a broader sweep of issues than Kuhn does, from public health to climate change and high finance, as a series of 'case studies' which he argues illustrate both the radical insights Kuhn's theory brings, and conversely the error of assuming that science and knowledge generally is 'a very sensible and reassuringly solid sort of affair'. He advocates the 'separation of state and science'. Cohen argues information cascades can distort rational, scientific debate, with a particular focus on health issues. The book looks at the example of highly mediatised 'pandemic' alarms, and why they have turned out eventually to be little more than scares. Cow in the Field Thought Experiment Martin Cohen is well-known for having invented the famous 'cow-in-the-field' thought experiment in the spirit of Edmond Gettier's imaginary scenarios intended to explore the nature of knowledge. The Cow in the Field leads his book 101 Philosophy Problems including being on the cover of the second edition. However, numerous websites erroneously attribute the imaginary scenario directly to Gettier. Select bibliography 101 Philosophy Problems (1999, 2001, 2007 2013) Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations (2000) Political Philosophy from Plato to Mao (2001, 2008) 101 Ethical Dilemmas (2002, 2007) Wittgenstein's Beetle and Other Classic Thought Experiments (2004) No Holiday: 80 places you DON'T want to visit (2005) The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics (2006) Philosophical Tales (2008) Philosophy For Dummies, UK edition (2010) Mind Games: 31 Days to Rediscover Your Mind (2010) The Doomsday Machine: The High Price of Nuclear Energy, The World's Most Dangerous Fuel