The sciences are the subject of fierce debate about their results, their methods and their practices. This reflects their social significance, but the dispute is currently taking on a problematic form. Against science denialism, its defenders are erecting an ideal that immunises science against criticism, conceals its diversity and plays into the hands of science deniers, as it does not correspond to any actually existing research practice. In his new book, Frieder Vogelmann examines the spontaneous ideas we have about “science” and confronts them with the current state of the debate in philosophy of science. In doing so, he develops a realistic understanding of scientific practices that contradicts both the uncritical idealisation and the dangerous denial of scientific results.