898 results for "Evolution"

Psychoanalytic pioneers

Franz Alexander,Samuel Eisenstein,Martin Grotjahn
Psychoanalytic Pioneers is a comprehensive history of psychoanalysis as seen through the lives and the works of its most eminent teachers, thinkers, and clinicians. It is also a definitive portrait of the atmosphere in which psychoanalytic creativity has emerged and flourished. Going beyond mere biographical description, the contributors elucidate the contributions of various psychoanalysts to the evolution of psychoanalytic thought, and evaluate their roles in the development of psychoanalysis as a science, as a method of investigation, as a treatment technique, and as an organization. The editors have assembled profiles of Karl Abraham, Sandor Ferenczi, Otto Rank, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Ernest Jones, Paul Federn, Oskar Pfister, Harms Sachs, A.A. Brill, Sandor Rado, Theodor Reik, Melanie Klein, Otto Fenichel, Karen Horney, Heinz Hartmann, Ernst Kris, and twenty-four other pioneers, whose influence on psychoanalysis reverberates to this day. In a new introduction, Eisenstein maintains that while man and his unconscious have not changed much since Freud's time, today psychoanalysis is full of many different clinical and theoretical viewpoints. Among the ideas being debated are object theory, drive theory, the oedipal concept, intersubjectivity, and self-psychology. Eisenstein also discusses the contributions of psychohistory, a recent and significant development in psychoanalysis in which psychological study is applied to historical periods and personalities. Psychoanalytic Pioneers will be an important addition to the libraries of psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, historians, and anyone interested in the influence of psychoanalysis in our lives.
Transaction Publishers 1995 616 pages

Interpreting Ethiopia Observations of Five Decades

Donald N. Levine
About the Book: In this remarkable collection, internationally renowned Ethiopianist Donald Levine has assembled interpretive vignettes-some never before published-spanning more than half a century. Thanks to his unique experiences living among peasants of Northern Shoa, visiting historic monasteries, and enjoying personal connections with modernizing Ethiopians from all political viewpoints, these essays offer acute glimpses into everything from local life-worlds to historic perspectives spanning two millennia. Catching diverse ways in which Ethiopians construct their own narratives is one of the distinctive features of this work. This includes stunning interpretations of Ethiopia's national epic, Kibre Negest; different ways in which Oromos construct their own narratives; and the clash of perspectives among protagonists in the 2005 political crisis, between the ruling party and the main opposition party at that time. The book also includes important political documents such as Levine's first-hand account of the December 1960 coup; his 1976 testimony for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Africa concerning the Derg; and his thoughtful plea regarding the 1993 Eritrean referendum. The book climaxes with broad interpretive sketches, including the renowned essay on Ethiopia and Japan in comparative civilizational perspective, and Levine's revised interpretation of the evolution of Ethiopia as a historic multi-ethnic society. In addition to historic and cultural forays, Interpreting Ethiopia includes a number of chapters devoted to current domestic challenges, such as the problem of chronic hunger and overpopulation; the problems posed by the exponential growth of an Ethiopian Diaspora after 1974; and the obstacles and opportunities faced by Ethiopians in their effort to create a national public. Reviews: Professor Levine's essays savor like a fine cup of Ethiopian coffee. It is a blend of the earthy taste of ethnography, the subtle aroma of social theory, and the spices of history! -Eloi Ficquet, co-editor of Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia: Monarchy, Revolution and the Legacy of Meles Zenawi The breadth, depth and commitment of Levine's work on Ethiopia spanning fifty years has finally been woven together in this unique and inspiring collection that links profound insights across disciplines from anthropology and archaeology through sociology to history, political science and peace-making. Interpreting Ethiopia is required reading for anyone interested in Ethiopian studies. -Alula Pankhurst, co-editor of Moving People: Displacement, Development and the State in Ethiopia and Country Director of Young Lives Ethiopia This outstanding collection of work by Donald Levine from 1959 through 2014 demonstrates why he is unquestionably one of the world's leading scholars on Ethiopia. -David Shinn, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University and the Former United States Ambassador to Ethiopia About the Author: DONALD N. LEVINE, is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Sociology and former dean of the College at the University of Chicago. For nearly half a century he has been devoted to Ethiopia-as a scholar, in university teaching, in providing expert assistance to various government bodies, and in community service on behalf of Ethiopians at home and abroad. Levine's publications on Ethiopia include dozens of articles, parts of The Flight from Ambiguity: Essays in Social and Cultural Theory (1985), and two books, Wax and Gold: Tradition and Innovation in Ethiopian Culture (1965), now reprinted by Tsehai Publishers and Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution of a Multiethnic Society (1974), a second edition of which, with a new preface was published, in 2001.
Tsehai Publishers 2014 526 pages

Before The Bible The Common Background Of Greek And Hebrew Civilizations

Cyrus Herzl Gordon
Before The The Common Background Of Greek And Hebrew Civilizations is a book written by Cyrus Herzl Gordon that explores the similarities and differences between the ancient Greek and Hebrew civilizations. The author argues that both civilizations shared a common cultural background that influenced their development, and that this common background can be traced back to the ancient Near East. The book covers a wide range of topics, including the origins of writing, the development of religion, the emergence of law and government, and the evolution of art and literature. Through a detailed analysis of archaeological evidence and historical documents, Gordon provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural and intellectual achievements of these two ancient civilizations. The book is aimed at scholars and students of ancient history, as well as anyone interested in the roots of Western civilization.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
Literary Licensing, LLC 2013-07 334 pages

The joy of playing, the joy of thinking: conversations about art and performance

Rosen, Charles
"The Joy of Playing, the Joy of Thinking is a masterclass for music lovers. In interviews originally conducted and published in French, Rosen's friend Catherine Temerson asks carefully crafted questions to elicit his insights on the evolution of music-not to mention painting, theater, science, and modernism. Rosen touches on the usefulness of aesthetic reflection, the pleasure of overcoming stage fright, and the drama of conquering a technically difficult passage. He tells vivid stories on composers from Chopin and Wagner to Stravinsky and Elliott Carter. In Temerson's questions and Rosen's responses arise conundrums both practical and metaphysical. Is it possible to understand a work without analyzing it? Does music exist if it isn't played? Rosen takes readers to the heart of the musical matter. 'Music is a way of instructing the soul, making it more sensitive,' he says, 'but it is useful only insofar as it is pleasurable. This pleasure is manifest to anyone who experiences music as an inexorable need of body and mind.'"--
The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2020 138 pages

Barbarism and civilization: a history of Europe in our time

Wasserstein, Bernard
"Here is the definitive history of contemporary Europe, a controversial but authoritative and lively narrative that is destined to become the standard account of the period from 1914 to the present. In this important new book, University of Chicago historian Bernard Wasserstein offers the first serious, full-length history of a century of convulsive change. It is a history of barbarism and civilization, of cruelty and tenderness, of technological achievement and environmental blight, of imperial expansion and withdrawal, of authoritarian repression and of individualism resurgent. Wasserstein provides both a narrative of the main contours of the political, diplomatic, and military history and an analysis of the underpinnings of demographic, economic, and social developments. Most notably, the book explores the evolution of values and sensibilities in a period when, for the first time, God disappeared as a living presence in the minds of most Europeans. Wasserstein argues that barbarism and civilization were not polar opposites: rather they marched hand in hand. Twentieth-century Europe saw incontestable improvements in living conditions for most inhabitants of the continent: average life span was extended by more than half; real incomes increased dramatically; illiteracy was all but eliminated; women, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals advanced closer to equality of respect and opportunity. Yet the century also witnessed some of the most brutish episodes in the recorded history of our species. Hence Wasserstein's conclusion that "greed, selfishness, lies, and cruelty are the stuff of the history of Europe in our time." Drawing on the latest scholarly findings,including recent disclosures of intelligence materials and archival revelations that followed the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, Wasserstein captures the essence of contemporary European history in an engaging narrative that is by turns grim, humorous, surprising, and enlightening." -- Publisher.
Oxford University Press 2007 901 pages

Race and slavery in the Middle East: an historical enquiry

Lewis, Bernard
From before the days of Moses up through the 1960s, slavery was a fact of life in the Middle East. Pagans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims bought and sold at the slave markets for millennia, trading the human plunder of wars and slave raids that reached from the Russian steppes to the African jungles. But if the Middle East was one of the last regions to renounce slavery, how do we account for its--and especially Islam's--image of racial harmony? How did these long years of slavery affect racial relations? In Race and Slavery in the Middle East, Bernard Lewis explores these questions and others, examining the history of slavery in law, social thought, and practice over the last two millennia. With 24 rare and intriguing full-color illustrations, this fascinating study describes the Middle East's culture of slavery and the evolution of racial prejudice. Lewis demonstrates how nineteenth century Europeans mythologized the region as a racial utopia in debating American slavery. Islam, in fact, clearly teaches non-discrimination, but Lewis shows that prejudice often won out over pious sentiments, as he examines how Africans were treated, depicted, and thought of from antiquity to the twentieth century. "If my color were pink, women would love me/But the Lord has marred me with blackness," lamented a black slave poet in Arabia over a millennium ago--and Lewis deftly draws from these lines and others the nuances of racial relations over time. Islam, he finds, restricted enslavement and greatly improved the lot of slaves--who included, until the early twentieth century, some whites--while blacks occasionally rose to power and renown. But abuses ring throughout the written and visual record, from the horrors of capture to the castration and high mortality which, along with other causes, have left few blacks in many Middle Eastern lands, despite centuries of importing African slaves. Race and Slavery in the Middle East illuminates the legacy of slavery in the region where it lasted longest, from the days of warrior slaves and palace eunuchs and concubines to the final drive for abolition. Illustrated with outstanding reproductions of striking artwork, it casts a new light on this critical part of the world, and on the nature and interrelation of slavery and racial prejudice.
Oxford University Press 1990-08-02 184 pages

Stalin Against the Jews

Vaksberg, Arkady
The first full-scale account of Joseph Stalin's personal vendetta against Soviet Jews. Drawing on newly opened archives and on his own experiences in the USSR of the early 1950s, the investigative journalist-lawyer Arkady Vaksberg reveals the genesis and evolution of the Communist leader's malevolent campaign - and the extraordinary cunning and shrewdness of his tactics. He shows us Stalin prosecuting prominent Jews in the notorious trials of the 1930s while appointing Jews as commanders of eleven out of twelve Gulags. We see the "Man of Steel" awarding the Order of Lenin to a celebrated Jew every time he launches a new anti-Semitic assault - and choosing a Jew, the infinitely hypocritical and sadistic Lazar Kaganovich, as his protege and chief hatchet-man. All this, while thousands of innocent Jewish men and women across the Soviet Union are being stripped of their jobs and property . . . arbitrarily arrested . . . summarily shot. Vaksberg also tells of the trumped-up trial of Soviet Jewish diplomats that was ultimately abandoned after Hitler's invasion; the curious life, and death, of the Jewish Antifascist Committee; the state-ordered murder of the great actor-director Solomon Mikhoels; the plan to deport the entire Soviet Jewish population to Siberia; how Ilya Ehrenburg finally abandoned his role as a "house Jew" and dared to criticize Stalin's policies; and the infamous "Doctor's Plot" just before the dictator's death. A fascinating, richly documented, and profoundly shocking work of twentieth-century history.
Random House Value Publishing 1997-06-17

Ludwig Wittgenstein: philosophy in an age of airplanes

Gottlieb, Anthony
"According to the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), philosophy is a 'battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.' This audacious idea changed the way many of its practitioners saw their subject. In the first biography of Wittgenstein in more than three decades, Anthony Gottlieb evaluates this revolutionary idea, explaining the evolution of Wittgenstein's thought and his place in the history of philosophy. Wittgenstein was born into an immensely rich Viennese family but yearned to live a simple life, and he gave away his inheritance. After studying with Bertrand Russell in Cambridge, he wrote his famous Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus while serving in World War I. He then took several positions as a primary-school teacher in rural Austria before returning as a fellow to Cambridge, where a cult-like following developed around him. Wittgenstein worked not only as a philosopher and schoolteacher, but also as an aeronautical engineer in Manchester and as an architect in Vienna. Gottlieb's meticulously researched book traces the itinerant and troubled life of Wittgenstein, the development of his influential ideas, and the Viennese intellectual milieu and family background that shaped him."--from the inside front flap.
Yale University Press 2025-10-21 209 pages

The PLO: the struggle within : towards an independent Palestinian state

Gresh, Alain
'The PLO: The Struggle Within' is a comprehensive and up-to-date history of the PLO and the development of Palestinian political thinking. Based on access to the PLO's own documents and numerous interviews with the readers of its various groups and factions, the author recounts the major debates that have taken place within the movement over the past two decades. Alain Gresh illustrates how the PLO has made the difficult transition from the original idea of the destruction of the state of Israel to the current notion of recovering at least some part of occupied Palestine and creating there a separate and independent Palestinian State alongside Israel. The breakdown of Palestinian power in Lebanon following the Israeli invasion, Arafat's clash with Syria, the siege of the refugee camps and the attempt to create a new united Palestinian strategy for the next decade are crucial elements in the evolution of the Middle East conflict. In this updated and revised second edition, Gresh covers the impact of these changes and draws out their implications for the final decade of this century.
Zed Books 1988 270 pages

Mixing races: from scientific racism to modern evolutionary ideas

Farber, Paul Lawrence
This book explores changing American views of race mixing in the twentieth century, showing how new scientific ideas transformed accepted notions of race and how those ideas played out on college campuses in the 1960s. In the 1930s, it was not unusual for medical experts to caution against miscegenation, or race mixing, espousing the common opinion that it would produce biologically dysfunctional offspring. By the 1960s the scientific community roundly refuted this theory. The author traces this revolutionary shift in scientific thought, explaining how developments in modern population biology, genetics, and anthropology proved that opposition to race mixing was a social prejudice with no justification in scientific knowledge. In the 1960s, this new knowledge helped to change attitudes towards race and discrimination, especially among college students. Their embrace of social integration caused tension on campuses across the country. Students rebelled against administrative interference in their private lives, and university regulations against interracial dating became a flashpoint in the campus revolts that revolutionized American educational institutions. The author's provocative study is a personal one, featuring interviews with mixed-race couples and stories from the author's student years at the University of Pittsburgh. As such, this book offers a unique perspective on how contentious debates taking place on college campuses reflected shifts in race relations in the larger society. -- from Back Cover
Johns Hopkins University Press 2011-02-01 120 pages

The last writings of Thomas S. Kuhn: incommensurability in science

Kuhn, Thomas S.
"This book contains the text of Thomas Kuhn's unfinished book, The Plurality of Worlds: An Evolutionary Theory of Scientific Development, which Kuhn himself described as "a return to the central claims of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and the problems that it raised but did not resolve." The Plurality of Worlds is preceded by two related texts that Kuhn publicly delivered but never published in English: his paper "Scientific Knowledge as a Historical Product" and his Shearman Memorial Lectures, "The Presence of Past Science." The book opens with an introduction by the editor that describes the origins and structure of The Plurality of Worlds, and sheds light on its central philosophical problems. Kuhn's aims in his last writings are bold. He sets out to develop an empirically grounded theory of meaning that would allow him to make sense of both the possibility of historical understanding and the inevitability of incommensurability between past and present science. Moreover, he intends to show that incommensurability is fully compatible with a robust notion of a real world that science investigates, with the rationality of scientific belief change, and with the idea that scientific development is progressive. This is a must-read follow-up to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, one of the most important books of the twentieth century"--
University of Chicago Press 2022-11-30 302 pages

The nature of rationality

Nozick, Robert
Repeatedly and successfully, the celebrated Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick has reached out to a broad audience beyond the confines of his discipline, addressing ethical and social problems that matter to every thoughtful person. Here Nozick continues his search for the connections between philosophy and "ordinary" experience. In the lively and accessible style that his readers have come to expect, he offers a bold theory of rationality, the one characteristic deemed to fix humanity's "specialness." What are principles for? asks Nozick. We could act simply on whim, or maximize our self-interest and recommend that others do the same. As Nozick explores rationality of decision and rationality of belief, he shows how principles actually function in our day-to-day thinking and in our efforts to live peacefully and productively with one another. In Nozick's view, misconceptions of rationality have resulted in many intractable philosophical problems. For example, the Kantian attempt to make principled behavior the sole ultimate standard of conduct extends rationality beyond its bounds. In this provocative volume, Nozick reformulates current decision theory to include the symbolic meaning of actions in areas from controlling impulses to fighting society's war against drugs. The author proposes a new rule of rational decision, "maximizing decision-value," which is a weighted sum of causal, evidential, and symbolic utility. In a particularly fascinating section of the book he traces the implications of this rule for the famous Prisoner's Dilemma and for Newcomb's Problem. Rationality of belief, according to Nozick, involves two aspects: support by reasons that make the belief credible, and generation by a process that reliably produces true beliefs. A new evolutionary account explains how some factual connections are instilled in us as seemingly self-evident, thus reversing the direction of Kant's "Copernican Revolution." Proposing a theory of rational belief that includes both the intellectual credibility of the belief and the practical consequences of believing it, Nozick also provides a fresh resolution of the "lottery paradox." Finally, Nozick explores the scope and limits of instrumental rationality, or the effective and efficient pursuit of given goals, and suggests some new conditions on the rationality of goals. Throughout, the book combines daring speculations with detailed investigations to portray the nature and status of rationality and the essential role that imagination plays in this singular human aptitude.
Princeton University Press 1993 226 pages

The revolution in strategic affairs

Freedman, Lawrence
Rapid developments in information technology and precision weaponry are said to herald a 'revolution in military affairs' (RMA), making possible quick and decisive victories with minimal casualties and collateral damage. But has such a revolution taken place? The issues that drive conflict will persist, and many of the technical advances associated with the RMA will not necessarily produce a transformation in the nature of warfare. The end of the Cold War has highlighted another revolution one in political affairs. Major powers appear less likely to go to war with one another than they are to intervene in conflicts involving weak states, with potential opponents including militia groups, drug cartels and terrorists. RMA technology may be less suited to conflicts such as these. If the cumulative effect of these changes has produced a revolution, it is a revolution in strategic, as much as military, affairs. This paper argues that: the RMA is the practical expression of a 'Western Way of Warfare', the key features of which are: professional armed forces; intolerance of casualties; and intolerance of collateral damage the key technological and conceptual components of the RMA were in place by the early 1970s. The trend has therefore been evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. The significant difference is in the new political setting of the end of the Cold War, and the revolution in perceptions of Western particularly US conventional military strength brought about by the Gulf War of 1991 the Gulf conflict could mark the start of a true 'revolution' if future battles offer similar opportunities to exploit the RMA's technology. However, since the US and its allies appear unbeatable when fighting on their own terms, future opponents will fight differently the West will therefore face opponents who will follow strategies that contradict the Western Way of Warfare. They will avoid pitched battles, will exploit the West's reluctance to inflict civilian suffering, and will target their opponent's domestic political base, as much as its forward troops. The problem for the West is not how to prevail, but how to do so in an acceptable manner. The more warfare becomes entwined with civilian activity, the more difficult it is to respond with the type of decisive and overwhelming military means embodied in the RMA. The RMA does not create a situation in which information is the only commodity at stake, and so does not offer the prospect of a 'virtual war'. The new circumstances and capabilities do not prescribe one strategy, but extend the range of strategies available. The issue underlying the RMA is the ability of Western countries, in particular the US, to follow a line geared to their own interests and capabilities.
Oxford University Press for the International Institute for Strategic Studies 1998 87 pages

The politics of women's biology

Hubbard, Ruth
For a range of historical and contemporary issues in eugenics, human evolution, and procreative technology, Ruth Hubbard explains why scientific descriptions and choices should not generalize human, or female, attributes without acknowledging the realities of people's lives. Sophisticated in its analysis, yet not at all technical in its exposition, this book will find a wide readership among feminists, the general public, and the scientific community.
Rutgers University Press 1990 229 pages

Science and religion: are they compatible?

Paul Kurtz
In recent years a noticeable trend toward harmonizing the distinct worldviews of science and religion has become increasingly popular. Despite marked public interest, many leading scientists remain skeptical that there is much common ground between scientific knowledge and religious belief. Indeed, they are often antagonistic. Can an accommodation be reached after centuries of conflict?In this stimulating collection of articles on the subject, Paul Kurtz, with the assistance of Barry Karr and Ranjit Sandhu, have assembled the thoughts of scientists from various disciplines. Among the distinguished contributors are Sir Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and numerous other works of science fiction); Nobel Prize Laureate Steven Weinberg (professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin); Neil deGrasse Tyson (Princeton University astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium); James Lovelock (creator of the Gaia hypothesis); Kendrick Frazier (editor of the Skeptical Inquirer); Steven Pinker (professor of psychology at MIT); Richard Dawkins (zoologist at Oxford University); Eugenie Scott (physical anthropologist and executive director of the National Center for Science Education); Owen Gingerich (professor of astronomy at Harvard University); Martin Gardner (prolific popular science writer); the late Richard Feynman (Nobel Prize-winning physicist) and Stephen Jay Gould (professor of geology at Harvard University); and many other eminent scientists and scholars.Among the topics discussed are the Big Bang and the origin of the universe, intelligent design and creationism versus evolution, the nature of the "soul," near-death experiences, communication with the dead, why people do or do not believe in God, and the relationship between religion and ethics.
Prometheus Books 2003-04 366 pages

The origins of sex: three billion years of genetic recombination

Margulis, Lynn
A fascinating and detailed examination of the evolution--and occasional devolution--of sexuality in microorganisms and more complex forms of life. Margulis and Sagan trace sex from its inauspicious beginnings in bacteria threatened by ultraviolet radiation to its intimate relation with the origin of mitotic division of nucleated cells. The origin of meiotic sex through cannibalism followed by centriole reproductive tardiness and the connection of cell symbiosis to sex and differentiation are explored. "The authors have not only given us a new and exiting scenario for the evolution of sex, but have also provided us with critical ways in which we can test their hypotheses. . . . This is a stimulating book that is sure to invoke criticism and discussion; I strongly recommend it."-- Symbiosis "The book is well organized and well written, leading the reader from one thought to another almost effortlessly. Background information is presented to aid those of us who are not experts in this field, and a glossary is appended. The book could be used at all levels of study, from interested undergraduates in general biology though postdoctoral students of genetics and evolution. I recommend this thought-provoking book to you for both your enjoyment and your enlightenment."--Richard W. Cheney, Jr., Journal of College Science Teaching "This book, undoubtedly controversial, is a thoughtful and original contribution to an important aspect of cellular biology."--John Langridge
Yale University Press 1986 258 pages

Cosmic apprentice: dispatches from the edges of science

Sagan, Dorion
In the pursuit of knowledge, Dorion Sagan argues in this dazzlingly eclectic, rigorously crafted, and deliciously witty collection of essays, scientific authoritarianism and philosophical obscurantism are equally formidable obstacles to discovery. As science has become more specialized and more costly, its questing spirit has been constrained by dogma. And philosophy, perhaps the discipline best placed to question orthodoxy, has retreated behind dense theoretical language and arcane topics of learning. Guided by a capacious, democratic view of science inspired by the examples set by his late parents--Carl Sagan, who popularized the study of the cosmos, and Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologist who repeatedly clashed with the scientific establishment--Sagan draws on classical and contemporary philosophy to intervene provocatively in often-charged debates on thermodynamics, linear and nonlinear time, purpose, ethics, the links between language and psychedelic drugs, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the occupation of the human body by microbial others. Informed by a countercultural sensibility, a deep engagement with speculative thought, and a hardheaded scientific skepticism, he advances controversial positions on such seemingly sacrosanct subjects as evolution and entropy. At the same time, he creatively considers a wide range of thinkers, from Socrates to Bataille and Descartes to von Uexkull, to reflect on sex, biopolitics, and the free will of Kermit the Frog. Refreshingly nonconformist and polemically incisive, "Cosmic Apprentice" challenges readers to reject both dogma and cliche and instead recover the intellectual spirit of adventure that should--and can once again--animate both science and philosophy.
University of Minnesota Press 2013-12-01 293 pages

Cosmic apprentice: dispatches from the edges of science

Sagan, Dorion
In the pursuit of knowledge, Dorion Sagan argues in this dazzlingly eclectic, rigorously crafted, and deliciously witty collection of essays, scientific authoritarianism and philosophical obscurantism are equally formidable obstacles to discovery. As science has become more specialized and more costly, its questing spirit has been constrained by dogma. And philosophy, perhaps the discipline best placed to question orthodoxy, has retreated behind dense theoretical language and arcane topics of learning. Guided by a capacious, democratic view of science inspired by the examples set by his late parents--Carl Sagan, who popularized the study of the cosmos, and Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologist who repeatedly clashed with the scientific establishment--Sagan draws on classical and contemporary philosophy to intervene provocatively in often-charged debates on thermodynamics, linear and nonlinear time, purpose, ethics, the links between language and psychedelic drugs, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the occupation of the human body by microbial others. Informed by a countercultural sensibility, a deep engagement with speculative thought, and a hardheaded scientific skepticism, he advances controversial positions on such seemingly sacrosanct subjects as evolution and entropy. At the same time, he creatively considers a wide range of thinkers, from Socrates to Bataille and Descartes to von Uexküll, to reflect on sex, biopolitics, and the free will of Kermit the Frog. Refreshingly nonconformist and polemically incisive, Cosmic Apprentice challenges readers to reject both dogma and cliché and instead recover the intellectual spirit of adventure that should--and can once again--animate both science and philosophy.
University of Minnesota Press 2013 293 pages