SCIENCE AND THE RETREAT
FROM REASON
by
John Gillot and Manjit Kumar
Science fascinates us, with popularizations of it regularly heading the
bestseller lists, and more people feeling comfortable with the technological
applications of science which surround us. Why is it then that in the late
twentieth century, "back to nature" has replaced "progress
through science" in the popular imagination?
What arouses concern is the interventionist character of science.
In the past, putting the insights of science to work on "mastering
nature" was thought to offer humanity an endless vista of progress. Today,
nature and all things natural are more commonly glorified and the feats of the
engineer—especially in the realm of biology—are considered
meddlesome, if not dangerous. This anti-interventionist attitude is reinforced
by influential interpretations of quantum mechanics, chaos and complexity
theories. These interpretations suggest that human beings must concede to
nature, and cannot even fathom—still less take genuine advantage
of—its subtleties.
While providing a clear and intelligible introduction to key areas of modern
scientific thought, Gillot and Kumar mount a challenge to the new orthodoxy.
Science and the Retreat from Reason argues that it is loss of faith in
progress that explains today's loss of faith in science.
Contents
Introduction: The Sense
of an End
1. The Post-War Loss
of Certainty
2. Belittling
Humanity
3. Quantum mechanics
and the “Risky Game”
4. Chaos, Complexity,
and Control
5. Science and
Humanism
6. Science and the
Retreat from Reason
7. The Loss of
Certainty and the Quest for Beauty in Science
Notes and References
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
JOHN GILLOTT has a
degree in applied mathematics. He works at the Genetic Interest Group, London.
MANJIT KUMAR has a
degree in physics and philosophy. He is deputy editor of the journal Paradigm,
and a tutor at the City Literary Institute, London.
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