| Contents Notes |
1. Science as a Liberal Art -- 2. Newtonianism, Reductionism, and the Art of Congressional Testimony -- 3. Newton's Dream -- 4. Confronting O'Brien -- 5. The Heritage of Galileo -- 6. Nature Itself -- 7. The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge -- 8. The Methods of Science ... and Those by Which We Live -- 9. Night Thoughts of a Quantum Physicist -- 10. Reductionism Redux -- 11. Physics and History -- 12. Sokal's Hoax -- 13. Science and Sokal's Hoax: An Exchange -- 14. Before the Big Bang -- 15. Zionism and Its Adversaries -- 16. The Red Camaro -- 17. The Non-Revolution of Thomas Kuhn -- 18. T.S. Kuhn's Non-Revolution: An Exchange -- 19. The Great Reduction: Physics in the Twentieth Century -- 20. A Designer Universe? -- 21. "A Designer Universe?": An Exchange -- 22. Five and a Half Utopias -- 23. Looking for Peace in the Science Wars. "Each of these essays, which span fifteen years, struggles in one way or another with the necessity of facing up to the discovery that the laws of nature are impersonal, with no hint of a special status for human beings. Defending the spirit of science against its cultural adversaries, these essays express a viewpoint that is reductionist, realist, and devoutly secular. Each is preceded by a new introduction that explains its provenance and, if necessary, brings it up to date. Together, they afford the general reader the unique pleasure of experiencing the superb sense, understanding, and knowledge of one of the most interesting and forceful scientific minds of our era."--Jacket. |
