A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science 1st Edition

by Noretta Koertge (Editor)

10 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0195117257

ISBN-10: 0195117255

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Cultural critics say that "science is politics by other means," arguing that the results of scientific inquiry are profoundly shaped by the ideological agendas of powerful elites. They base their claims on historical case studies purporting to show the systematic intrusion of sexist, racist, capitalist, colonialist and/or professional interests into the very content of science. Physicist Alan Sokal recently poked fun at these claims by foisting a sly parody of the genre on the unwitting editors of the cultural studies journal Social Text touching off a still unabated torrent of editorials, articles, and heated classroom and Internet discussion.

This hard-hitting collection picks up where Sokal left off. The essayists offer crisp and detailed critiques of case studies offered by the cultural critics as evidence that scientific results tell us more about social context than they do about the natural world. Pulling no punches, they identify numerous crude factual blunders (e.g. that Newton never performed any experiments) and egregious errors of emission, such as the attempt to explain the slow development of fluid dynamics solely in terms of gender bias. Where there are positive aspects of a flawed account, or something to be learned from it, they do not hesitate to say so. Their target is shoddy scholarship.

Comprising new essays by distinguished scholars of history, philosophy, and science (including Sokal himself), this book raises a lively debate to a new level of seriousness.

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book is the latest and most explosive bomb to be launched in the "science wars." Recently, a cadre of historians and philosophers of science have attempted to deconstruct the scientific process by examining its underlying social metaphors. Many scholars, especially practicing scientists, view these efforts with undisguised disdain. The essays here, which are by scientists and philosophers, debunk postmodernist science studies by exposing their purported biases, errors, and fallacies. Essentially, they deconstruct the deconstructionists. For example, Michael Ruse asks, "Is Darwinism Sexist?" while Alan Sokal tackles "What the Social Text Affair Does and Does Not Approve." Although some olive branches are extended, the overall tone is aggressive. Academics on both sides of the debate will need this book. Expect a counterattack.?Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Coral Gables, FL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Editor Koertge offers an excellent array of writings dealing with controversies that have arisen in connection with science studies and the so-called 'Science Wars.'"--Choice

"This book is the latest and most explosive bomb to be launched in the 'science' wars.'...Academics on both sides of the debate will need this book. Expect a counterattack."--Library Journal

"A thoughtful, wide-ranging, spirited, and highly informative collection. The sophisticated case for objectivity is fully developed in these expert pages."--Frederick Crews, author of The Memory Wars (1995) and editor of Unauthorized Freud: Doubters Confront a Legend (1998)

"Critics as well as admirers of science will find in these essays much that deserves to be taken to heart, head, and hearth. Large wings of the rambling postmodern house suffer from shoddy work or sandy footing. This should help both cultural scholars and scientists to find bedrock for sturdy construction rather than cynical deconstruction."--Dudley Herschback, Harvard University

"There is no more important debate than that going on now between those who believe that the scientific approach to knowledge is at root a force for democracy and progress and those who instead believe that democracy requires for its development a repudiation of the claim that science provides a universal and rational framework for thought in favor of a broad epistemic relativism. This book captures a significant moment in this debate and should be required reading for anyone interested in the language and values we will use to shape our common future."--Lee Smolin, Pennsylvania State University

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (August 27, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195117255
ISBN-13: 978-0195117257
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 10 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,105,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10089 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
- #50901 in Books > Textbooks > Science & Mathematics
- #63869 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy

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A balanced look at a strange phenomenom

August 28, 2000

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is a collection of essays, and as is usual in such an anthology, the quality of the writing and of the arguments is variable. However, the editor did a terrific job of selecting writers who understand their topics, are not too terribly polemical, and write well enough to articulate their viewpoints.
The book ranges over a variety of responses to the post-modernist attack on science. I found the book quite informative on the content of the anti-science arguments, and while I have not read all of them, the ones I have read are reported fairly in this book. Then they are demolished.
Ini a similar way, I am only competent to judge about half of the science that is presented in the book, but again, what I do know independently is described accurately and articulately in this volume. This book shows that it is possible to write coherently about science and about social issues at the same time. I found the book useful in my attempt to understand the anti-science attacks more clearly than I had been able to do on my own, and I enjoyed the elegant, spirited rebuttals. Read this book, and then think for yourself. You should enjoy the process, no matter which side of the argument you end up on.

45 people found this helpful46 people found this helpful

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julio a nunez pagan

Excelent

August 31, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Excelent condition. I have started reading yet.

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Koparcener

Five Stars

July 25, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A critique of postmodernist influence in social sciences and academia

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Alan Algustyniak

Not Well Written

November 6, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book, along with ":Higher Superstition" and "Fashionable Nonsense" is full of delicious information regarding the nonsense and irrationality of hyper-modernism. But it is a tedious read, and I haven't even bothered to finish reading it.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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S. Plowright

Triumph of Reason

June 20, 2005

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

An excellent collection of essays highlighting the absurdities and potential dangers of the recent fad for the rejection of rationality.

The arguments presented are clear and calm. There is no resort to ridicule, no matter how ridiculous the POMO examples are. The only counter criticisms of this collection seem to amount to "Boo Hoo, why are you picking on poor post-modernists". A bit rich when you really start to understand what the post-modernists have been doing to the pursuit of knowledge.

If Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World" were made part of the high school curriculum, I do not think the POMO academics would have been able to fool so many for so long. They would have taken their righful place beside the conspiracy theorists, channellers, New Agers, and UFOlogists.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in clear and readable accounts illustrating the deceptive and flawed claims of some of the most popular Postmodernist academics.

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Peter Sweeney

I good expose, well written

March 23, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Post-modernity and Liberal theology is exactly that a house built on sand. I good expose, well written.

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Robert Depew

Excellent!!

October 11, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent book, excellent service!!

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Aristotle's Beast

good collection

March 24, 2001

Format: Paperback

This is a good collection of useful material. There is an opening section concentrating on Sokal's Hoax, with Sokal and others commenting on the affair. Gross and Levit, of Higher Superstition fame, log in with contributions that are well worth reading. There are essays addressing the Strong Programme, and discussions of Hobbes and the Airpump. Only three papers become very technical. A couple more are somewhat difficult. Meera Nanda's account of how radical science critique is playing out in the third world is excellent and chilling. The postmodernists have strengthened the hand of repressive regimes who reject science as western rationalism, and then set out to fashion an Islamic science or a Hindu arithmetic, etc. Nanda has case studies to back her up. Koertge contributed a nice paper on scientific literacy. Levit's attack on the central dogmas of science studies is quite a punch. I enjoyed every minute of this collection and we need more essays like these.

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