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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2012
[This is an excerpt, a full review will appear in The Philosopher's Magazine]
Scientism, usually, is an insult. It is used in philosophy to connote an attitude of excessive infatuation with science, which leads to discard other branches of knowledge or human experience and to only value issues that are amenable to the scientific approach. But Alex Rosenberg has written an entire book to make the case for scientism as the only rational ideology one could possibly hold in the face of what science tells us about how the world is. For Rosenberg there are simple, science-driven answers to all of life's persistent questions and in some cases I agree with Rosenberg's answers, though I think his reasoning relies far too much on what after all are science's provisional findings (I mean, until 15 years ago we thought the universe was slowing down; turns out it's accelerating, maybe), while in other cases I think he is either wrong or at least does not come close to providing a satisfactory argument for his positions. For Rosenberg there is no free will, morality, meaning, aboutness and so on because, you see, "the physical facts fix all the facts." We are never exactly told what this slogan (which recurs throughout the book) actually means. Well, I'm a big fan of physics, but last time I checked it didn't, for instance, "fix" the fact that 2+2=4. And if it is that easy to find (infinite) exceptions to Rosenberg's dictum you begin to wonder what stock to put in it. In the end, Rosenberg's scientistic nihilism is analogous to radical skepticism about reality (you know, the one that suggests the disturbing possibility that you may be a brain in a vat). It's thought provoking, there is no scientific evidence that can possibly rule in its favor or against it, and it is best promptly forgotten so that you can get back to thinking about the things that really matter to you.
Scientism, usually, is an insult. It is used in philosophy to connote an attitude of excessive infatuation with science, which leads to discard other branches of knowledge or human experience and to only value issues that are amenable to the scientific approach. But Alex Rosenberg has written an entire book to make the case for scientism as the only rational ideology one could possibly hold in the face of what science tells us about how the world is. For Rosenberg there are simple, science-driven answers to all of life's persistent questions and in some cases I agree with Rosenberg's answers, though I think his reasoning relies far too much on what after all are science's provisional findings (I mean, until 15 years ago we thought the universe was slowing down; turns out it's accelerating, maybe), while in other cases I think he is either wrong or at least does not come close to providing a satisfactory argument for his positions. For Rosenberg there is no free will, morality, meaning, aboutness and so on because, you see, "the physical facts fix all the facts." We are never exactly told what this slogan (which recurs throughout the book) actually means. Well, I'm a big fan of physics, but last time I checked it didn't, for instance, "fix" the fact that 2+2=4. And if it is that easy to find (infinite) exceptions to Rosenberg's dictum you begin to wonder what stock to put in it. In the end, Rosenberg's scientistic nihilism is analogous to radical skepticism about reality (you know, the one that suggests the disturbing possibility that you may be a brain in a vat). It's thought provoking, there is no scientific evidence that can possibly rule in its favor or against it, and it is best promptly forgotten so that you can get back to thinking about the things that really matter to you.
