Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins by Denis R. Alexander (PDF)

Description

Over the course of human history, the sciences, and biology in particular, have often been manipulated to cause immense human suffering. For example, biology has been used to justify eugenic programs, forced sterilization, human experimentation, and death camps—all in an attempt to support notions of racial superiority. By investigating the past, the contributors to Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins hope to better prepare us to discern ideological abuse of science when it occurs in the future. Denis R. Alexander and Ronald L. Numbers bring together fourteen experts to examine the varied ways science has been used and abused for nonscientific purposes from the fifteenth century to the present day. Featuring an essay on eugenics from Edward J. Larson and an examination of the progress of evolution by Michael J. Ruse, Biology and Ideology examines uses both benign and sinister, ultimately reminding us that ideological extrapolation continues today. An accessible survey, this collection will enlighten historians of science, their students, practicing scientists, and anyone interested in the relationship between science and culture. Please note: The digital edition does not include 1 of the 31 images that appear in the physical edition.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand is credited with the creation of objectivism–an ideology built upon a foundation of an objective reality that exists independent of human consciousness. Contact with this reality is limited to what can be accomplished through sense perception. Denis Alexander (St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge) and Ronald Numbers (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison) join twelve other experts in an in-depth exploration of how this disconnect has led to a history of abuse surrounding the application of scientific knowledge. While the scientific method is often thought of as an objective method employed to make contact with an objective reality, the scientists themselves are immersed in cultures with deep ideologies that exert a powerful influence on the analysis and extrapolation of scientific information. As the title implies, the contributors present their arguments within a historical framework that originates at the Enlightenment, and ends with the contemporary atheist apologetics. The text presents arguments surrounding biology’s influence on a diverse array of ideologies, including Nazism, Marxism, Lysenkoism, materialism, naturalism, and vitalism. The most recognizable and well-developed example presented is the application of evolutionary theory to the eugenics movement. The text contains extensive references and should be considered a must read for students of the history and philosophy of biology.

⭐Excellent book that should be compulsory reading for all who want to be better informed about how ideology has been consistently linked to science over the last 500 years, with the latest version involving atheists misusing science to promote their ungrounded, non-scientific belief now popularly described as scientism.

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