Cosmic Apprentice (häftad)
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Format
Inbunden (Hardback)
Språk
Engelska
Antal sidor
288
Utgivningsdatum
2013-05-09
Upplaga
New
Förlag
University of Minnesota Press
Dimensioner
218 x 147 x 28 mm
Vikt
477 g
Antal komponenter
1
ISBN
9780816681358

Cosmic Apprentice

Dispatches from the Edges of Science

av Dorion Sagan
Inbunden,  Engelska, 2013-05-09
306
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In the pursuit of knowledge, Dorion Sagan argues in this dazzlingly eclectic, rigorously crafted, and deliciously witty collection of essays, scientific authoritarianism and philosophical obscurantism are equally formidable obstacles to discovery. As science has become more specialized and more costly, its questing spirit has been constrained by dogma. And philosophy, perhaps the discipline best placed to question orthodoxy, has retreated behind dense theoretical language and arcane topics of learning. Guided by a capacious, democratic view of science inspired by the examples set by his late parentsCarl Sagan, who popularized the study of the cosmos, and Lynn Margulis, an evolutionary biologist who repeatedly clashed with the scientific establishmentSagan draws on classical and contemporary philosophy to intervene provocatively in often-charged debates on thermodynamics, linear and nonlinear time, purpose, ethics, the links between language and psychedelic drugs, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the occupation of the human body by microbial others. Informed by a countercultural sensibility, a deep engagement with speculative thought, and a hardheaded scientific skepticism, he advances controversial positions on such seemingly sacrosanct subjects as evolution and entropy. At the same time, he creatively considers a wide range of thinkers, from Socrates to Bataille and Descartes to von Uexkll, to reflect on sex, biopolitics, and the free will of Kermit the Frog. Refreshingly nonconformist and polemically incisive, Cosmic Apprentice challenges readers to reject both dogma and clich and instead recover the intellectual spirit of adventure that shouldand can once againanimate both science and philosophy.
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"Utterly astounding . . . theres hardly a paragraph that couldnt spawn a scholarly conference. Or a sleepless acid night." David Lenson, author of On Drugs "Profound, elegant, and funny, Cosmic Apprentice is a treat for anyone who likes to thinkthat is, for any true member of the Craniata, equipped with both brains and backbones!" Greg Bear "A brief read through the dedication and I was hooked! A first taste on the tongue of the delicious menu of science, philosophy, and just plain astute observations of Life in the Anthropocene found within. Part poet, part class clown, and part magician, Dorion Sagan spreads his prose before us like a gourmet chef of thought. He is a worthy differentiated clone of his parents, but more critically he is a highly original microbial colony in his own right." Penny Boston, New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology and the National Cave & Karst Research Institute

Övrig information

Dorion Sagan is a writer, editor, and theorist. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, including Lynn Margulis: The Life of and Legacy of a Scientific Rebel and Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life.

Innehållsförteckning

Contents Introduction: CondensedThe Questing Spirit Part I. From Protozoan to the Posthuman 1. The Human Is More Than Human: Interspecies Communities and the New Facts of Life 2. Batailles Sun and the Ethical Abyss: Late-Night Thoughts on the Problem of an Affirmative Biopolitics 3. The Post-Man Already Always Rings Twice Part II. Stardust Memories 4. Stardust Memories 5. A Quick History of Sex 6. Who Is I? 7. Of Whales and Aliens: The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth Part III. Gaia Sings the Blues 8. Thermosemiosis: Boltzmanns Sleight, Trims Hat, and the Confusion concerning Entropy 9. Life Gave Earth the Blues 10. Mousetrap Part IV. Closing the Open Circuit 11. Priests of the Modern Age: Scientific Revolutions and the KookCritic Continuum, Being a Play of Crackpots, Skeptics, Conformists, and the Curious 12. Metametazoa 13. Kermitronics 14. On Doyle on Drugs Conclusion: Floating into Spinozas Ocean Acknowledgments Notes Index

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