Scientism

Abstract: Introduction Part I. European Social Science in Antebellum America: 1. The discovery of modernity 2. The American exceptionalist vision Part II. The Crisis of American Exceptionalism, 1865-1896: 3. Establishment of the social science disciplines 4. The threat of socialism in economics and sociology Part III. Progressive Social Science, 1896-1914: 5. The liberal revision of American exceptionalism 6. Marginalism and historicism in economics 7. Toward a sociology of social control 8. From historico-politics to political science Part IV. American Social Science As The Study Of Natural Process, 1908-1929: 9. Modernist historical consciousness and American liberal change 10. The advent of scientism Epilogue Footnote abbreviations Footnotes.

Abstract: "We have, at long last, a real historian with real historical skills and no intra-professional ax to grind. . . . All these pieces show the virtues one finds missing in . . . nearly all of anthropological history work but [Stocking's]: extensive and critical use of archival sources, tracing of real rather than merely plausible intellectual connections, and contextualization of ideas and movements in terms of broader social and cultural currents. Stocking writes very clearly; attacks important topics-race and evolution, the influence of scientism, the interaction between anthropology and other disciplines; and is methodologically very sophisticated. Though his main theme is the development of racialism and of opposition to it, his book bears on a range of issues very much alive in anthropology. . . . I would think no apprentice anthropologist ought to be pronounced a journeyman until he or she has absorbed what Stocking has to say."-Clifford Geertz, The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Abstract: How can we think about people and cultures unlike our own? In the early modern period, the fact of human diversity presented Europeans with little cause for anxiety: they simply assumed the superiority of the West During the 18th century this view was gradually abandoned, as thinkers argued that other peoples possessed reason and sensibility, and thus deserved the same respect that Westerners accorded themselves Since that time, however, Enlightenment belief in the universalities of human nature has fallen into disrepute; critics allege that such notions have had disastrous consequences in the 20th century, ranging from prejudice to persecution and outright genocide Tzvetan Todorov, aims in this book to salvage the good name of the Enlightenment so that its ideas can once more inspire humane thought and action The question he poses is of relevance to the conflicts of our age: How can we avoid the dangers of a perverted universalism and scientism, as well as the pitfalls of relativism? Since the French were the ideologues of universalism and played a pre-eminent role in the diffusion of Enlightenment ideas in Europe, Todorov focuses on the French intellectual tradition, analyzing writers ranging from Montaigne through Tocqueville, Michelet, and Renan, to Levi Strauss He shows how theories of human diversity were developed in the 18th century, and later systematically distorted The virtues of Enlightenment thought became vices in the hands of 19th century thinkers, as a result of racism, nationalism, and the search for exoticism Todorov calls for us to reject this legacy and to strive once again for an acceptance of human diversity, through "critical humanism" prefigured in the writings of Rousseau and Montesquieu This is a work that can help us think incisively about the racial and ethnic tensions confronting the world today

Abstract: Sweeping in scope, penetrating in analysis, and generously illustrated with examples from the history of science, this new and original approach to familiar questions about scientific evidence and method tackles vital questions about science and its place in society. Writing with verve and wry humour, in a witty, direct, and accessible style, Haack takes readers beyond the "Science Wars" to a balanced understanding of the value, and the limitations, of the scientific enterprise.