Science and the Modern World

By Alfred North Whitehead

Book Overview

Alfred North Whitehead's SCIENCE AND THE MODERN WORLD, originally published in 1925, redefines the concept of modern science. Presaging by more than half a century most of today's cutting-edge thought on the cultural ramifications of science and technology, Whitehead demands that readers understand and celebrate the contemporary, historical, and cultural context of scientific discovery. Taking readers through the history of modern science, Whitehead shows how cultural history has affected science over the ages in relation to such major intellectual themes as romanticism, relativity, quantum theory, religion, and movements for social progress.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0029351901
• ISBN13: 9780029351901
• Release Date: January 1967
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A deep study by a great mind

I cannot make a good summary of this book, for I do not know it well enough. I do have a sense of its great depth and beauty. Whitehead seems to me not only a profound thinker but a humble person who stands in certain awe before the Universe. He opens by describing the way a few people in a small part of Europe caused a great revolution in human thinking. He argues that this Scientific Revolution will amount to the triumph...

CLassic little work in the philosophy of science

Whitehead is widely regarded as a humane philosopher in the best sense of that word--a philosopher able to get across very difficult ideas with a wink and a smile. Also, he has always been commended for his prose style in his more intimate writings, at least in his books based on lectures (the best of which are Science in the Modern World and Adventures of Ideas). Process and Reality is difficult but worth the effort; one...

75 years down the road....

Naturally, a book written in the midst (or even aftermath) of the relativity revolution is going to be both insightful and limited. Whitehead's book is, in this regard, a child of its age. Yet this is not the entire story, since Whitehead possessed the gift of being able to contextualize his own thought and thus leave it open-ended. The technical aspects of the book are, of course, sparse on facts. There is evidence...

questions

I gave this five stars only so as to not effect the ratings of the previous, more knowledgeable reviewer. I am having some difficulty, however, understanding major portions of this book. It was written in 1925 and I expect that some of what was said would no longer be applicable today. Whitehead may well have changed his views regarding quantum mechanics and relativity. In fact, he continually refers to an "ether" that...

A remarkable and balanced view of science and philosophy

To see a reissue of one of Whitehead's classic books is very pleasing and timely. There have been very few people with his depth of understanding of science and technology. The historical and philosophical analyses of this book, written many decades ago, are still fresh and very important.