The Found and the Made: Science, Reason, and the Reality of Nature - Hardcover

Bruiger, Dan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1412862507 ISBN 13: 9781412862509

Publisher: Routledge, 2015

Synopsis

This book critically examines how mathematical modelling shapes and limits a scientific approach to the natural world and affects how society views nature. It questions concepts such as determinism, reversibility, equilibrium, and the isolated system, and challenges the view of physical reality as passive and inert. Dan Bruiger argues that if nature is real, it must transcend human representations. In particular, it can be expected to self-organize in ways that elude a mechanist treatment.

This interdisciplinary study addresses several key areas: the "crisis" in modern physics and cosmology; the limits and historical, psychological, and religious roots of mechanistic thought; and the mutual effects of the scientific worldview upon society's relationship to nature. Bruiger demonstrates that there is still little place outside biology for systems that actively self-organize or self-define. Instead of appealing to "multiverses" to resolve the mysteries of fine-tuning, he suggests that cosmologists look toward self-organizing processes. He also states that physics is hampered by its external focus and should become more self-reflective. If scientific understanding can go beyond a stance of prediction and control, it could lead to a relationship with nature more amenable to survival.

The Found and the Made fills a void between popular science writing and philosophy. It will appeal to naturalists, environmentalists, science buffs, professionals, and students of cultural history, evolutionary psychology, gender studies, and philosophy of mind.

About this title

About the Author

Dan Bruiger

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1412862507
• ISBN 13: 9781412862509
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 332