The Enlightenment Vision: Science, Reason, and the Promise of a Better Future - Couverture rigide

Jordan, Stuart

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1616146400 ISBN 13 : 9781616146405

Editeur : Prometheus Books, 2013

Synopsis

This thought-provoking analysis evaluates the progress that global society has made since the Enlightenment. The author begins by pointing out features of present-day society that are the direct descendants of the Enlightenment's discoveries and advances: our technology, modern medicine, science-based worldview, democratic political institutions, and concepts of human rights are all an outgrowth of the pioneering efforts of Enlightenment reformers.

But along with these benefits, the author notes that we are also the inheritors of some significant problems produced in the wake of these advances; overpopulation, nuclear proliferation, and global climate change are just some of the recent developments that seem to threaten the whole Enlightenment project. Other great concerns include the continuing economic disparity between prosperous and impoverished nations, the persistence of widespread ignorance, and destructive reactionary forces bent on provoking new conflicts.

Despite these and other daunting challenges of the twenty-first century, the author concludes on a cautiously optimistic note, predicting that the Enlightenment vision of prosperity, security, justice, and good health for all will eventually be achieved.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Stuart Jordan (Greenbelt, MD) is a retired senior staff scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and is currently president and board member of the Institute for Science and Human Values. He holds a doctorate in physics and astrophysics and is a Rhodes scholar.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Prometheus Books
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1616146400
• ISBN 13: 9781616146405
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 295
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Pays-Bas