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Ideas Under Fire - Historical Studies of Philosophy and Science in Adversity (Hardcover)
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Ideas Under Fire - Historical Studies of Philosophy and Science in Adversity (Hardcover)
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Since Aristotle's famous declaration that the speculative sciences
originated with the emergence of a leisure class (Metaphysics I,
i), it has been accepted as a truism that intellectual activity
requires political stability and leisure in order to flourish.
Paradoxically, however, some of the most powerful and influential
contributions to Western intellectual culture have been produced in
conditions that were adverse-indeed hostile-to intellectual
activity. Examples include Socrates' stirring defense of the
examined life before a hostile Athenian jury, Boethius writing The
Consolation of Philosophy under the specter of impending torture
and execution, Galileo devising key notions for modern mechanics
while under house arrest, and Jean-Paul Sartre drafting portions of
Being and Nothingness in his war diaries, to name only a few of the
most famous incidents-all extraordinary achievements spawned,
developed or completed in adversity. In cases such as these, a
philosopher or scientist must manage somehow to remain
intellectually creative and focused despite living in conditions
that are adverse or hostile to thought. In brief, they are working
on ideas under fire.This book is a survey of several momentous
cases of philosophers and scientists working under fire. Each
chapter of Ideas Under Fire considers a particular case or set of
related cases. In each case contributors consider two questions:
How did the individual at the center of a particular moment of
discovery overcome such formidable obstacles to leisure and
conceptually abstract thought? And how did adversity shape their
thinking under fire? Each chapter has been written by a specialist
on its respective subject, and the book covers every period of
Western history. All the chapters are written in an accessible
style that is intended to appeal to both specialists and
generalists.
General
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