Facing Up Science And Its Cultural Adversaries [Paperback]

TheNew York Timess James Glanz has calledSteven Weinbergperhaps the worlds most authoritative proponent of the idea that physics is hurtling toward a final theory, a complete explanation of natures particles and forces that will endure as the bedrock of all science forevermore. He is also a powerful writer of prose that can illuminateand sting& He recently received the Lewis Thomas Prize, awarded to the researcher who best embodies the scientist as poet. Both the brilliant scientist and the provocative writer are fully present in this book as Weinberg pursues his principal passions, theoretical physics and a deeper understanding of the culture, philosophy, history, and politics of science.Each of these essays, which span fifteen years, struggles in one way or another with the necessity of facing up to the discovery that the laws of nature are impersonal, with no hint of a special status for human beings. Defending the spirit of science against its cultural adversaries, these essays express a viewpoint that is reductionist, realist, and devoutly secular. Each is preceded by a new introduction that explains its provenance and, if necessary, brings it up to date. Together, they afford the general reader the unique pleasure of experiencing the superb sense, understanding, and knowledge of one of the most interesting and forceful scientific minds of our era.Steven Weinberg is a national treasure. Not only is he one of America's greatest physicists, he is also a delightful essayist as well. InFacing Up, he addresses the issues of objectivity, reductionism, and the nature of science in rightful ways sure to outrage postmodernists.In this wonderful and compelling collection of essays, Steven Weinberg--one of the greatest and most influential of physicists--convincingly argues that the more we discover about the laws governing the cosmos, the less it seems that we have any special status or role to play. While Weinberg may well be right regardil“)