Against the Idols of the AgeLittle known outside his native Australia, David Stove was one of the most illuminating and brilliant philosophical essayists of the postwar era. A fearless attacker of intellectual and cultural orthodoxies, Stove left powerful critiques of scientific irrationalism, Darwinian theories of human behavior, and philosophical idealism. Stove's writing is both rigorous and immensely readable. It is, in the words of Roger Kimball, "an invigorating blend of analytic lucidity, mordant humor, and an amount of common sense too great to be called 'common.'" Whether the subject is race, feminism, the Enlightenment, or the demand for "non-coercive philosophy," Stove is on the mark with a battery of impressive arguments expressed in sharp, uncompromising prose. "Against the Idols of the Age" concludes with a generous sampling of his blistering attacks on Darwinism. |
Contents
The Jazz Age in the Philosophy of Science | 3 |
Sabotaging Logical Expressions | 33 |
Paralytic Epistemology Or The Soundless Scream | 71 |
The Central Claim of the Enlightenment | 81 |
Always apologize always explain Robert Nozicks War Wounds | 93 |
The Intellectual Capacity of Women | 113 |
Racial and Other Antagonisms | 137 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually animals answer authors believe biological capacity of women causal Cole Porter common course criticism Darwin Darwinian David Stove Dawkins Enlightenment entails Q equal equality-theorist Essay evidence evolution example existence fact false falsifying Feyerabend Gem argument genetic given q horror victorianorum human Hume idea idealists implies Imre Lakatos inclusive fitness theory inconsistent intellectual capacity intellectual performance irrefutable Jazz Age Kant Karl Popper kin altruism kind knowledge Kuhn Lakatos least logical expressions logical relation logical statement Malthus Malthus-Darwin principle means memes mind natural selection never Nozick obvious offspring organisms parental altruism philosophy of science population possible given premise problem proposition question racial antagonism rational readers reason refuted religion reproduction sabotage Scientific Discovery scientists Selfish Gene shared genes theory sibling altruism sociobiologists species Stove success-words suppose T. H. Huxley tautological theory of inclusive Thomas Kuhn tion true truth universal W. D. Hamilton words writing