Bøker av David Stove

In fewer than two-hundred pages, David Stove leaves the well-established and widely regarded edifice of the academic philosophy of science in smoldering ruins.This book provides a modern history of scientific reasoning, from David Hume's inductive skepticism to Karl Popper's outright denial of induction, to the increasingly irrational and absurd scientific views that followed. When Popper untethered science from induction, Stove argues, he triggered a postmodernist nightmare of utter nonsense culminating in Paul Feyerabend's summation that "anything goes" when it comes to defining or describing science. With undeniable logic, a deft analysis of the linguistic slight-of-hand that make absurd arguments seem reasonable, and regular displays of wit, Stove gives the reader a front row seat to one of the greatest unforced errors in the history of modern thought. Stove's views are entirely consistent with the origins of scientific inference and logic, as well as modern advances in probability theory, and yet he remains largely unnoticed by most of the academic world. From Stove's insider-outsider perspective, the train wreck that is academically accepted philosophy of science and "science studies" is a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining subject of study.Scientific Irrationalism is the perfect place to begin any examination of what science is--and what it is not.

Little known outside his native Australia, David Stove was one of the most illuminating and brilliant philo-sophical essayists of the postwar era. A fearless at-tacker of intellectual and cultural orthodoxies, Stove left powerful critiques of scientific irrationalism, Dar-winian theories of human behavior, and philosophi-cal idealism. He was also an occasional essayist of considerable charm and polemical snap. Stove's writ-ing 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.'" Against the Idols of the Age brings together a repre-sentative selection of Stove's writing and is an ideal introduction to his work.The book opens with some of Stove's most impor-tant attacks on irrationalism in the philosophy of sci-ence. He exposes the roots of this fashionable attitude, tracing it through writers like Paul Feyerabend andThomas Kuhn to Karl Popper. Stove was a born controversialist, so it is not surpris-ing that when he turned his attention to contemporary affairs he said things that are politically incorrect. The topical essays that make up the second part of the book show Stove at his most withering and combative. Whether the subject is race, femi-nism, the Enlightenment, or the demand for "non-coercive philosophy," Stove is on the mark with a battery of impressive arguments expressed in sharp, uncompromis-ing prose. Against the Idols of the Age concludes with a generous sampling of his blistering attacks on Darwinism.David Stove's writings are an undiscovered treasure. Although readers may dis-agree with some of his opinions, they will find it difficult to dismiss his razor-sharp arguments. Against the Idols of the Age is the first book to make the full range of this important thinker available to the general reader.

This work opens with Stove's attacks on irrationalism in the philosophy of science, exposing the roots of this fashionable attitude. The second section contains topical essays on subjects such as feminism, race or the Enlightenment. The text concludes with blistering attacks on Darwinism.

Secession, State & Liberty examines history, political philosophy, ethics, and economic theory of secessionist movements in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It is based on a conference, sponsored by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, on the political economy of secession.

An investigation of the political impulse to secede, presenting essays by Donald Livingston, Murray N. Rothbard, Clyde Wilson and Bruce Benson, among others. They include analyses of secessionist movements in the United States, Canada and Europe.

This is a book on philosophy which subjects several theories to critical examination and asks how they relate to our commonsensical notions of reality. Among the celebrated philosophers whom the author tries to debunk are Plato, Hegel, Kant, Foucault, Popper, Nozick, Feyerabend and Goodman.

Argues that Darwin's theory of evolution is a ridiculous slander on human beings. This book is suitable for people who want to understand the issues behind the hotly debated scientific controversy.