Esther Leslie, Liquid Crystals: The Science and Art of a Fluid Form (London: Reaktion, 2016). 288pp., £25.00 hb., 978 1 78023 645 2 When viewed on a hot plate under a polarising microscope, liquid crystals appear as a fluctuating kaleidoscope of colour: swirling, as Esther Leslie describes them, like ‘twisting lines of silks’, ‘pearlescent baubles’ […]
'Science' tag archive
The realism of our time
Kim Stanley Robinson is the author of more than twenty works of fiction, including the celebrated Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars), Forty Signs of Rain, The Years of Rice and Salt, 2312 and, his latest novel, New York 2140. A former student of Fredric Jameson, Robinson’s work is consistently anti-capitalist. His […]
What is a problematic?
Dossier bachelard and the concept of problematic What is a problematic? Patrice maniglier Gaston Bachelard’s 1949 book, Le Rationalisme appliqué (RA; best translated as Reason Applied), is essential to an understanding of his work, and Bachelard is essential to an understanding of twentieth-century French philosophy. That this book has never been translated into English shows […]
What does Bachelard mean by rationalisme appliqué?
What does Bachelard mean by rationalisme appliqué? Mary tiles While Bachelard’s Rationalisme appliqué can readily be translated as Applied Rationalism, neither the French nor the English are very revealing of the position being advocated. In particular one would be led very far astray if one were to think of rationalism as a philosophical position which […]
Corrationalism and the problematic
Corrationalism and the problematic Gaston bachelard If the fear of being accused of psychologism were not so keenly felt by epistemologists they would no doubt pay more attention to the problem of the acquisition of ideas.* They would then notice that to each new idea there remains attached a perspective of acquisition, an approach structure […]
Student problems (1964)
Dossier Thealthusser–Rancière Controversy Introduction to Althusser’s ‘Student Problems’ Warren montag For those familiar with Louis Althusser’s published work, reading his relatively early essay entitled ‘Student Problems’ may be a surprising and even disconcerting experience. Part of the surprise lies in the fact that the essay exists at all. Although it was published in Nouvelle Critique […]
Red years: Althusser’s lesson, Rancière’s error and the real movement of history
Red years Althusser’s lesson, Rancière’s error and the real movement of history Nathan brown The dissolution of the organizational forms which are created by the movement, and which disappear when the movement ends, does not reflect the weak‑ness of the movement, but rather its strength. The time of false battles is over. The only conflict […]
Georges Canguilhem, 1904-1995
NEWS Georges Canguilhem, 1904-1995 Georges Canguilhem, who died on 11 September 1995 at the age of ninety-one, was France’s pre-eminent historian and philosopher of the sciences. A figure of immense authority and prestige, he was regarded with great affection by his many disciples. Born into a very modest family living in the southwest, Canguilhem was […]
In partial praise of a positivist
In partial praise of a positivist The work of Otto Neurath John O’Neill There is a tradition in socialist writing of rediscovering neglected socialist thinkers and showing how the recovery of their memory can contribute to the solution of contemporary problems in socialist theory and practice. This paper belongs to this genre of rediscovery. The […]
Romanticism and technology
Romanticism and technology Andrew Bowie Romanticism and technology are often regarded as inherently at odds with each other, one supposedly relying upon a desire to get in touch with a nature in us and outside us which the modern ‘technologized’ world risks losing sight of altogether, the other upon the domination of external nature for […]
Karl Popper, 1902-1994
SYMPOSIUM Karl Popper, 1902-1994 Learning from negative instances n 17 September 1994, Karl Popper died at the age of 92. He was described as the official .opposition of the Vienna Circle, the philosophical club which in the interwar penod espoused the then popular doctrine of ‘logical positivism’. His relations with that club were ‘friendly-hostile’, to […]
66 Editorial
EDITORIAL – . =.. .:’1._”it!!!! • =:-= -=111 .,-. · ~-1-. 1 …. – -= – -:. I — ..-. 1=1 .– 11 I . -• • -~-EE A letter recently leaked to The Observer (10.10.93) revealed that government scientists are privately extremely concerned about the problem of long-term nuclear waste storage. Behind the facade […]
Studying Child Sexual Abuse
Studying Child Sexual Abuse: Morality or Science? Sue Clegg Child abuse has become a major topic of public polemic and academic research. I Modem feminists, like their nineteenthcentury sisters, have singled out sexual abuse for special attention. 2 After decades in which sexual abuse was the concern of a limited number of professionals who dealt […]
Revealing the Truth of Art
Revealing the Truth of Art Andrew Bowie Philosophical discussion of art in English tends not to aim its sights particularly high, and some Anglo-Saxon philosophy has effectively denied art any serious philosophical significance at all. In this light a contemporary German book* which wishes to argue for the truth of art over that of the […]
The Artificial Womb
The Artificial Womb Patriarchal Bone or Technological Blessing? Carl Hedman Every area of technological innovation has an idea that can serve as a kind of ‘Rorschach Test’ for revealing some of our deepest intuitions.l Consider, e.g., the idea of a fully automated factory. This idea can be used to bring out a person’s intuitions as […]
Socialism and Myth
Socialism and Myth: The Case of Sorel and Bergson Ma/co/m Vout and Lawrence Wi/de Georges Sorel (1847-1922) continues to exert a fascination for some radicals, as recent books and articles indicate [1]. This attraction is perhaps understandable, but in our view mistaken. It stems from his support for revolutionary syndicalism and his notion of the […]
Scientific and Social Problems and Perspectives of Alternative Medicine
Scientific and Social Problems and Perspectives of Alternative Medicine: Analysis of a Dutch Controversy by Joseph Keu/artz, Chung/in Kwa and Hans Radder Introduction Ever since the mid-1970s, the Western world has seen growing public and polltical interest in alternative medicine. The main reason has been a feellng of dissatisfaction with regular, science-based medicine, which gained […]
Marksism: The Shape of Things to Come?
EDITORIAL Marksism: The Shape of Things to Come? Following the success of the first Radical Philosophy special number (RP34 on Women, Gender and Philosophy), and as an extension of our long-standing interest in the subject, we are devoting this issue to the theme of Science, History and Philosophy. As Peter Osborne explained in the last […]
Women and the High Priests of Reason
Women and the High Priests of Reason Janna Thompson Introduction Women are not supposed to be truly rational. The conviction that women can at best worship in the outer precincts of the temple of reason has a long tradition. It has survived philosophical and social revolutions. The idea is not that women are incapable of […]
Realism and Social Science
Realism and Social Science Some Comments on Roy Bhaskar’s ‘The Possibility of Naturalism’ Ted Benton 1 Introduction An increasing body of philosophical work l is now available which (a) presents a ‘realist’ alternative to the hitherto predominant ‘positivist’ and ‘conventionalist’ currents in the philosophy of science and (b) attempts to use this realist account of […]
Scientific Socialism
SCIENTifiC SOCIALISM, Jl POSITIVIST DELUSION? Russell Reat In Radical Philosophy 21, Roy Edgley replied to some criticisms I made, in RP16, of his article on ‘Science, Social Science, and Socialist Science’ in RP15. I don’t finj his comments at all convincing, and I will try to say why. At the end, I will briefly indicate […]