eBook - ePub
The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science
A Mythologist Looks (Seriously) at Popular Science Writing
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science
A Mythologist Looks (Seriously) at Popular Science Writing
About this book
Humans have long been captivated by mythology and theorized about the lessons embedded in their tales. In The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science, Gregory Schrempp brings a mythologist's critical eye to popular science writing, a flourishing genre that forms a key link between science and popular consciousness. Schrempp argues that the defining and appealing characteristic of this genre is not simplification or "dumbing-down," but the attempt to parlay scientific findings into aesthetically and morally compelling visions that offer guidance for humanity. Schrempp argues that in striving for inspirational visions, popular science invariably reproduces - with ingenious invention - the structures, strategies, and cosmic imagery that infuse traditional mythological views of the cosmos. His claim challenges the widespread tendency to separate myth and science. Schrempp considers both the intellectual history of mythography and concrete examples from world mythologies including ancient Greek, Oceanic, and Native American. Schrempp's explorations span a range of fields, including astronomy, evolutionary biology, and cognitive science. In a world informed, transformed, and sometimes mesmerized by science, this book offers the first in-depth study of popular science writing from a mythologist's perspective.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science by Gregory Schrempp in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Epistemology in Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction: Centaurs and Scientists
- 1. Mythologizing Matter: On Myth, Popular Science, and the Problem of Centric Knowledge
- 2. It Had to Be You! Fire without Prometheus
- 3. Randomness and Life: Sobering Lessons from the Drunkard’s Walk
- 4. Copernican Kinship: An Origin Myth for the Category
- 5. Descartes Descending or the Last Homunculus: Introversive Anthropomorphizing in Popular Science Writing
- 6. Once More, with Feeling! The View from the Moon and the Return of the Copernican Revolution
- Conclusion: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained: How Scientists Save Myth
- Notes
- References
- Index