The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy, and the New Fundamentalism

ISBN-13: 9780199205622 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 320 str.

Dick Taverne

Opis

In The March of Unreason, Dick Taverne expresses his concern that irrationality is on the rise in Western society, and argues that public opinion is increasingly dominated by unreflecting prejudice and an unwillingness to engage with factual evidence. Discussing topics such as genetically modified crops and foods, organic farming, the MMR vaccine, environmentalism, the precautionary principle, and the new anti-capitalist and anti-globalization movements, he argues that the rejection of the evidence-based approach nurtures a culture of suspicion, distrust, and cynicism, and leads to dogmatic assertion and intolerance. Science, with all the benefits it brings, is an essential part of a civilized and democratic society: it offers the most hopeful future for humankind.

Recenzje

Taverne's case is, essentially, indisputable.

O autorze

Dick Taverne is Baron of Pimlico and a Q.C. Having been the Labour MP for Lincoln from 1962 to 1972, he resigned to fight the famous Lincoln by-election as an independent social democrat in 1973, and won. In 1974 he wrote The Future of the Left, Lincoln and After (Jonathan Cape), which predicted the split in the Labour party that happened seven years later. He gradually became more and more concerned about the increasing mood of hostility and suspicion about science and in 2002 founded the association 'Sense About Science' to promote an evidence-based approach to scientific issues. Lord Taverne is a high-profile political commentator, regularly debating issues of democracy and science in the broadsheet press.