What responsibility do the Manhattan Project scientists have for the atomic devastation of Hiroshima? Krupps scientists for the crematoriums at Auschwitz? Is there no way to revisit the ideals of science once devoted to creating a more reasonable and open society free from prejudices? Disturbing questions like these are at the heart of this sobering exploration of scientific and intellectual responsibility.

Challenging the conventional medical ethics model of "rights" language.

Karl Popper has had an extraordinary influence on scientific and social thought. Widely regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of the twentieth century, he was also a highly influential social and political philosopher, a proponent and defender of the "open society." Popper's Legacy examines all aspects of his work, in particular his moral and psychological insights. Once Popper's scientific legacy is couched in political and moral terms, it becomes apparent that his concern for individual autonomy does not come at the expense of institutional guidelines and social...

Combining postmodernism with technoscience, this work considers the viability of public works such as the superconducting supercollider in a postmodern age. Contending that technoscientific projects are contingent upon economic and political support, and not simply upon their scientific feasibility, Sassower illuminates the cultural context of postmodernism vis-a-vis an examination of postmodernism and the philosophy of late 20th-century technoscience. Drawing upon conflicts between Popperians, postmodernists and feminists, Sassower claims that translation between competing discourses about...

Examines the predicaments of medicine within a cultural context and suggests that rational discourse and parochial ethical dialogue may be futile in the face of competing and incommensurable frameworks and agendas, attitudes and wishes. This work shows tha

This book provides a historically-informed survey critically outlining sociological, psychological, political, and economic approaches to the role of public intellectuals. Sassower suggests how the state might financially support the essential work of public intellectuals so as to critically engage the public and improve public policies.

This books examines the conditions under which scientists compromised the ideals of science, and elucidates these with reference to the challenges of profit motives and national security concerns. The book also offers suggestions for changing the political and economic conditions under which the integrity of science and its ethos can be practiced.

Contemporary society is rife with instability. Contemporary genetic research has raised and given life to the one-time science fiction specter: the clone. The scarcity of natural energy sources has led to greater manipulation of atomic or nuclear energy and as a result greater danger. And the promises of globalization have, in some cases, delivered their intended results, but in many other ways they have created even greater social and economic gaps. An urgent commentary in the tradition of Herbert Marcuse's One Dimensional Man or even Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, Raphael...

What is at stake in compromising the Enlightenment ideals of a liberal education with new educational policies engendered by a neo-liberalized, global marketplace? Richly grounding his arguments in the social philosophy of European and American intellectuals, Raphael Sassower explores Western culture's long-standing ambivalence toward 'the life of the mind.' He shows how and why this historical legacy contributes to today's confusion over goals and values in contemporary education. He sheds new light on many of today's controversies, showing why the demands of technology and a global economy...