Scan barcode
seclement's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that makes you think deeply about history and the nature of knowledge, and one that has made me insufferable to those around me for a few months now. It was a slow read for me because I needed to read and re-read many passages, and then think about and research other perspectives. Toulmin takes a deep dive into both the nature and ideas of modernity and the notions that underpin the enduring idea of the cosmopolis and the idea that we can rationally describe the rules of both the natural and social worlds. If you are someone who thinks we can find the underlying rules of all things via rational enquiry without contextual variation, then I highly encourage a read for understand where that idea even comes from and how it perhaps represents a regressive, rather than a progressive, view of knowledge. My main criticism of this book is that it is so very dense. It took me months to read because I wanted to understand it, and to do so required reading not just this book but other contextual details in order to fully understand and evaluate his claims. The other criticism would be that as he gets further into his own lifetime (1920s onward, but especially from 1960), his description is compromised by his closeness to the material, as any history of ideas would be. This book is also over 30 years old at this point, so it may leave some leaders wanting or the coverage of recent ideological developments wanting. I kind of feel he should have stopped the book at 1945, but I will say that he is still quite prescient and nuanced in his discussion of the contemporary challenges that follow the historical development of ideas he covers. A book I will absolutely keep, read again, and reference when think about what we know, how we know it, and how we can even go about learning. I don't think he identified as a pragmatist, but to me his ideas are squarely within that philosophical camp and I found it quite a stimulating read.
More...