Uncertainty In Postmodern Science:the Study Of Ian Mcewan's Solar

Ian McEwan is one of the distinct British writers of the contemporary world.He touches upon anxieties and fears of the modern men and delves into themes of violence,death and sexuality.Trough these themes,he tries to reflect the distorted human nature.In 2010,he publishes Solar,whose protagonist is a NobelPrize winner in physics.The novel centers on climate change issue and once published,it attracts the attention of literary critics,environmental enthusiasts,politics and scientists.Solar is an intriguingnovel,coming freighted with frequent hilarity and lightness of tone.By depicting Beard,McEwan distorts stereotypical images of scientists and expresses his pessimistic attitude towards solar energy development.The main aim of this thesis is to analyze uncertainty in solar energy research and explore McEwan's attitudes towards postmodern science.With the method of close reading,the thesis elaborates how uncertainty challenges scientific realism and the grand narrative.Scientific realism and grand narrative lay down the overarching rules governing traditional science.Thus,traditional scienceis called into question and a new set of rules needs to be established for contemporary science.The innovation of this thesis is that it bridges the gap between elusive scientific knowledge with appealing artand comes to the conclusion thatscience becomes a socio-cultural product.McEwan's writing attracts the attention of a wider public to focus on the climate change issue.In doing so,he bears the responsibility for scientific development.The main body of the thesis is divided into three chapters and each chapter analyzes uncertainty from different perspectives.Firstly,the thesis studiesuncertainty in climate change research.Inaccurate data and complicated climate system lead to uncertain results.Beard fails to provide investors with solid proof that climate disaster is around the cornerand scientists fail to reach consensus on energy reserves and hazards of climate change.Uncertainty has seeped into climate change science,and it challenges scientific realists' opinion that only science is capable of reporting truth.Without scientific facts,Beard resorts to narrative knowledge in the energy conference and challenges the legitimacy principle by expert.Secondly,the thesisdelves into Beard's unprofessional performance including his subjective attitude in scientific conduct and his lack of expertise.His uncertain conducts put the legitimacy principle by expert into crisis.Last but not least,the thesis will focus on the adverse effects of scientific progress.When personal interests trump scientific development and established techniques hinder scientific breakthroughs,the grand narrative of emancipation is in crisis.The accumulation of knowledge and scientific breakthroughs will not always lead to social progress.Beard's research is put into waste and social regress is the result.In textual analysis,the thesis will useJean-Francois Lyotard' and Steven C.Ward's ideas onpostmodern science.Through analysis of climate change,human decisions and global climate systems,they put forward scientific realism and the grand narrative,which laid the foundation for traditional science.In The Postmodern Condition: A Report On Knowledge,Francois puts forward the legitimacy principles of scientific knowledge and the grand narrative of emancipation.Ward comes up with scientific realism.The thesis will employ their ideas to analyzeSolar from the perspective of uncertainty and how it challenges traditional science.