| The Idols of Modernity draws upon the work of early thinkers in the sociology of knowledge such as Karl Mannheim in an effort to delineate the history of---and unmask the ideology behind---many of the formative aspects of scientific knowledge that enjoy both a central and potentially controversial role in the twenty-first century. In touching upon the role of imagination and speculation in the `hardest' sciences, normative disputes between biological and social sciences, and the intellectual history of modern science, I attempt to reveal the humanity of science. In examining the democratization of the written word, the profound consequences of language as disciplinary gatekeeper, implications for the humanities and sciences of a methodologically pluralistic sociology, threats to human agency issued forth by the trend toward medicalizing deviance, and finally, the role of the intellectual in society and history, I probe the promise, and problems, faced by a science of humanity. |
