The Knowable and the Unknowable

Modern Science, Nonclassical Thought, and the "Two Cultures"

Arkady Plotnitsky

320 pages, parution le 13/06/2002

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Résumé

This book investigates the relationships between modern mathematics and science (in particular quantum mechanics) and the mode of theorizing Rrkady Plotnitsky defines as "nonclassical" and identifies in the work of Bohr, Heisenberg, Lacan, and Derrida. Their scientific and philosophical works, Plotnitsky argues, radically redefined the nature and scope of our knowledge. Building upon their ideas, the book finds a new, nonclassical character in "the dream of great interconnections" Bohr described, thereby engaging with recent debates about "the two cultures" (the humanities and the sciences).

Plotnitsky frames his intervention by highlighting those points at which the known gives way to the unknown (and unknowable). These points where the known opens into the unknown, he argues, are significant because they push the boundaries of thought and challenge the boundaries of disciplinarity. One of the book's most interesting observations is that key figures in science, in order to push toward a framing of the unknown, actually retreated into a conservative disciplinarity. Plotnitsky's informed, interdisciplinary approach makes possible an understanding of the various relationships between fields of human inquiry involved in these debates more productive than the disparaging attacks on postmodernism or scientism that have hitherto characterized them.

The Knowable and the Unknowable contributes to the interpretation of quantum theory, contemporary continental philosophy, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and poststructuralist and postmodernist theory. It will accordingly appeal to scholars in the humanities and sciences and anyone interested in contemporary French philosophy, postmodernist thinking in general, and the "Science Wars."

Contents

An introduction to nonclassical thought
Quantum mechanics, complementary, and nonclassical thought
Versions of the irrational : the epistemology of complex numbers and Jacques Lacan's quasi-mathematics
"But it is above all not true" : Derrida, relativity, and "the science wars"
Deconstructions

Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	The University of Michigan Press
Auteur(s)	Arkady Plotnitsky
Parution	13/06/2002
Nb. de pages	320
Format	15,5 x 23,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	500g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780472067978
ISBN13	978-0-472-06797-8