Uncertain Sciences

This sweeping inquiry into the present condition of the human sciences addresses the central questions: What sort of knowledge do the human sciences claim to be offering? To what extent can that knowledge be called scientific? and What do we mean by "scientific" in such a context?In this wide-ranging book, one of the most esteemed cultural historians of our time turns his attention to major questions about human experience and various attempts to understand it "scientifically." Mazlish considers the achievements, failings, and possibilities of the human sciences--a domain that he broadly defines to include the social sciences, literature, psychology, and hermeneutic studies.In a rich and original synthesis built upon the work of earlier philosophers and historians, Mazlish constructs a new view of the nature and meaning of the human sciences. Starting with the remote human past and moving through the Age of Discovery to the present day, Mazlish discusses the sort of knowledge the human sciences claim to offer. He looks closely at the positivistic aspirations of the human sciences, which are modeled after the natural sciences, and at their interpretive tendencies. In an analysis of scientific method and scientific community, he explores the roles they can or should assume in the human sciences. His approach is genuinely interdisciplinary, drawing upon an array of topics, from civil society to globalization to the interactions of humans and machines.

-In The Uncertain Sciences, Bruce Mazlish presents a cunning and visionary examination of the scientific enterprise of understanding the human species and, by doing so, of its ability to address real life problems... Undoubtedly, The Uncertain Sciences by Bruce Mazlish is a thought provoking read that will force you to break the boundaries of conventional thinking and ask yourself whether it is time to reach out to other fields of knowledge for changes in the conceptualization of human events and for feasible solutions to human problems.... it is a book that will engage your mind beyond the boundaries of the commonalities of scientific discourse.- -- Maura Pilotti, Metapsychology Online Reviews -Bruce Mazlish has written an immensely learned book, one that will appeal to and be read by specialists and generalists alike.- - Christopher Fox, director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame -Writing with eloquence, wit, and deep humaneness, Bruce Mazlish demonstrates what is to be gained by a lifetime of scholarship in the 'uncertain sciences'--not absolute knowledge, but wisdom.- - Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory, Cornell University -This book is a great banquet of ideas from a bold and brave mind.- - W. Warren Wager, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York at Binghamton, "In The Uncertain Sciences, Bruce Mazlish presents a cunning and visionary examination of the scientific enterprise of understanding the human species and, by doing so, of its ability to address real life problems... Undoubtedly, The Uncertain Sciences by Bruce Mazlish is a thought provoking read that will force you to break the boundaries of conventional thinking and ask yourself whether it is time to reach out to other fields of knowledge for changes in the conceptualization of human events and for feasible solutions to human problems.... it is a book that will engage your mind beyond the boundaries of the commonalities of scientific discourse." -- Maura Pilotti, Metapsychology Online Reviews "Bruce Mazlish has written an immensely learned book, one that will appeal to and be read by specialists and generalists alike." - Christopher Fox, director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame "Writing with eloquence, wit, and deep humaneness, Bruce Mazlish demonstrates what is to be gained by a lifetime of scholarship in the 'uncertain sciences'--not absolute knowledge, but wisdom." - Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory, Cornell University "This book is a great banquet of ideas from a bold and brave mind." - W. Warren Wager, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York at Binghamton, "In "The Uncertain Sciences," Bruce Mazlish presents a cunning and visionary examination of the scientific enterprise of understanding the human species and, by doing so, of its ability to address real life problems... Undoubtedly, "The Uncertain Sciences" by Bruce Mazlish is a thought provoking read that will force you to break the boundaries of conventional thinking and ask yourself whether it is time to reach out to other fields of knowledge for changes in the conceptualization of human events and for feasible solutions to human problems.... it is a book that will engage your mind beyond the boundaries of the commonalities of scientific discourse." -- Maura Pilotti, "Metapsychology Online Reviews" "Bruce Mazlish has written an immensely learned book, one that will appeal to and be read by specialists and generalists alike." - Christopher Fox, director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame "Writing with eloquence, wit, and deep humaneness, Bruce Mazlish demonstrates what is to be gained by a lifetime of scholarship in the 'uncertain sciences'--not absolute knowledge, but wisdom." - Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory, Cornell University "This book is a great banquet of ideas from a bold and brave mind." - W. Warren Wager, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York at Binghamton, "In "The Uncertain Sciences", Bruce Mazlish presents a cunning and visionary examination of the scientific enterprise of understanding the human species and, by doing so, of its ability to address real life problems... Undoubtedly, "The Uncertain Sciences" by Bruce Mazlish is a thought provoking read that will force you to break the boundaries of conventional thinking and ask yourself whether it is time to reach out to other fields of knowledge for changes in the conceptualization of human events and for feasible solutions to human problems.... it is a book that will engage your mind beyond the boundaries of the commonalities of scientific discourse." -- Maura Pilotti, "Metapsychology Online Reviews" "Bruce Mazlish has written an immensely learned book, one that will appeal to and be read by specialists and generalists alike." - Christopher Fox, director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame "Writing with eloquence, wit, and deep humaneness, Bruce Mazlish demonstrates what is to be gained by a lifetime of scholarship in the 'uncertain sciences'--not absolute knowledge, but wisdom." - Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory, Cornell University "This book is a great banquet of ideas from a bold and brave mind." - W. Warren Wager, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York at Binghamton, "In "The Uncertain Sciences", Bruce Mazlish presents a cunning and visionary examination of the scientific enterprise of understanding the human species and, by doing so, of its ability to address real life problems... Undoubtedly, "The Uncertain Sciences" by Bruce Mazlish is a thought provoking read that will force you to break the boundaries of conventional thinking and ask yourself whether it is time to reach out to other fields of knowledge for changes in the conceptualization of human events and for feasible solutions to human problems.... it is a book that will engage your mind beyond the boundaries of the commonalities of scientific discourse."-- Maura Pilotti, "Metapsychology Online Reviews""Bruce Mazlish has written an immensely learned book, one that will appeal to and be read by specialists and generalists alike."- Christopher Fox, director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame"Writing with eloquence, wit, and deep humaneness, Bruce Mazlish demonstrates what is to be gained by a lifetime of scholarship in the 'uncertain sciences'--not absolute knowledge, but wisdom."- Susan Buck-Morss, professor of political philosophy and social theory, Cornell University"This book is a great banquet of ideas from a bold and brave mind."- W. Warren Wager, Distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York at Binghamton

Bruce Mazlish was professor emeritus of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of The Leader, The Led, and the Psyche; The Revolutionary Ascetic, In Search of Nixon The Riddle of History; Reflections on the Modern and the Global, and Globalization and Transformation.