Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity - Paperback

by Stephen Toulmin (Author)

A daring account of the philosophical development of the idea of a rational society and its consequences for the present

In the seventeenth century, a vision arose which was to captivate the Western imagination for the next three hundred years: the vision of Cosmopolis, a society as rationally ordered as the Newtonian view of nature. While fueling extraordinary advances in all fields of human endeavor, this vision perpetuated a hidden yet persistent agenda: the delusion that human nature and society could be fitted into precise and manageable rational categories. Stephen Toulmin confronts that agenda--its illusions and its consequences for our present and future world.

Back Jacket

With wisdom and wit, Stephen Toulmin challenges that human nature and society could be fitted into exact rational categories and explores the consequences of moving beyond it for our present and future world.