A01=Christopher Herbert
absolutes
alexander bain
Author_Christopher Herbert
authoritarianism
authority
Category=DSBF
Category=JBCC9
Category=PD
charles darwin
difference
einstein
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
faith
herbert spencer
history
ideology
james frazer
karl pearson
knowledge
logic
negation
nonfiction
objectivity
philosophy
politics
proliferation
reform
relativism
relativity
religion
science
social change
truth
unity
victorian
wk clifford
ws jevons
Product details
- ISBN 9780226327327
- Weight: 567g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jun 2001
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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This text challenges the assumptions that the theory of relativity in physics sprang in its essence from the genius of Albert Einstein, and that scientific relativity is unconnected to ethical, cultural or epistemological relativisms. It unearths a forgotten tradition of avant-garde speculation that took as its guiding principle "the negation of the absolute" and set itself under the militant banner of "relativity". By drawing on the works of such thinkers as Charles Darwin, Karl Pearson, James Frazer and Einstein himself, Christopher Herbert shows that the idea of relativity produced changes in many fields during the 19th century and argues that the early relativity movement was closely bound to motives of political and cultural reform and to the radical critiques of the ideology of authoritarianism.
