Professionalizing early childhood education as a field of practice

Sample

Paul R. Gross, Norman Levitt

With the emergence of "cultural studies" and the blurring of once clear academic boundaries, scholars are turning to subjects far outside their traditional disciplines and areas of expertise. In Higher Superstition scientists Paul Gross and Norman Levitt raise serious questions about the growing criticism of science by humanists and social scientists on the "academic left." As literary theorists deconstruct scientific "texts" and feminists condemn scientific "patriarchy," they argue, principles and practices that underlie 300 years of scientific achievement come under attack from scholars with little actual knowledge of science. Gross and Levitt explore the origins and history of the trend and examine examples of "science bashing" from an array of currently fashionable viewpoints - postmodernism, feminism, radical environmentalism, multiculturalism, and AIDS activism. They find the origins of antiscience attitudes not only in modern discontents but also in a long tradition of Romantic unhappiness with Rationalism. Their concerns, however, are clearly for the present and the future. They question how far the university community should go in validating nonscientific judgments of science. And they warn that the long-term consequences of these trends - for science education and for public judgment of scientific issues - may be infinitely more serious than the "political correctness" wars currently being waged on university campuses

Sample

Catherine Malabou

"The Future of Hegel is an important book on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a philosopher who has had a crucial impact on the shape of Continental philosophy. Published here in English for the first time, it includes a substantial preface by Jacques Derrida in which he explores the themes and conclusions of Malabou's book." "The Future of Hegel: Plasticity, Temporality and Dialectic examines Hegel's concept of time, relating it to perennial topics in philosophy such as substance, accident and the identity of the subject. Catherine Malabou also contrasts her account of Hegelian temporality with the interpretation given by Heidegger in Being and Time, arguing that it is the concept of 'plasticity' that best describes Hegel's theory of temporality." "The Future of Hegel also develops Hegel's preoccupation with the history of Greek thought and Christianity and explores the role of theology in Hegel's thought." "Essential reading for those interested in Hegel and contemporary Continental philosophy, The Future of Hegel will also be fascinating to those interested in the ideas of Heidegger and Derrida."--Jacket.

Sample

Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen

"Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen asked 1,500 Americans about their connection to the past and how it influences their daily lives and hopes for the future. The result is a surprisingly candid series of conversations and reflections on how the past infuses the present with meaning." "While the past is omnipresent to Americans, "history" as it is usually defined in textbooks leaves many people cold. Rosenzweig and Thelen found that history as taught in school does not inspire a strong connection to the past. And they reveal how race and ethnicity affect how Americans perceive the past."--Jacket.

Sample

Leslie Dewart

Dewart's new book is a work of fundamental theology, or of the philosophy of religion, and its purpose is to consider the question at the basis of the present-day ""crisis of faith"": can the Christian faith be said truly to develop and unequivocally to evolve, assuming that that faith is true, and that its object is real? It is Dewart's belief that the Christian faith must evolve consciously if it is to survive, and that neither the traditional foundations of belief (as formulated in Aquinas' synthesis) nor contemporary thought can furnish the basis for that development. Instead, contemporary Christian thought must complete the work begun by Aquinas, and revise the achievements of contemporary philosophical and scientific thought, thereby achieving a new synthesis within the framework of which the ""conscious evolution"" of a rational Christian belief could take place. The book, obviously, is complementary to Dewart's earlier The Future of Belief and, like that book, its implications will be considered outrageously radical by some, but as reliable guidelines for the future by most. Despite the complexity of the author's thought and the inherent difficulty of the material, this work, like its predecessor volume, will create a sensation both academic and popular. It should prove to be one of the most important, and probably one of the most successful, religious books of the year.