Book – La mort de Newton

Book – La mort de Newton

Author: multiple, see list

Score: 2/10
Year: 1996

Publisher: Maisoneuve & Larose

ISBN 9782706812330

Pages 143

Language: French 

From its presentation and Hawking's preface, I thought that this book explored Newton's scientific precepts, their success but also how science evolved through the years, in refining his theories. 


Indeed, Mr Hawking, a renowned astrophysicist, introduces Newton, his genious in inventing his methods, relying less on previous paradigms, and how his conclusions reshaped the scientific understanding in contrast to a few other scientists before and after. Hawking even adds that Newton's Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosphy, published in 1687, is is the most important publication in physical sciences, as important as Darwin's On the origins of the species. 

However, the first chapter, writter by Augusto Forti and bearing the same title as the book, "Newton's death" contradicted this assumption. Indeed, Mr Forti took a stand against Rationality and equated our societal and economical failures to scientific theories by Darwin, Marx, Smith 'and many orthers' to the same principles that guides Newton to his conceptions... 

Thus, Mr Forti makes a point AGAINST science and Rational thinking, hoping that research by Mr Prigogine (also a contributor) and others to bring our human society back to its dimensions of imagination, spirituality, the taste of adventure and barriers to break... 

Furthermore, the presentation inside the book of Mr Forti as a series of books into which this one belongs to" open epistemological dialogue between  philosophers and scientists", simply didn't inspire me any confidence that I'd like reading any more of it...

Sadly, the book in its majority didn't even offer such a dialogue, taking mostly astand not only against Newton and Darwin theories in repeated passages, but also against rationality and science in general. 

Usually, these attacks are solely based on 1990's observance of society, ecological and political status' as a way to discredit scientific theories that have absolutely nothing to do with said status. It does so for 5 chapters in a row! 

It's only in the last 2 chapters that the authors (lya Prigogine & Isabelle Stengers) present scientific data that is beyond Newton's theories in Prigogine's chapter, whereas in Stengers', the discussion gives a broader context about Newton, telling us about his scientific endeavours as well as of his estoteric ones - the ones that are ought to be discredited due to their pseudoscientific nature, but to be equally taken into account that others of the period (the late 17th century) were interested in the same topics (such as alchemy and transmutation), in the light of which, discrediting his pseudoscience althewhilst admitting his scientific discoveries is more nuanced - and not based on 1990's society etc, but on real facts, in their social and historical contexts. 

Therefore, I conclude that this has been the worst book I've had to read this year, and in quite a while. Only 2 chapters out of 7 have been fair and balanced, and to the point. The other 5 were out of topic and biased. 

Also, a note on the authors, who are :
Stephen Hawking (preface) ; Augusto Forti, Harland Cleveland, Paul C.W. Davies, Peter M. Allen, Calestous Juma, Ilya Prigogine & Isabelle Stengers (collaborators, each through one, titled, text). You'll notice that there is only one woman invited to participate in this project, and she offered the most balanced text. 

In the ways that 5 men criticized 2 others on topics that they had nothing to do with, but didn't on the topics that they should have ; and also, showing several  times they took for granted their own 'white, male priviliges' added to my overall disdain for this book and them in particular. Talk about the proper topics, don't shoot a man down for the wrong reasons, just shoot his failures, and you should also have had a gender-balance in authors to invite - and, an proper dialogue, not a mostly 1-sided series of attacks. 

Luckly, this book was short and helped me to catch up on my reading challenge, but it's otherwise a waste of time. 

Final score : 2/10.