Rare 1984 version of “The Scientific Worldview” now available for free download

Blog 20161019 Rare 1984 version of “The Scientific Worldview” now available for free download

Not many folks know that "The Scientific Worldview" was first published by PSI as a limited edition in 1984.[1] The widely distributed edition of 2007 is nearly identical.[2]

 

With the advent of easy digital scanning, we have decided to put the 1984 manuscript on Research Gate as a free download at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259196124_The_scientific_worldview?channel=doi&linkId=5801191f08ae23fd1b6200b8&showFulltext=true

You may wonder: Why the 23-year delay? Well, for one, my literary agent shopped it around to a dozen conventional publishers with no success. This quote from Random House was a typical response:

A magnificent achievement, but too dense for the general reader and too tendentious for the scientist.

For another, I knew that every book has its optimal time. Books, like everything else, are part of a univironment. Controversial books, like TSW, are swords only useful in the philosophical struggle. Darwin delayed publication of his “Origin” for two decades as well. Upon publication in 1859, it became an instant bestseller among the educated who had benefited immensely from the “first industrial revolution” that occurred in Britain between 1750 and 1850.[3] It was part of the struggle between capitalism and feudalism that continues to this day. I wonder: Is TSW still too dense and tendentious?

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[1] Borchardt, Glenn, 1984, The scientific worldview: Berkeley, California, Progressive Science Institute, 343 p. [10.13140/RG.2.2.16123.52006].

[2] Borchardt, Glenn, 2007, The Scientific Worldview: Beyond Newton and Einstein: Lincoln, NE, iUniverse, 411 p. [http://www.scientificphilosophy.com/].

[3] Deane, Phyllis, 1979, The first industrial revolution (2nd ed.): New York, Cambridge University Press, 332 p.