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Ockhams Razor: A Search For Wonder In An Age Of Doubt

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Ockhams Razor: A Search For Wonder In An Age Of Doubt

by Wade Rowland

Key Porter Books | March 15, 1999 | Trade Paperback

A search for human values and meaning at the millennium, Ockham`s Razor is a brilliant travel narrative that mixes philosophical speculation with commentary about the food, architecture and art of France. From Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to Descartes, Magritte and the Internet, Wade Rowland examines some of our deepest assumptions about the nature of reality and our relationship to the world. In the summer of 1997, Rowland, an expert on technology and the new media, and in many respects disillusioned with the hyper-reality of North American culture, took his family to visit medieval historical sites throughout Southern France as a way of searching for authenticity. In Ockham`s Razor he speculates on the world view of the middle ages, a highly evolved system of thought and perception radically different from our own, and argues that efficiency is an engineering goal that reduces human beings to material objects. Such debasement causes human alienation, which is the defining condition of our age. This is very much a book for our age. (1999)

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    In this is fairly short book of about 260 pages Rowland touches on a wide range of subjects. With a family vacation to France as the backdrop for his narrative he discusses topics ranging from fine art and gastronomy to science, religion, philosophy, history and more. Presumably to keep the tone light and informal, Rowland frames his ideas using conversations with his beautiful, talented wife, his beautiful teenage daughter and his precocious fifteen year old son. In the same vein, he pontificates in letters to his house-sitter (one of his students) back in Canada.


    This is a rambling and largely incoherent book - hardly a surprise given the range of topics and the length of the book. In apparent attempts at profundity, Rowland's vocabulary is frequently esoteric with a scholarly ring but the result is muddled, often incomprehensible ideas. For me, the overall effect was frustration bordering on exasperation.


    If there is a single coherent theme in this book, it's the aut

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    Lois

    Rating: 5/5

    Ockham's Razor

    Lois

    12 years ago

    Is it a travel journal? A history book? A philosophy discourse? In fact, it's all three. This is a delightful journey into the medieval culture and mindset of Southern France. It also explores the philosophical path leading up to today's scientific society-with gracious interruptions from the author on his family's reaction to the experience. Those who long for values and meaning in life will find a travelling companion in Rowland, with this provocative yet readable holiday adventure.

Details

From Our Editors

As we approach the millennium, people seem to be searching for meaningful dialogues and answers to their most pressing issues. Wade Rowland is a former CBC journalist who offers a provocative and philosophical look at the middle ages, its systems of thought and views of reality. In so doing he touches on themes of architecture, philosophers, art and assumptions we make about reality in Ockham's Razor: A Search for Wonder in an Age of Doubt. In the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould and John Raulston Saul, Rowland's reasoned observations are a much-needed tonic in this age of preposterous claims and rash and meaningless human constructs.

From the Publisher

A search for human values and meaning at the millennium, Ockham`s Razor is a brilliant travel narrative that mixes philosophical speculation with commentary about the food, architecture and art of France. From Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to Descartes, Magritte and the Internet, Wade Rowland examines some of our deepest assumptions about the nature of reality and our relationship to the world. In the summer of 1997, Rowland, an expert on technology and the new media, and in many respects disillusioned with the hyper-reality of North American culture, took his family to visit medieval historical sites throughout Southern France as a way of searching for authenticity. In Ockham`s Razor he speculates on the world view of the middle ages, a highly evolved system of thought and perception radically different from our own, and argues that efficiency is an engineering goal that reduces human beings to material objects. Such debasement causes human alienation, which is the defining condition of our age. This is very much a book for our age. (1999)

Trade Paperback

264 Pages, 6 x 8.9 x 0.8 in

March 15, 1999

Key Porter Books

English

Canadian Author


1552630315
9781552630310

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