Description
Book SynopsisBy the 1920s in Central Europe, it had become a truism among intellectuals that natural science had "disenchanted" the world, and in particular had reduced humans to mere mechanisms, devoid of higher purpose. This title shows that in fact the story of holism in Germany is a politically heterogeneous story with multiple endings.
Trade Review"Anne Harrington has confirmed the status of German culture in the first half of this century as the principal crucible of modernity."--Daniel Johnson, The Times Literary Supplement "Reenchanted Science succeeds marvelously in demonstrating the complexity with which science is embedded in its own historical and cultural moment... A great sense of nuance and a deftly constructed narrative... Hardly any study of Weimar culture has so masterfully evoked the complexity of its history with such clarity of exposition."--Luke Springman, Configurations
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCh. 1The "Human Machine" and the Call to "Wholeness"3Ch. 2Biology against Democracy and the "Gorilla-Machine"34Ch. 3World War I and the Search for God in the Nervous System72Ch. 4"A Peacefully Blossoming Tree": The Rational Enchantment of Gestalt Psychology103Ch. 5The Self-Actualizing Brain and the Biology of Existential Choice140Ch. 6Life Science, Nazi Wholeness, and the "Machine" in Germany's Midst175Conclusion207Notes213Bibliography275Index303
