Outskirts Press Releases New Book, "The Struggle Among Ideas: A Tourist Guide to the Natural World and the Human Predicament," by J. Ivey Davis
We live in a world undergoing a culture war of epic proportions, where ideologies are struggling for global dominance. To help us understand how such competition among ideas and philosophies has shaped the human psyche, author J. Ivey Davis looks back through the course of history to discover how we give meaning and purpose to the world we inhabit.
Santa Barbara, CA, July 20, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Outskirts Press, Inc. is pleased to introduce The Struggle Among Ideas: A Tourist Guide to the Natural World and the Human Predicament by J. Ivey Davis. This groundbreaking book examines the connections among religion, science, and philosophy and how these connections form the foundation of all our modern conceptual systems for how the world works. Theologians, scientists, and philosophers continually offer new models of belief, but none of them is completely convincing to everyone, and we are left with a struggle among ideas, a struggle in which victory is not likely … and maybe not even desirable. It is the struggle itself which enriches the human predicament. Davis writes:
“Although entangled with both, philosophy is neither science nor religion; rather, it is the binder that holds each one of them together and also reveals their similarities, one emphasizing ascertainable knowledge from the sensate world and the other emphasizing revealed knowledge from the mind. Neither science nor theology alone can fulfill the needs of humanity. Science has not provided answers to the persistent questions about good and evil, wisdom and folly, or meaning and purpose in life. It cannot explain the elation and depression associated with feelings, intuitions, and emotions, and even when mechanistic explanations are offered, they seem totally inadequate to the experiences felt. It is not even certain that the so-called laws of nature constitute a unique framework, partial for sure, for interpreting the order in nature. Organized religions are not satisfactory either; although they may offer answers to many timeless questions, these answers are supported only by dogmatic belief systems which assume knowledge where in fact there is only ignorance. Belief in dogmas may console the weak and the infirm, offer certainty in an uncertain world, and succor the hope that “springs eternal in the human breast” but, in the end, it may signify only the triumph of desire over intellect.”
How do human ideas take shape? Where do they come from, how have they evolved, and why are they believed? Without a clear understanding of the origin and evolution of concepts over the course of history, it is difficult to appreciate why earlier individuals and societies behaved in ways that may seem bizarre to modern people—and why we behave as we do today. The very growth and decline of religions, nations, economies, and civilizations can ultimately be traced to competitions among ideas.
James Ivey Davis became a paratrooper by the young age of sixteen. He earned a B.S. from Caltech and a Ph.D. at UCLA before going on to lecture at the University of Ghana in West Africa. He has worked in theoretical physics and applied science for industry and national security and has traveled extensively around the world, spending time as an international consultant in France, Japan, and Sweden. Davis now resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife, Bobbi.
The Struggle Among Ideas by J. Ivey Davis
Book Statistics:
ISBN: 1-59800-443-3,
$19.95
6x9 paperback
280 pages
e-Book Instant Download $5.00
Availability: Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com
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“Although entangled with both, philosophy is neither science nor religion; rather, it is the binder that holds each one of them together and also reveals their similarities, one emphasizing ascertainable knowledge from the sensate world and the other emphasizing revealed knowledge from the mind. Neither science nor theology alone can fulfill the needs of humanity. Science has not provided answers to the persistent questions about good and evil, wisdom and folly, or meaning and purpose in life. It cannot explain the elation and depression associated with feelings, intuitions, and emotions, and even when mechanistic explanations are offered, they seem totally inadequate to the experiences felt. It is not even certain that the so-called laws of nature constitute a unique framework, partial for sure, for interpreting the order in nature. Organized religions are not satisfactory either; although they may offer answers to many timeless questions, these answers are supported only by dogmatic belief systems which assume knowledge where in fact there is only ignorance. Belief in dogmas may console the weak and the infirm, offer certainty in an uncertain world, and succor the hope that “springs eternal in the human breast” but, in the end, it may signify only the triumph of desire over intellect.”
How do human ideas take shape? Where do they come from, how have they evolved, and why are they believed? Without a clear understanding of the origin and evolution of concepts over the course of history, it is difficult to appreciate why earlier individuals and societies behaved in ways that may seem bizarre to modern people—and why we behave as we do today. The very growth and decline of religions, nations, economies, and civilizations can ultimately be traced to competitions among ideas.
James Ivey Davis became a paratrooper by the young age of sixteen. He earned a B.S. from Caltech and a Ph.D. at UCLA before going on to lecture at the University of Ghana in West Africa. He has worked in theoretical physics and applied science for industry and national security and has traveled extensively around the world, spending time as an international consultant in France, Japan, and Sweden. Davis now resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife, Bobbi.
The Struggle Among Ideas by J. Ivey Davis
Book Statistics:
ISBN: 1-59800-443-3,
$19.95
6x9 paperback
280 pages
e-Book Instant Download $5.00
Availability: Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com
###
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Jeanine Sampson
888.672.6657 ext. 704
www.outskirtspress.com
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