Nicholas Maxwell
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Maxwell is a philosopher who has devoted much of his working life to arguing that there is an urgent need to bring about a revolution in academia
so that it seeks and promotes wisdom and does not just acquire knowledge.
For nearly thirty years he taught philosophy of science
at University College London
, where he is now Emeritus Reader and Honorary Senior Research Fellow. In 2003 he founded Friends of Wisdom, an international group of people sympathetic to the idea that academic inquiry should help humanity acquire more wisdom by rational means. He has published six books spelling out different aspects of the argument for an intellectual revolution, from knowledge to wisdom and has contributed to twenty other books. He has published over seventy papers in scientific and philosophical journals on problems that range from consciousness, free will
, value and art to the rationality of science, simplicity, scientific realism, explanation, time and quantum theory
.
Problem 1: How can we understand our human world, embedded as it is within the physical universe, in such a way that justice is done both to the richness, meaning and value of human life on the one hand, and to what modern science tells us about the physical universe on the other hand?
Problem 2: What ought to be the overall aims and methods of science, and of academic inquiry more generally, granted that the basic task is to help humanity achieve what is of value – a more civilized world – by cooperatively rational means (it being assumed that knowledge and understanding can be of value in themselves and form a part of civilized life)?
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
so that it seeks and promotes wisdom and does not just acquire knowledge.
For nearly thirty years he taught philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he is now Emeritus Reader and Honorary Senior Research Fellow. In 2003 he founded Friends of Wisdom, an international group of people sympathetic to the idea that academic inquiry should help humanity acquire more wisdom by rational means. He has published six books spelling out different aspects of the argument for an intellectual revolution, from knowledge to wisdom and has contributed to twenty other books. He has published over seventy papers in scientific and philosophical journals on problems that range from consciousness, free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, value and art to the rationality of science, simplicity, scientific realism, explanation, time and quantum theory
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
.
Philosophical Contribution
Maxwell’s work has been devoted to tackling two fundamental interlinked problems:-Problem 1: How can we understand our human world, embedded as it is within the physical universe, in such a way that justice is done both to the richness, meaning and value of human life on the one hand, and to what modern science tells us about the physical universe on the other hand?
Problem 2: What ought to be the overall aims and methods of science, and of academic inquiry more generally, granted that the basic task is to help humanity achieve what is of value – a more civilized world – by cooperatively rational means (it being assumed that knowledge and understanding can be of value in themselves and form a part of civilized life)?
Publications
- 1976, What’s Wrong With Science?, Bran’s Head Books, Hayes, Middlesex.
- 1984, From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution in the Aims and Methods of Science, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
- 1998, The Comprehensibility of the Universe: A New Conception of Science, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, Oxford. - 2001, The Human World in the Physical Universe: Consciousness, Free Will and Evolution, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham.
- 2004, Is Science Neurotic?, Imperial College Press, London.
- 2007, From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution for Science and the Humanities, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged, Pentire Press, London.
- 2008, ed., with R. Barnett, Wisdom in the University, Routledge, London.
- 2009, What's Wrong With Science?, 2nd edition, revised with new preface, Pentire Press, London.
- 2010, Cutting God in Half - And Putting the Pieces Together Again: A New Approach to Philosophy, Pentire Press, London.
- 2009, L. McHenry, ed., Science and the Pursuit of Wisdom: Studies in the Philosophy of Nicholas Maxwell, Ontos Verlag, Frankfurt.