Science as Metaphor: The Historical Role of Scientific Theories in Forming Western Culture

by Richard G. Olson

Book by Olson, Richard

321 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad place to read about what is probably a subject covered in a wide variety of books now, but rather tough going in a number of places and not always on point. A few of the longer essays are eye-glazing, particularly an account of Sigmund Freud's early struggle to develop a theory of psychology based on the physical properties of the brain. He was working out ideas that included the supposition of three types of "neurones," each with its own designator from the Greek alphabet. Freud put aside the whole project and didn't even keep his own written copy, so why are several pages of description of it inflicted on the reader? On the positive side, there are many mentions of relatively unknown scientists and other thinkers who made important contributions to intellectual developments over the last five centuries. One section is a reprint of Emile Zola's essay on the "experimental novel" (although how that differs from man other novels remains unclear). And there is one really impressive commentary on Freudian theory by Jacques Riviere, a French "man of letters" and editor of an influential French literary journal; his contribution, from another French journal and exactly 100 years old now in 2023, is full of insights and elegantly written. I looked him up on the internet and found that, sadly, he died at age 39 in 1925, surprisingly a victim in Paris of typhoid fever. Olson's closing essay is also interesting, covering topics that remain relevant more than 50 years after this collection was published. The book may be hard to find these days. It's also physically hard to read, requiring concentration on long lines of average-size type spread across very wide pages. At least I got through it after seeing it sitting accusingly on a shelf for the last 40 years or so.