There are numerous books that criticize one or two irrational trends (such as environmentalism, multiculturalism or pseudo-science) in a vacuum. This book, though, is far more ambitious: it takes aim at dozens of such trends - and hits its targets decisively.

An anthology of over 40 scholarly papers by experts in science and the humanities, *The Flight from Science and Reason* ranges from identifying the philosophic foundations of physics to refuting the premises of feminism and religion. The theme of the book is that our intellectuals are engaged in a "new and more systematic flight from reason and science" - a flight reflected in the numerous viewpoints defined and criticized in this work.

The authors of these essays are able to grasp the fundamental unity among the many attacks on reason because they grasp the importance of philosophic fundamentals. Many of the articles are dedicated to the epistemology of science - both physical science and social science - and to ways in which irrationalist movements contradict that epistemology. As a result, this book does much to establish a proper philosophy of science.

These essays are not merely negative polemics. For example, in answer to the claim that science, like religion, is based on emotions, an article analyzes the roots of scientific belief. The author finds that feelings are not valid grounds for belief. They may make someone want to believe a given conclusion, but a belief based on a desire, rather than on evidence, is not a knowledge, but a blank-out: "To assert that [a man] believes something (in the sense that a scientist believes) without having at hand the rather elaborate justification mechanisms that warrant calling a belief "scientific" is fatuous. At best, he has acquired the habit of rote recitation of a proposition."

This argument has implications far beyond the defense of science. It helps to clarify that one cannot force a mind to think. Since coercion is an external motivation, not evidence, it cannot provide support for a conclusion and is therefore self-defeating.

Since most of the contributors are scholars in scientific fields, they bring an extremely well-informed perspective to bear on their topics, often providing interesting new angles on old issues. For example, anyone familiar with the Austrian school of economics has heard the argument that "mathematical economics" represents a misunderstanding of economics. An essay here by a mathematician points out that it also represents an abuse of mathematics, because it requires treating the numerically unquantifiable (such as man's value-choices) as if they were variables in a mathematical equation.

However, because this is an academic book, it is infected with the disease of scholarly "tolerance." Its criticisms are typically muted by the assumption that even the worst irrationalist is just innocently misguided; in the words of one contributor, the seeming enemies of reason are "hewing to reason, but hewing to it unreasonably." Another article, by an Egyptologist, is titled "Building Bridges to Afrocentrism." And the selections include authors who do not fully embrace the virtue of rationality. An article on quantum physics, for example claims that entities can possess "incompatible" and contradictory properties.

These flaws, however, do not change the essential fact that this book represents an enormous achievement. Across all the major scholarly disciplines, it challenges the roots of today's prominent anti-reason trends. Although there is an inevitable range of quality in such a comprehensive volume, its overall spirit is one of strong devotion to the value of reason and science. ( )