Against the Idols of the Age

by David Stove

Little known outside his native Australia, David Stove was one of the most illuminating and brilliant philo-sophical essayists of the postwar era. A fearless at-tacker of intellectual and cultural orthodoxies, Stove left powerful critiques of scientific irrationalism, Dar-winian theories of human behavior, and philosophi-cal idealism. He was also an occasional essayist of considerable charm and polemical snap. Stove's writ-ing is both rigorous and immensely readable. It is, in the words of Roger Kimball, "an invigorating blend of analytic lucidity, mordant humor, and an amount of common sense too great to be called 'common.'" Against the Idols of the Age brings together a repre-sentative selection of Stove's writing and is an ideal introduction to his work. The book opens with some of Stove's most impor-tant attacks on irrationalism in the philosophy of sci-ence. He exposes the roots of this fashionable attitude, tracing it through writers like Paul Feyerabend andThomas Kuhn to Karl Popper. Stove was a born controversialist, so it is not surpris-ing that when he turned his attention to contemporary affairs he said things that are politically incorrect. The topical essays that make up the second part of the book show Stove at his most withering and combative. Whether the subject is race, femi-nism, the Enlightenment, or the demand for "non-coercive philosophy," Stove is on the mark with a battery of impressive arguments expressed in sharp, uncompromis-ing prose. Against the Idols of the Age concludes with a generous sampling of his blistering attacks on Darwinism. David Stove's writings are an undiscovered treasure. Although readers may dis-agree with some of his opinions, they will find it difficult to dismiss his razor-sharp arguments. Against the Idols of the Age is the first book to make the full range of this important thinker available to the general reader.

Genres: Philosophy, Essays

Hardcover

First published August 24, 1999

About the author

David Charles Stove was Australian philosopher and a widely published polemical journalist. His work in philosophy of science included criticisms of David Hume's inductive skepticism, as well as what he regarded as the irrationalism of Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos, and Paul Feyerabend. Stove was also a critic of Idealism and sociobiology, describing the latter as a new religion in which genes play the role of gods.

Reviews

[C. Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Stove is excellent. he is a rare pleasure to read.

This Australian Conservative is so unlike American ones (he is intelligent, cogent and illuminating). He is one of those guilty pleasures you give yourself, especially when you are getting tired of the ideologically driven shibboleths of our time.

I have to give all those who are ideological zombies out there a trigger warning, his views are not main stream and he can slap you in the face like a BIG Porno D*&^! Lol, which makes him so refreshing and a joy to sit with.

I put him on my shelf next to Jean Francois Revel, Chantal Delsol and Orianna Fallaci.

[Eric Chevlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review by Eric Chevlen:

This collection of essays by Australian philosopher David Stove is a product of its era and locale. The quality of the essays varies, and not all readers will agree with all of his conclusions.

Now, I purposely started this review with that perfectly empty opening paragraph so that I could have the opportunity to show you how David Stove would eviscerate such verbal vacuity. It is a truism that writing is a product of its time and place. Even if the writing describes universal or eternal themes, the choice of such universality is itself a feature of certain times and places. That the quality of the essays varies is hardly surprising. In fact, it would be amazing if the quality of all of them were identical, since the reader's interest in and understanding of the various essays will differ among them. And OF COURSE not all readers will agree with ALL of his conclusions. He writes as a critic. At the very least, the person whom he is criticizing will disagree with him.

"Against the Idols of the Age" is a sampler of Stove essays selected and very lightly edited by Roger Kimball. It is to Kimball that we American readers owe thanks for introducing us to the Australian thinker. I was drawn to reading the book because I had read that Stove was a harsh critic of (among others) Karl Popper, Imre Lakatos, and Thomas Kuhn, theretofore honored and influential members of my personal pantheon of thinkers. It's good for one's personal intellectual integrity to go out of one's way to read criticism of people whose opinion one shares. (Stove would probably object to any sentence in which the impersonal "one" appears three times!)

The collection consists of three sections: (1) The cult of irrationalism in science, (2) Idols contemporary and perennial, and (3) Darwinian fairytales.

Stove's style is the logical attack, or rather, attacking via logic. He is a thumb-in-the-eye writer who, to switch metaphors, finds his opponent's intellectual weak point, and then gently inserts his shiv before giving it a decided twist. The first section criticizes Popper and his acolytes. Stove takes exception to the extent to which they carried their falsifiability argument, rather than with the argument itself. While Popper, Lakatos, and Kuhn remain standing when Stove is through, there is little left of the deeply irrationalist philosopher Feyerabend. That, it seems to me, is for the best.

While the first section is of interest to those concerned with the philosophy of science, the second section of the book appeals to a broader audience of readers. Here Stove is at his iconoclastic best. It is easy to misunderstand Stove, not because he writes unclearly--he NEVER does that--but because readers bring prejudices to the text which get between the reader and the words on the page. Consider the opening sentences of two of the essays: "I believe that the intellectual capacity of women is on the whole inferior to that of men." "I do not know of a single clear case in which two races of people have been in contact for long, without antagonism being the result." I expect that the majority of people reading this review are now suspecting that Stove was a troglodyte misogynist and racist. He was neither, not by a long shot, but he so attacks traditional pieties on these hot-button subjects that it requires a willful attention to what he is actually saying to understand his idea.

The third section of the book attacks Darwinism. This is certainly not on religious grounds; Stove was famously an atheist. Rather, Stove picks at the glaring logical deficiencies in Malthusianism as it applies to the human population, and even more strongly against the idea of inclusive fitness. Inclusive fitness postulates that organisms will behave in such a way that their genes will be better represented in subsequent generations, even if those genes are passed on via siblings, children, or other near kin. The epigram of the chapter, quoting sociobiologist W.D. Hamilton, alerts you to his target: "...we expect to find that no one is prepared to sacrifice his life for any single person, but that everyone will sacrifice it for more than two brothers (or offspring), or four half brothers, or eight first-cousins."

Stove is antipodal in every sense of the word. I highly recommend this book.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, my biggest frustration with the book - 'when all you've got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail'. On several occasions I found myself measurably annoyed at what I perceived to be a narrowness in Stove's investigation of a particular topic. But this is perhaps tied to the great strengths of the book - precision, lucidity and effectiveness. Stove wields his hammer masterfully and with an endearing blend of wit and rebellious spirit.

Despite some flaws, and some moderately technical reading in parts I found this book to be very rewarding. The subject matter is highly relevant in 2018, the ideas are often challenging and the writing is entertaining to boot. I certainly plan to look into more of Stove's work.

[Stuart Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stove is an excellent essayist, who demolishes reigning presumptions with wit,humour and style. I feel he's a little rough on Popper, but he has certainly proved right about successors like Lakatos and Feyerabend. His critique of social Darwinism is particularly sound; Darwin himself was reluctant to venture very far in that direction. He may shake your faith in Dawkins,if you repose any there, and he makes a nice argument that men are more intelligent than women, which in the end is neither offensive, nor comforting to chauvinists.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good.

[Frank R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for a casual reader--requires some familiarity with the history and thought of major philosophers. Some passages were rough going to follow the logical arguments.

But a very bracing and challenging book. Stove writes with a wry humor and piercing intellect, and no patience for the nonsense of much of what has passed for philosophy or logic in the last century.

The best portion was the section from Darwinian Fairytales. Stove points out serious problems with the theories and propositions of modern Darwinism, especially as applied to humanity.

My favorite quote: "The Enlightened took religious beliefs far too literally and logically: a piece of folly which religious people, for their part, were hardly ever guilty of."