Modern Age - Summer 2014 - 62

MODERN AGE

many of the mechanisms employed, such
as those responsible for homeostasis, are
relatively simple feedback control systems,
which give the appearance of final causality but are really just efficient causality. So
it is difficult to infer final causality on the
basis of such mechanisms, even if they do
function to enable life. But final causality has become prominent recently with
the growing awareness of the anthropic
principle, which states that the universe is
fine-tuned for life and that were any laws
or initial conditions even slightly different,
life could not have arisen. Although not a
scientific principle, it utilizes the findings of
science and the extremely small probability

SUMMER 2014

that so many things could have happened
by chance to infer the final causality. Curiously, however, the author does not discuss
this subject in the book.
The epilogue of the book is quite interesting but only tangentially related to the
subject matter of the other chapters. It deals
with the problem of freedom, rights, and
education and culture in language that will
be familiar to readers of this journal.
Overall this book will be valuable for those
who want to get some insight into the way
that science is understood and fitted into an
Aristotelian framework. Those who are seeking answers to the hard questions this poses
will have to look elsewhere.

the stark truth about
western civilization
R. V. Young
How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
by Rodney Stark (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2014)

odney Stark's account of the triumph
of Western modernity is a remarkable
book and ought to prove useful for anyone
interested in grasping the unique contribution of the West to the well-being of humanity and defending it against its numerous
and vociferous academic critics. In order to
appreciate the book fully, however, and to
use it effectively, one must recognize what
it achieves and what it does not. For the
most part, How the West Won is not a work
of original scholarship but rather a skillfully
deployed compendium of myriad secondary
sources, although Stark does from time to

R. V. Young is editor of Modern Age.
62

time draw upon original research that he
has published in earlier volumes. It is no
surprise that his argument is sounder and
more cogent in some academic areas than in
others. Happily, he is best in assessing the
economic, social, and political development
of the Western world, where the need for
reliable information and interpretation is
currently most pressing.
And the need is pressing. As Stark's introduction points out, "Forty years ago the most
important and popular freshman course at
the best American colleges and universities was 'Western Civilization.' . . . But this
course has long since disappeared from most
college catalogues on grounds that Western

Modern Age - Summer 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Summer 2014