Cosmologies and the Modern World
Based on Alan Macfarlane’s 1982 Cambridge University lecture notes (updated with 30 years of new insights), *Cosmologies and the Modern World* traces 500 years of paradigm shifts in Western social science. It unpacks how changing worldviews—from cyclical time in pre-1700 Europe to Enlightenment progress, 19th-century evolutionary theory, mid-20th-century structuralism, and today’s global rebalancing—shaped disciplines like anthropology, sociology, and history. Drawing on thinkers like Thomas Kuhn, Michel Foucault, and Franz Boas, the book links time perception to technological change, political power, and colonial bias, critiquing the imperial arrogance embedded in 19th-century evolutionary frameworks. It also addresses 21st-century disruptions: AI’s rise, renewable energy innovations, and the shifting East-West power dynamic, offering a nuanced look at how intellectual paradigms reflect and drive global societal change.