[Book Review] The Nature of Knowledge and Our Knowledge of Nature: A Review of George E. McCarthy’s Shadows of the Enlightenment

In Shadows of the Enlightenment, George E. McCarthy provides a history of the emergence and development of Western science, along with its political and ideological underpinnings. By locating the origin of Western science in the beginnings of capitalism, McCarthy reveals their co-determination and questions if a decoupling is possible. Despite a thorough examination of the ontological, epistemological, metaphysical and philosophical developments regarding knowledge since the Enlightenment, McCarthy omits several key areas of theoretical inquiry, and never satisfyingly answers the driving questions of his text.