Demythologizing the machine

Patrick geddes, lewis mumford, and classical sociological theory

Bibliographic Data

ID4780593
AuthorsChris Renwick (0000-0001-9672-6671, University of Leeds, corresponding author), Richard Gunn (0009-0006-7939-5448, University of Leeds), Richard C Gunn
Year2008
Volume44
Issue1
Pages59-76
Publication date2008-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5061 • E-ISSN: 1520-6696
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/jhbs.20282
PMID18196543
OpenAlexW2001294561
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited31

This paper reconsiders the work of the Scottish biologist, sociologist, and town planner Patrick Geddes and his most famous intellectual disciple: the American independent scholar Lewis Mumford. It is argued that existing interpretations of their work, ranging from a dismissal of the two men as eccentric polymaths to the speculative emphasis on the importance of psychological theories in Mumford's oeuvre, are fundamentally flawed. Examining their writings and the letters they exchanged during their 17-year correspondence, this paper shows that the only way we can appreciate the scholarly conventions underpinning Geddes's and Mumford's work, as well as the context in which it was produced, is by looking to the principles of classical sociological theory. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Context (archaeology · Dismissal · Epistemology · Planner · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Philosophy

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