The Song Sparrow and the Child is a powerful indictment of the impulses toward intellectual imperialism that have arisen in the wake of the fragmentation of the human and natural sciences. Vining has given us an important book, illuminating as only he can the hidden connections among seemingly unrelated phenomena.” —Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University
“The Song Sparrow and the Child is an astonishing and wonderful book. With exquisite sensitivity to science as an admirable human practice Joseph Vining has thought through the implications of the scientific ambition for “total theory,” for all-encompassing frameworks of explanation. Far from being intrinsic to the scientific endeavor, Vining argues that total theory is a threat—not only to science but also to the broader realm of human thought and ethical action. The Song Sparrow and the Child recalls us to a concern for particularity and for honesty about the infliction of suffering which is intellectually convincing and does so with both grace and passion. This is a book that demands, and rewards, thinking hard with the mind and heart.” —H. Jefferson Powell, Professor of Law and Divinity, Duke University
“This book is an erudite, personal, and even poetic discourse on the conception of humankind’s role that may be necessary in order that the sparrow and the child, the lamb and the lion, and all humankind live together with a greater sense of awe and harmony.” —Harold T. Shapiro, President Emeritus and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University
". . .The Song Sparrow and the Child is continuous with earlier writings that have established Vining among the more profoundly challenging but also more idiosyncratic and elusive (and as a result, I believe, underappreciated) legal thinkers in recent decades. . . one of the voices in the legal academy most worth listening to." —Michigan Law Review
". . . wise, gentle, and impassioned book. . ." —Theological Studies
"Vining uses words well, even elegantly. His book is a combination legal argument and sermon." —Choice
"THE SONG SPARROW AND THE CHILD is a powerful indictment of the impulses toward intellectual imperialism that have arisen in the wake of the fragmentation of the human and natural sciences. Vining has given us an important book, illuminating as only he can the hidden connections among seemingly unrelated phenomena."
"An erudite and poetic discourse on the dangers of those attitudes that assign all power, possibilities, and responsibilities to humankind or conceive of humankind as the ultimate creator."
"THE SONG SPARROW AND THE CHILD is an astonishing and wonderful book. With exquisite sensitivity to science as an admirable human practice Joseph Vining has thought through the implications of the scientific ambition for "total theory," for all-encompassing frameworks of explanation. Far from being intrinsic to the scientific endeavor, Vining argues that total theory is a threat—not only to science but also to the broader realm of human thought and ethical action. The Song Sparrow and the Child recalls us to a concern for particularity and for honesty about the infliction of suffering which is intellectually convincing and does so with both grace and passion. This is a book that demands, and rewards, thinking hard with the mind and heart."
"THE SONG SPARROW AND THE CHILD is an amazingly learned, unpretentiously cultured meditation on a moral, spiritual, and cultural problem. It emerges as a deeply felt and beautifully written provocation to think and respond to what Vining calls ‘total theory.’"