Wild Experiment

“You know that jolt that arrives when everything clicks, when the pieces suddenly fit? At once heady and visceral, this experience of cogency—when lucidity emerges out of the messy thicket of experiment—is the focus of this book. From Darwinian science to conspiracy thinking to New Atheism to racialized cognition and more, Donovan O. Schaefer offers a lively account of how intellect and affect are thoroughly intertwined. Readers from several disciplines—religious studies, affect theory, critical science studies, and more—will feel themselves ‘clicking’ with surprise and delight.” - Gregory J. Seigworth, Digital Communication and Cultural Studies, Millersville University

“Donovan O. Schaefer’s new book is well and truly a wild experiment. It is a lively and compelling analysis of the emotional dimension of rationality that engages with a range of relevant subjects, from philosophy and social science to affect theory and the histories of science and religion. I was quickly won over to Schaefer’s view that ‘science feels’ and often find myself thinking along with his ‘cogency theory.’” - Ian Hesketh, author of Victorian Jesus: J. R. Seeley, Religion, and the Cultural Significance of Anonymity

"Inaugurate[s] a project of secular theorization that adds a distinctive and needed methodological angle to studies of the secular in North America. . . . A must-read for scholars of American religions. . . ." - Valeria Vergani, American Religion

"Wild Experiment is an indispensable addition to any course syllabus on race, religion, affect theory, and any interdisciplinary topic on the intersections between feeling and thinking." - Abdulrahman Bindamnan, Material Religion

"Through Schaefer’s endeavor to expand the conversation between secularism studies and STS, the field of STS has an illuminating new vantage from which to look at knowledge, feeling, and belief. And it feels right." - Society for the Social Studies of Science Ludwik Fleck Prize Committee

"Schaefer provides new ways to look at science and the secular. . . . [T]he book is stimulating and feels right." - René Fransen, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture

"This fascinating book is a valuable contribution to the field of affect studies and secularism studies, as it starts a first conversation between these previously somewhat unconnected fields." - Nur Yasemin Ural, Politics, Religion & Ideology

"Perhaps humanities scholars such as Schaefer can be useful in the climate crisis. They can help scientists pay attention to how knowledge feels—and thus how to be more effective in communicating it." - Amy Frykholm, Christian Century

"Wild Experiment is a very well-written book that sheds a new light on how to perceive science. It provides good grounds for rejecting naïve arguments about objective and value-free knowledge in science." - Kostas Kampourakis, Quarterly Review of Biology

"I am on record about what a valuable and enjoyable book it is, one that expertly navigates through an impressive number of topics while avoiding superficiality. Schaefer’s overarching thesis is not only compelling but also contributes substantially to ongoing discussions across multiple fields." - Josh A. Reeves, Zygon

"The book is a page-turner. Something you might stay up all night to read." - Mathew Arthur, Zygon

"Reading Donovan Schaefer’s book has been an experience. At times I felt almost dizzy as his intellectual range is breathtaking. Schaefer effortlessly engages with a vast range of topics normally not discussed in one breath, in one book. He gives us an outline of cogency theory on how thinking feels and then debates it in relation to racialized reason, secularism, Darwin and Huxley and their science,  new findings in neuroscience, creationism and more. Each chapter is like a stand-alone episode of the most gripping drama, reading which I had a Hitchcockian feeling—never a dull moment. The book is a page-turner. The nuance, the richness, the poetics of Schaefer’s prose—the book is indeed a testimonial of a passionate love affair with an idea." - Esha Shah, Zygon

"As someone who has not previously engaged with religious studies in any substantive way, I did not expect to be captivated by this book. And yet it drew me in, held my attention, and has continued to resonate with me since. . . . Part of what made the book accessible to me—in addition to the lucid writing—was its robust engagement with canonical STS literature as well as with the feminist and antiracist scholarship I do know well. He brings together bold-faced names for STS such as Thomas Kuhn and Bruno Latour, as well as incisive antiracist thinkers ranging from Audre Lorde to Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. And yet a key thing that made it interesting to me was that it brought those too-often-siloed literatures together with each other and with new-to-me literatures in a way that is original." - Anne Pollock, Zygon

"Wild Experiment is a captivating book. Much like Schaefer’s other works, it offers the reader an impressive kaleidoscope of ideas, weaving the diverse fields of science and technology studies, psychology, affect theory, and secular studies, to name a few, into a single capacious conversation saturated with crisp theoretical and practical insight." - Mari Van Emmerik, Zygon

"Donovan O. Schaefer deftly guides the reader through affect theory, Western philosophy, secularism studies, conspiracy theory, psychology, Darwin and Darwinism, New Atheism...and more! This may sound overly ambitious, but Schaefer is a competent guide." - Damon Kutzin, The Polanyi Society

"By understanding Schaefer’s cogency theory we can more effectively communicate information to a broader audience, inspire people to become more accepting of 'others,' and become better able to understand how others think and believe." - Rebecca Eagle-Malone, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith