He (E. F. Schumacher) notes that science became science for manipulation following Descartes. Descartes promised men would become masters and possessors of nature, a point of view first popularised by Francis Bacon. For Schumacher this was something of a wrong turn, because it meant the devaluation of science for understanding or wisdom. One of Schumachers criticisms is that science for manipulation almost inevitably leads from the manipulation of nature to the manipulation of people. Schumacher argues that science for manipulation is a valuable tool when subordinated for science for understanding or wisdom; but until then science for manipulation has become a danger to humanity. Schumacher argues that if materialistic scientism grows to dominate science even further, then there will be three negative consequences: Quality of life will fall, because solutions of quantity are incapable of solving problems of quality. Science for understanding will not develop, because the dominant paradigm will prevent it being treated as a serious subject. Problems will become insoluble, because the higher powers of man will atrophy through lack of use. Schumacher argues that the ideal science would have a proper hierarchy of knowledge from pure knowledge for understanding at the top of the hierarchy to knowledge for manipulation at the bottom. At the level of knowledge for manipulation, the aims of prediction and control are appropriate. But as we deal with higher levels they become increasingly absurd. As he says Human beings are highly predictable as physico-chemical systems, less predictable as living bodies, much less so as conscious beings and hardly at all as self aware persons.[6] The result of materialistic scientism is that man has become rich in means and poor in ends. Lacking a sense of higher values Western societies are left with pluralism, moral relativism and utilitarianism, and for Schumacher the inevitable result is chaos. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:10:24 +0000
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