Re: Reasons for a new path

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JoeRoyle

August 07, 2001 10:47AM

<HTML>Ian,

This all sounds like new-age anti-science to me: A common trait in new age thought seems to be the rejection of the scientific/rationalist paradigm on the basis of problems it is percieved to have caused in the world. I think the reasoning employed goes something like this:
"The rise of science as the dominant method by which we make sense of the world over the last 150 years has coincided with the decline in religious observance, and a general decline in 'spiritual' values, and with increased pollution and more powerful weapons of mass destruction"
"Science has given us the means to destroy our world whether this is via the bomb or via our own waste products and pollution"
"We need to find a new direction, moving away from science, and toward a more 'holistic' approach to understanding our lives and surroundings".

I can see the attraction of all of this, but I think people who follow this line of thought are confusing the scientific method with what I might call technological capitalism. What I mean is that science has given the likes of Monsanto the ability to create one-off GM crops to exploit the third world, and has given us the means to build bigger and more deadly weapons, but it is ourselves who have made the choices in how technology is employed. New-agers are happy to benefit from what might be termed the progress made through science (e.g. the internet, freedom from diseases) - they seem to want the benefits of science, without the hard work involved - it's easier to sit and meditate than it is to find something out.
What is needed now, more than ever, is a good public understanding of science, so that democracies can make informed choices on subjects such as genetic engineering, gm, SDI etc etc.
What we absolutely don't need is a rejection of rationalism and a postmodernist/new-age free-for-all, with no way to determine the wheat from the chaff.

Spirituality and science have never been comfortable bedfellows, and I think we're better off with different, but often complimentary approaches to these areas of our lives. Let science explain how, while churches ask why.</HTML>

Reply Quote

Subject	Author	Posted
Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 06, 2001 02:08PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Derek Barnett	August 06, 2001 02:18PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 06, 2001 02:24PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Derek Barnett	August 06, 2001 02:43PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 10:29AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	JoeRoyle	August 07, 2001 10:47AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 11:06AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	ISHMAEL	August 07, 2001 09:02AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Katherine Reece	August 07, 2001 09:08AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	JoeRoyle	August 07, 2001 09:54AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Claire	August 07, 2001 10:16AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	JoeRoyle	August 07, 2001 10:29AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Claire	August 07, 2001 11:20AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Garrett Fagan	August 07, 2001 01:20PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Claire	August 07, 2001 02:14PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Garrett Fagan	August 07, 2001 03:18PM
Re: Thanks	Claire	August 07, 2001 04:11PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	ISHMAEL	August 08, 2001 09:29AM
Re: Ishmael	Claire	August 08, 2001 11:27AM
Re: Ishmael	ISHMAEL	August 09, 2001 08:01AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Litz	August 07, 2001 03:24PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Claire	August 07, 2001 04:19PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Greg Reeder	August 06, 2001 03:47PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Graham'O	August 06, 2001 04:04PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Joanne	August 06, 2001 06:13PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Greg Reeder	August 06, 2001 10:57PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Don Barone	August 07, 2001 05:36AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Greg Reeder	August 07, 2001 10:24AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Joanne	August 07, 2001 07:36AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Garrett Fagan	August 07, 2001 09:38AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Katherine Reece	August 07, 2001 10:15AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Joanne	August 07, 2001 02:19PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 02:28PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Garrett Fagan	August 07, 2001 03:26PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Joanne	August 07, 2001 05:48PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 10:41AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Garrett Fagan	August 07, 2001 12:45PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 01:00PM
Re: Reasons for a new path	IAB	August 07, 2001 10:37AM
Well Ian	D.Przezdziecki	August 06, 2001 09:22PM
Re: Well Ian	Mattcarps	August 07, 2001 05:04AM
Re: Well Ian	IAB	August 07, 2001 10:53AM
Re: Well Ian	IAB	August 07, 2001 10:51AM
Re: Reasons for a new path	Greg Reeder	August 07, 2001 03:32PM

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