on
knowledge
"We
are a scientific civilization" declared Jacob Bronowski in The
Ascent of Man (1973). "That means a civilization in which
knowledge and its integrity are crucial. Science is only a Latin
word for knowledge. ... Knowledge is our destiny." We became
heavily dependent on our brain capabil- ities. We are unlike to
survive as species if we do not make full and advanced use of our
human intelligence.
However,
question, was our evolution determined in that direction? In the
last chapter of The Ascent of Man Bronowski is saddened to
find himself "suddenly surrounded in the West by a sense of
terrible loss of nerve, a retreat from knowledge". Then,
question, is it just a cry of an old intellectual or a valuable
warning of a resurgent interest in mystical and occult doctrines
(including a variety of religions) and pseudoscience?
The
skepticism related to the human knowledge is not new, of course. St.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD),
after a lusty and intellectually inventive young manhood, withdrew
from the world of sense and intellect and advised others to do
likewise: "There is another form of temptation, even more
fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. ... It is
this which drives us on to try to discover the secrets of nature,
those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us
nothing and which men should not wish to learn. ... I no longer
dream of the stars." |
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