The Retreat From Physical Reality: From Climate Change to the Human Body
rogerboyd.substack.com
In the 1700s the scientific revolution facilitated the escape of Western societies from the medieval metaphysics of religion. Knowledge would be based upon the rigorous observance of the natural world, the “scientific method”, instead of the interpretation and reinterpretation of previous texts that referred to mystical beings and powers. It was not a total escape as much religiosity still exists in the West, especially in North America, but religion was dethroned and separated from the state and the epistemology of knowledge creation. Three centuries later, the West is beset by what Dunlap defined as “human exemptionalism” the belief that humanity through a magical force called “technology” or even “culture” can overcome any natural limit. This belief can be said to be the core belief of modern society, one that has spread far and wide in the social sciences as well as being a fundamental assumption of many scientists.
The Retreat From Physical Reality: From Climate Change to the Human Body
The Retreat From Physical Reality: From…
The Retreat From Physical Reality: From Climate Change to the Human Body
In the 1700s the scientific revolution facilitated the escape of Western societies from the medieval metaphysics of religion. Knowledge would be based upon the rigorous observance of the natural world, the “scientific method”, instead of the interpretation and reinterpretation of previous texts that referred to mystical beings and powers. It was not a total escape as much religiosity still exists in the West, especially in North America, but religion was dethroned and separated from the state and the epistemology of knowledge creation. Three centuries later, the West is beset by what Dunlap defined as “human exemptionalism” the belief that humanity through a magical force called “technology” or even “culture” can overcome any natural limit. This belief can be said to be the core belief of modern society, one that has spread far and wide in the social sciences as well as being a fundamental assumption of many scientists.