“Humans have foolishly placed all their hopes in science”? “Scientific exploitation”? These statements about science are quite amazing coming from a philosopher! After all, like mathematics and logic, science is “philosophy’s daughter.”
Before modern science, we spoke rather of “natural philosophy” – as did Galileo and Newton. Even before Socrates, natural philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes tried to explain natural phenomena without resorting to supernatural causes, like the gods. About 400 years before our era, Democritus imagined the world made up of atoms.
But is science (or philosophy!), through its methodical approach, really responsible for our break with nature, for this desire “to modify nature and increase its yield”, as Mr. Desjardins thinks?
First of all, it’s safe to say that in their daily lives very few people do science and even fewer understand how the scientific method works. Training scientists is laborious, because the exercise of science requires rigorous use of mathematics, statistical methods, with peer review before publication, etc. All kinds of skills that are not (yet) required to go grocery shopping or walk your dog! If some see science as responsible for the “disenchantment of the world”, we could also say quite the opposite: over the centuries, science has patiently deconstructed humanity’s ideas of grandeur – often maintained by religion.
Lessons in humility
Astronomy has taught us that, far from being the center of the Universe, the Earth revolves around the Sun, a rather ordinary star on the outskirts of the Milky Way, itself a most ordinary galaxy, in an incredibly vast Universe. The theory of evolution and genetics have taught us that Man and Woman are not at the pinnacle of Creation: they are “vulgar” mammals, primates who share 98.8% of their genome with their cousins, the chimpanzees. Like all other living species, both animal and plant, our genome is built from the same DNA molecules and we all share a common ancestor. As for astrophysics, it has taught us that our atoms, like everything around us, were forged in the heart of stars that are dead today. “We are stardust”, according to Hubert Reeves’ formula…
Thanks to biology, we know some of the innumerable interrelationships between species within ecosystems, veritable cathedrals of complexity. Even our skin and our intestines are teeming with billions of microorganisms, our microbiota, with which we are in symbiosis and which contributes to our survival. Finally, the catastrophic consequences of our dependence on oil would not have been revealed without climatology and its knowledge of the workings of our planet.
Far from cutting us off from nature, science has shown us, on the contrary, our true place in the Universe, our links with the rest of life and the consequences of our actions.
And in front of the complexity of the Universe and of the living that science reveals to us, we can only be saddened by the lack of wonder and humility of which we are capable.
Like technology (which can be thought of as “applied science”) and economics, science is a tool created by mankind. And like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. We can use the economy to properly manage an NPO or a coop to maximize the benefits for the community. Or it can be used to create a predatory corporation that outsources its pollution and other nuisances to maximize profits for its shareholders and management. Instead of blaming science, why not take a look at capitalism and overconsumption? Is it science that massacres arable land to build roads and bungalows? Is it science that encourages people to buy ever bigger cars? Is it science that makes you believe that you deserve a vacation in the South every winter? Is it science that organizes a football World Cup in Qatar in air-conditioned stadiums? Is science responsible for the disposable clothing of the fast fashionproduced in execrable conditions from all points of view?
“Science without conscience is only ruin of the soul”, said Rabelais. In our situation, an update seems required: science, technology and economy without conscience will leave the Earth in ruins and in tears…