4/6 of 5 million billion trillion zillion googleplex minus 1 (times 3)
E.F. Schumacher author of Small is Beautiful Harper & Row c.1977 E.F.S.
_A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed_ isbn: 0-06-090611-1
1. On Philosophical Maps (001)
c.4 The maps produced by modern materialistic Scientism leave all the
questions that really matter unanswered; more than that, they deny
the validity of the questions. The situation was desperate enough in
my youth a half a century ago; it is even worse now because the ever
more rigorous application of the scientific method to all subjects and
disciplines has destroyed even the last remnants of ancient wisdom--
at least in the Western world. It is being loudly proclaimed ~in~the-
~nature~of~scientific~objectivity that "values and meanings are nothing
but defence mechanisms and reaction formations";^4 that man is "nothing
but a complex biochemical mechanism powered by a combustion system
which energises computers with prodigious storage facilities for
retaining encoded information."^5 Sigmund Freud even assured us that
"this alone I know with certainy, namely that men's value judgements
are guided absolutely by their desire for happiness, and are therefore
merely an attempt to bolster up their illusions by arguments."^6
How is anyone to resist the pressure of such statements, made in the
name fo objective science, unless, like Maurice Nicoll, he suddenly
receives "this inner relevation of knowing" that men who say such
things, however learned they may be, ~know~nothing~about~anything~that-
~really~matters~? People are asking for bread and they are being given
stones. They beg for advice about what to do "to be saved," and they
are told that the idea of salvation has no intelligible content and is
nothing but an infantile neurosis. They long for guidance about how to
live as responsible human beings, and they are told that they are
machines, like computers, without free will and therefore without
responsiblity.
"The present danger," says Viktor E. Frankl, a psychiatrist of un-
shakable sanity, "does not really lie in the loss of universality on the
part of the scientist, but rather in his pretence and claim of totality.
.. What we have to deplore therefore is not so much the fact that
~scientists~are~specialising, but rather the fact that ~specialists~are-
~generalising." After many centuries of theological imperialism, we
have now had three centuries of an ever more agressive "scientific
imperialism," and the result is a degree of bewilderment and dis-
orientation, particularly among the young, which can at any moment lead
to the collapse of our civilization. "The true nihilism of today,"
says Dr. Frankl, "is reductionism.. Contemporary nihilism no longer
brandishes the word nothingness; today nihilism is camoflaged as
~nothing-but-ness. Human phenomena are thus turned into mere
epiphenomena."^7
Yet they remain ~our~reality, everything we are and everything we
become. In this life we find ourselves as in a strange country.
Ortega y Gasset once remarked that "Life is fired at us point-blank."
We cannot say: "Hold it! I am not quite ready. Wait until I have sorted
things out." Decisions have to be taken that we are not ready for; aims
have to be chosen that we cannot see clearly. This is very strange and,
on the face of it, quite irrational. Human beings, it seems, are
insufficiently "programmed." Not only are they utterly helpless when
they are born and remain so for a long time; even when fully grown,
they do not move and act with the sure-footedness of animals. They
hesitate, doubt, change their minds, run hither and thither, uncertain
not simply of how to get what they want but above all of ~what they
want.
Questions like "What should I do?" or "What must I do to be saved?"
because they relate to ~ends, not simply to means. No technical answer
will do, such as "Tell me precisely what you want and I shall tell you
how to get it." The whole point is that I do not know what I want.
Maybe all I want is to be happy. But the answer "Tell me what you need
happiness, and I shall then be able to advise you what to do"--
this answer, again, will not do, because I do not know what I need for
happiness. Perhaps someone says: "For happiness you need wisdom"--
but what is wisdom? Or: "For happiness you need the truth that makes
you free" -- but waht is the truth that makes us free? Who will tell
me where I can find it? Who can guide me to it or at least point out
the direction in which I have to proceed?
E.F. Schumacher author of Small is Beautiful Harper & Row c.1977 E.F.S.
_A_Guide_for_the_Perplexed_ isbn: 0-06-090611-1
1. On Philosophical Maps (001)
c.4 The maps produced by modern materialistic Scientism leave all the
questions that really matter unanswered; more than that, they deny
the validity of the questions. The situation was desperate enough in
my youth a half a century ago; it is even worse now because the ever
more rigorous application of the scientific method to all subjects and
disciplines has destroyed even the last remnants of ancient wisdom--
at least in the Western world. It is being loudly proclaimed ~in~the-
~nature~of~scientific~objectivity that "values and meanings are nothing
but defence mechanisms and reaction formations";^4 that man is "nothing
but a complex biochemical mechanism powered by a combustion system
which energises computers with prodigious storage facilities for
retaining encoded information."^5 Sigmund Freud even assured us that
"this alone I know with certainy, namely that men's value judgements
are guided absolutely by their desire for happiness, and are therefore
merely an attempt to bolster up their illusions by arguments."^6
How is anyone to resist the pressure of such statements, made in the
name fo objective science, unless, like Maurice Nicoll, he suddenly
receives "this inner relevation of knowing" that men who say such
things, however learned they may be, ~know~nothing~about~anything~that-
~really~matters~? People are asking for bread and they are being given
stones. They beg for advice about what to do "to be saved," and they
are told that the idea of salvation has no intelligible content and is
nothing but an infantile neurosis. They long for guidance about how to
live as responsible human beings, and they are told that they are
machines, like computers, without free will and therefore without
responsiblity.
"The present danger," says Viktor E. Frankl, a psychiatrist of un-
shakable sanity, "does not really lie in the loss of universality on the
part of the scientist, but rather in his pretence and claim of totality.
.. What we have to deplore therefore is not so much the fact that
~scientists~are~specialising, but rather the fact that ~specialists~are-
~generalising." After many centuries of theological imperialism, we
have now had three centuries of an ever more agressive "scientific
imperialism," and the result is a degree of bewilderment and dis-
orientation, particularly among the young, which can at any moment lead
to the collapse of our civilization. "The true nihilism of today,"
says Dr. Frankl, "is reductionism.. Contemporary nihilism no longer
brandishes the word nothingness; today nihilism is camoflaged as
~nothing-but-ness. Human phenomena are thus turned into mere
epiphenomena."^7
Yet they remain ~our~reality, everything we are and everything we
become. In this life we find ourselves as in a strange country.
Ortega y Gasset once remarked that "Life is fired at us point-blank."
We cannot say: "Hold it! I am not quite ready. Wait until I have sorted
things out." Decisions have to be taken that we are not ready for; aims
have to be chosen that we cannot see clearly. This is very strange and,
on the face of it, quite irrational. Human beings, it seems, are
insufficiently "programmed." Not only are they utterly helpless when
they are born and remain so for a long time; even when fully grown,
they do not move and act with the sure-footedness of animals. They
hesitate, doubt, change their minds, run hither and thither, uncertain
not simply of how to get what they want but above all of ~what they
want.
Questions like "What should I do?" or "What must I do to be saved?"
because they relate to ~ends, not simply to means. No technical answer
will do, such as "Tell me precisely what you want and I shall tell you
how to get it." The whole point is that I do not know what I want.
Maybe all I want is to be happy. But the answer "Tell me what you need
happiness, and I shall then be able to advise you what to do"--
this answer, again, will not do, because I do not know what I need for
happiness. Perhaps someone says: "For happiness you need wisdom"--
but what is wisdom? Or: "For happiness you need the truth that makes
you free" -- but waht is the truth that makes us free? Who will tell
me where I can find it? Who can guide me to it or at least point out
the direction in which I have to proceed?