Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

28 Scientism and Values
Raimond Sebond." But this view was only beginning to have scientific
significance in Montaigne's time. The only important opposing
view, that of Aristotle, was still dominant when Montaigne
was writing. The Aristotelian view is the only systematically objective
one that the world has had. The basis for displacing it with
the subjective view of modern science was being laid during the
hundred years before and after Montaigne wrote his, essays.
The position of physical science in the twentieth century is
completely in line with the trend started by Copernicus and Descartes,
Galileo and Newton. Alfred North Whitehead summarizes
this position:
. . . the mind in apprehending also experiences sensations which,
properly speaking, are qualities of the mind alone. These sensations
are projected by the mind so as to clothe appropriate bodies in exter..
nal nature. Thus the bodies are perceived as with qualities which in
reality do not belong to them, qualities which in fact are purely the
offspring of the mind. Thus nature gets credit which in truth should
be reserved for ourselves; the rose for its scent: the nightingale for
his song: and the sun for his radiance. The poets are entirely mis..
taken. They should address their lyrics to thems.elves, and should turn
them into odes of self-congratulation on the excellency of the human
mind. Nature is a dull affair, soundless, scentless, colorless; merely the
hurrying of material, endlessly, meaninglessly.?
"However you disguise it," says Whitehead, "this is the practical
outcome of the characteristic scientific philosophy which closed
the seventeenth century." And, he says,
It is still reigning. Every university in the world organizes itself in
accordance with it. No alternative system of organizing the pursuit of
truth has been suggested. It is not only reigning, but it is without
rival.
"And yet," adds Whitehead, "it is quite unbelievable." 8
Whether it is believable or not, one thing is certain. This statement
of Whitehead's shows what an animistic hash the objectivity
is that the social sciences get from the physical sciences. It shows