Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

Science and the Studies of Man 69
primitives and from chimpanzees and gibbons; but obviously I was
in error. However, the arguments interdicting such practice seem
to me to be conclusive. And since they are well kno,vn, I do not
need to review them here.
The abundant and detailed knowledge Mr. Coon succeeds in
gathering by these means about Upper Paleolithic man is quite
remarkable, and I would offer other specimens of it were I not
in fear of abusing the reader's patience and were not Mr. Coon's
book easily accessible. I shall confine my remarks in this respect
to pointing out that Mr. Coon knows even about the motivations
of these early people. Thus, he knows why they painted. This is a
question on which aestheticians since Plato and Aristotle have
not been able to agree. But for Mr. Coon the problem is one that
can be settled in passing: "One great solace in the face of disturbance
is art."19 These full-brained men did not have the advantages
that we, now living, have. In the face of disturbance all they could
do was paint or look at paintings, whereas for us the Metropolitan
or the National Gallery has become obsolescent. Here lies the
genuine value of scientific progress. When disturbed we take
tranquilizers. It is much less trouble.
Mr. Coon also knows about the religion of Upper Paleolithic
man:
The Late Ice Age religious institutions likewise exceeded political
boundaries, as it should in any healthy society. Ancestral heroes who
hovered over the band were shared by other bands that met at ceremonial
times. Cult heroes responsible for the landscape and its animal
life were likewise shared, as were the combined capacities of the old
men teaching the young. 20
These are not the only problems that Mr. Coon resolves.
Philosophers have quarreled about the nature of religion for some
time, and they have been very perplexed, since William James'
day, by the difficulty of giving an adequate definition of it in
view of the varieties of what, prima facie} seem to be religious experience.
But for Mr. Coon these difficulties do not exist. He tells
us: "Religion is the sum total of behavior concerned with