WISDOM LOST AND REGAINED? THE POSSIBILITY OF REINTEGRATING A FRACTURED TECHNOSCIENTIFIC CULTURE
[Article]
CORNEL W. DU TOIT
Leiden
Brill
Abstract Technology has taken on a life of its own and it now seems impossible to work out who manages it. Humans have created a technoscientific environment that has surpassed the guidelines of their wisdom. The question: what is it to be human? can no longer be isolated from the question: what is it to possess technology? The renewed search for wisdom is regarded as a metaphor for expressing different sentiments, such as the attempt to link values to technology; the search for unity between the different sciences, and between science and the life world; the restoration of values, especially in the realm of the natural sciences; the best way to cope in a technoscientific culture; and, finally, decisions about research policies. in this article some of the main factors responsible for the exclusivity of the natural sciences and for the division of the sciences, and the detachment of science from the life world are discussed. the detachment of natural science from values, ethics and the human sciences are traced back to the scientific revolution and the establishment by Galileo and Kepler of mathematics as the language of the natural sciences. The subject of scientific research has shifted from the scientific community to the political and economic realm. the realm of power and the prerequisites for academic accomplishment compromise the integrity of science and the wellbeing of society. The democratisation of technoscience requires some progress in the concilience of the sciences. Abstract Technology has taken on a life of its own and it now seems impossible to work out who manages it. Humans have created a technoscientific environment that has surpassed the guidelines of their wisdom. The question: what is it to be human? can no longer be isolated from the question: what is it to possess technology? The renewed search for wisdom is regarded as a metaphor for expressing different sentiments, such as the attempt to link values to technology; the search for unity between the different sciences, and between science and the life world; the restoration of values, especially in the realm of the natural sciences; the best way to cope in a technoscientific culture; and, finally, decisions about research policies. in this article some of the main factors responsible for the exclusivity of the natural sciences and for the division of the sciences, and the detachment of science from the life world are discussed. the detachment of natural science from values, ethics and the human sciences are traced back to the scientific revolution and the establishment by Galileo and Kepler of mathematics as the language of the natural sciences. The subject of scientific research has shifted from the scientific community to the political and economic realm. the realm of power and the prerequisites for academic accomplishment compromise the integrity of science and the wellbeing of society. The democratisation of technoscience requires some progress in the concilience of the sciences.