5/12: THE CARTESIAN DOGMA OF A MECHANICAL UNIVERSE

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link: descartes

 DESCARTES (1596-1650) AND THE CARTESIAN DOGMA OF A MECHANICAL UNIVERSE

theme:  Descartes is usually regarded as the founder of modern philosophy. His belief in the certainty of knowledge or 'truth' - the 'Cartesian belief' -  was the basis for his method of analytic reasoning - the 'Cartesian method' - which he claimed was a function of the 'soul' - 'Cartesian doctrine'. He viewed the universe as a machine designed by divine reason or 'God' - the 'Cartesian dogma'.

Descartes' perception of 'human nature'... The "essence of human nature lies in thought, and all the things we conceive clearly and distinctly are true". In this way Descartes demonstrated the value of error and proved his doctrine - the 'Cartesian doctrine' - that human reason was a valid means of searching for certain knowledge or 'truth'.

"Most ancient civilizations knew what we have forgotten: that knowledge is a fearful thing. To know the name of something is to hold power over it. In ancient myths and legends, eating from the tree of knowledge meant banishment from one garden or another. In the modern world, this Janus-like quality of knowledge has been forgotten. Descartes, for example, reached the conclusion that 'the more I sought to inform myself, the more I realized how ignorant I was.' Instead of taking this as a proper conclusion of a good education, Descartes thought ignorance was a solvable problem and set forth to find certain truth through a process of radical skepticism." (Miller et al. The Renewal of Meaning in Education: Responses to the Cultural and Ecological Crisis of our Times Brandon, VT: Holistic Education Press, 1993 27)

 Cartesian belief (certainty ofknowledge)...   Cartesian method (analysis)... 

Cartesian doctrine (mind-body dualism)...   Cartesian dogma (mechanical universe)...  Western science...

 Cartesian belief in the certainty of scientific knowledge or 'truth': Descartes was a brilliant mathematician who was greatly affected by the new physics and astronomy of his time. He did not accept the traditional knowledge of Aristotle and the Church and set out to build a whole new system of thought... a complete and exact natural science He devised an analytic method (Cartesian method) ushering in the so-called 'scientific revolution' which overturned the authority of Aristotle and the dogma of the Church.  These were replaced by the scientific study of the universe using methods of reductionism which originated with the analytic method of Descartes ... the 'Cartesian method'.

At age twenty-three in a sudden flash of insight... he experienced an illuminating vision that was to shape his entire life.. he envisioned a plan for building a complete and exact natural science ... the foundations of a marvellous science' which would unify all knowledge.. This is the 'Cartesian belief' in scientific truth.

His firm belief in the certainty of knowledge or 'truth'  the 'Cartesian belief'led him to his plan for building a complete and exact natural science based on a new system of thought ...a new method of analysis involving the breaking up of a problem into pieces and rearranging them in a logical order.analytic reasoning  His method of analysis known as the 'Cartesian method'  

 Cartesian method of analytic reasoning was based on his belief in the certainty of knowledge: To carry out his plan, he developed a new method of reasoning... 'Cartesian method'. The method involved the breaking up of the parts of a problem into smaller pieces or thoughts and then rearranging them in a logical order. He presented his analytic method in his famous introduction to science entitled Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and Searching the Truth in the Sciences.

 The crux of Descartes' analytic method was doubt. Descartes was a sceptic who systematically doubted everything which he could manage to doubt - all traditional knowledge, all sense impressions and even his own body. He rejected "as absolutely false all opinions I could suppose the least ground for doubt, in order to ascertain whether after that there remained aught in my belief that was wholly indubitable". He doubted that philosophical and scientific concepts could be derived solely from the senses. He realized that the more he doubted, the more ignorant he was and in his own words "the more I sought to inform myself, the more I realized how ignorant I was"  He finally reached the conclusion that ignorance was a solvable problem

 and set out to find certain truth could be discovered through a process of radical skepticism and analytical reasoning. He at last came upon one proposition which his doubt could not conquer. There was one thing he could not doubt and that was his own existence as a thinker. He could not doubt that he was doubting. He was unable to doubt that he was doubting  He proved that he could not doubt his own existence as a thinker... n his celebrated statement, "Cogito, ergo sum," "I think, therefore I exist." I think therefore I am.  From this premise he deduced that "the essence of human nature lies in thought, and that all the things we conceive clearly and distinctly are true".With this proposition he established the famous premise which he believed was a valid basis for a rationalistic philosophy which could be used in the search for truth.  Descartes demonstrated the value of error as the source of discovery and that progress can be made from the discovery of error... the problem ignorance was a solvable one.

He decided to find the truth by way of a thought process which combined 'radical skepticism' with 'analytical reasoning'. He proved beyond doubt that human reason is valid in the process of finding certain truth. Because of his recognition of the importance of an unshakable base for a rationalistic philosophy, Descartes is regarded as the greatest of the rationalists... and even as the founder of modern philosophy. Descartes taught those who came after him how to make new discoveries through a process of radical skepticism and analytical reasoning.

Descartes' Discourse on the Method is probably his greatest contribution to science... to human knowledge... because it proved the validity of human reason in the search for certain truth.... and laid the foundation for the general belief that complex phenomena can be understood by reducing them... fragmenting them... to their constituent parts... represents the origin of 'reductionist science' or 'reductionism'. 

 Descartes showed the world that it was possible to make new discoveries through a process of radical skepticism and analytical reasoning. He demonstrated the value of error.

Cartesian method explains the mental creation of concepts  The key feature of the Cartesian method was that it explained the mental creation of concepts... innate cognitive disposition... which he called 'innate ideas'. Descartes believed thatin experiences of learning the clarity of concepts could not be attributed to the senses. Their creation had to be the product of innate cognitive process or 'intuition' by the 'pure and attentive mind'... depends on the reasoning of sound thinking or 'sanity', common sense and a cognitive process of  forming concepts... the 'conception of the pure and attentive mind' or 'intuition' which is functional in learning experiences which provide opportunities for the creation of concepts. He believed that the search for scientific truth was only possible through intuition and deduction from a true premise. In his own words "there are no paths to the certain knowledge of truth open to man except evident intuition and necessary deduction...." He believed this premise to be unshakable and therefore a valid basis for a rational philosophy of science. Descartes was the greatest of the rationalists and the founder of modern scientific philosophy. With the rationalism of Descartes, the scientist was perceived as an 'objective' observer whose job it was to measure the objects, and then explain the causes for their interactions and discover the laws of nature.

     (Descartes' concept of innate ideas was refuted by Hobbes and Locke who maintained that there was nothing in the mind that was not first in the senses. In Locke's famous phrase, the human mind at birth was a blank tablet or 'tabula rasa' upon which ideas were imprinted through sensory perceptions. It was this notion which served as the starting point of empiricism and the mechanistic theory of knowledge according to which sensations were the basic elements of the mental realm and these were combined into more complex structures by the process of association)

 "Overemphasis on the Cartesian method has led to the fragmentation that is characteristic of both our general thinking and our academic disciplines, and to the widespread attitude of reductionism in science - the belief that all aspects of complex phenomena can be understood by reducing them to their constituent parts". (Fritjof Capra The Turning Point p. 59) .

  Cartesian doctrine: mind-body dualism  At the time of Descartes, the connection was not made between the mind and the brain. Descartes based his whole view of nature on the fundamental division between two independent and separate realms: physical reality and spiritual reality... body and soul or 'mind' independent of the brain.

 The Cartesian doctrine taught that the process of reasoning or 'knowing' was a function of the 'soul' and took place independently of the brain. Human reason - sound thinking, intelligence, sanity and sense as a function of the 'soul'   

     Descartes based his view on the clear distinction between the realms of 'physical reality' and 'spiritual reality'. Physical reality was thought to be the reality of unconscious matter governed by mechanical laws which could be studied using a mathematical approach and so it was possible to describe it by science. Spiritual reality was thought to be the reality of the conscious spirit, the mind or 'soul' beyond the reach of scientific investigation... could not be described by science. it was only possible to use a mathematical approach in studying the physical world and not the spiritual world. This dualism was useful for the scientific research of the time because it enabled scientists to free themselves of the authority of the church from their work..The body-matter realm was believed to be governed by mechanical laws but the mind-soul realm was believed to be free and immortal. the spiritual world did not lend itself to a mathematical approach of study

 The dualistic perception of human consciousness - the 'mind-body problem' - a notion inherited from Greek philosophy... had been portrayed earlier by Plato in his Phaedrus. In a powerful and influential image of the psyche, a charioteer drives two horses one representing the bodily passions and the other the higher emotions of the 'soul'. The metaphor embodies the two approaches to consciousness - the biological and the spiritual..... the same dichotomous view of human nature which has been adopted and pursued throughout Western philosophy and science - . Descartes based his whole view of nature on the fundamental division between two parallel but fundamentally different realms, the physical realm and the spiritual realm.each of which could be studied without reference to the other: that of mind or soul - 'res cogitans' the 'thinking thing' and that of matter, or the body - 'res extensa', the 'extended thing'. Descartes claimed that the physical interaction between body and soul occurred through the 'pineal gland' of the brain. (In his time it was not understood that the mind is a function of brain functioning.)  Even human emotions were described in a mechanical way in terms of combinations of six 'elementary passions'.  Descartes' naive models of the 'psyche' led to mechanistic models of psychology.  The Cartesian form of 'mind/body dualism' - mind/soul-body/matter or 'soul-body' or 'mind-matter' had a profound effect on Western thought and shaped the development of Western science and scientific psychology.

The 'mind-body problem' is reflected in many schools of psychology, most notably in the psychologies of 'scientific psychology' of Freud defined self-knowledge in terms of the separate existence of a psychological 'ego' and a physical body.

 The dualistic notion of 'mind-body' and the analytic method of Descartes resulted in the replacement of an organic universe with a mechanical universe produced by divine reason... 

"According to Descartes, mind and body belonged to two parallel but fundamentally different realms, each of which could be studied without reference to the other. The body was governed by mechanical laws, but the mind - or soul - was free and immortal. The soul was clearly and specifically identified with consciousness and could affect the body by interacting with it through the brain's pineal gland. Human emotions were seen as combinations of six elementary 'passions' and described in a semimechanical way. As far as knowledge and perception were concerned, Descartes believed that knowing was a primary function of human reason, that is, of the soul, which could take place independently of the brain. Clarity of concepts, which played such an important role in Descartes' philosophy and science, could not be derived from the confused performance of the senses but was the result of an innate cognitive disposition. Learning and experience merely provided the occasions for the manifestation of innate ideas." (Capra Turning Point1 166)

 Descartes believed that both mind and matter were creations of God. He believed that God created the world as a perfect machine which was governed by mathematical laws. With his view of nature as a perfect machine, Descartes created the conceptual framework for seventeenth century science. After his death, the mechanical picture of nature remained the paradigm of science. The Cartesian view of the universe as a mechanical system provided a 'scientific' sanction for the manipulation and exploitation of nature that has become typical of Western culture. When Francis Bacon proposed an alliance between science and power, Descartes shared Bacon's view that the aim of science was the domination and control of nature...

 Cartesian dogma: mechanical universe designed by 'divine reason' or 'God' "The Cartesian view of the universe as a mechanical system provided a 'scientific' sanction for the manipulation and exploitation of nature that has become typical of Western culture. Descartes himself shared Bacon's view that the aim of science was the domination and control of nature." (Fritjof Capra. The Turning Point. page 61) 

As a result of the combined effects of the Cartesian doctrine (mind-body dualism) and the Cartesian method (analytic reasoning) the worldview of an organic universe was replaced by the worldview of a mechanical universe produced by divine reason. Descartes believed that both mind and matter were creations of God. He believed that God created the world as a perfect machine which was governed by mathematical laws. Man was considered to be the central figure of God's creation.

(In subsequent centuries scientists omitted any explicit reference to God and developed their theories according to the 'Cartesian division', the humanities concentrating on the 'res cogitans' and the natural sciences on the 'res extensa.') In his time, humankind was perceived as separate from nature and in a position to control nature in its own interest.

The organic worldview of the Middle Ages had implied a value system conducive to ecological behaviour. With the rationalism of Descartes, the scientist was perceived as an 'objective' observer whose job it was to measure the objects, and then explain the causes for their interactions and discover the laws of nature. And in the 19th century the mind-matter dualism became an obstacle because it placed consciousness and other mental phenomena outside of ordinary physical reality and thus outside of the domain of the natural sciences.

 In subsequent centuries scientists omitted any explicit reference to God and developed their theories according to the Cartesian division, the humanities concentrating on the 'res cogitans' and the natural sciences on the 'res extensa.'

    With his view of nature as a perfect machine,  Descartes replaced the 'organic worldview' of the Middle Ages and created the conceptual framework for seventeenth century science. Both Descartes and Galileo made a clear distinction between 'physical reality' and 'spiritual reality'. With the origins of reductionism in science...'Cartesian method', the authority of Aristotle and the dogma of the Church was replaced by the scientific study of the universe as divine creation of Cartesian dogma.  Although his view of nature as a perfect machine remained a vision during his lifetime (see Newton) the mechanical picture of nature remained the paradigm of science and the mechanical universe... the world machine became the dominant metaphor. In his time, humankind was perceived as separate from nature and in a position to control nature in its own interest. When Francis Bacon proposed an alliance between science and power, Descartes shared his view that the aim of science was the domination and control of nature.   Scientists have been obsessed with measurement and quantification science has become 'scientism' preventing progress in the human sciences. Scientific goals have been directed to the control of nature and human nature. The Cartesian view of the universe as a mechanical system has provided the so-called 'scientific' justification... sanction for the manipulation and exploitation of nature that has characterised Western culture.

The Cartesian mentality and worldview has given to Western civilization its characteristic features. amongst others, scientific goals are directed to the control of nature and human nature

Western 'Science' .

For four hundred years the empirical approach and its mathematical description of nature have remained important criteria of scientific theories.

Overemphasis on the Cartesian method ...led to 'reductionism' in science ...the general belief that complex phenomena can be understood by reducing them to their constituent parts ...i.e. fragmentation...

The Cartesian division between mind and matter has had a profound effect on Western thought. It has taught us to be aware of ourselves as isolated 'egos' existing 'inside' our bodies; it has led us to set a higher value on mental than on manual work

 Experiences of human feelings, human motives, human goals, human values have been ignored. Implications for education: In the present shift of scientific paradigm, dualistic concepts such as 'unconscious matter' and 'conscious spirit' are being replaced by holistic concepts such as 'consciousness'. A parallel shift in the paradigm of education is replacing traditional education with holistic education.

 Descartes' naive models of the 'psyche' led to the mechanistic model of the founder of psychoanalysis Freud. Freud defined the human psyche in terms of the separate existence of the 'id', the 'ego' and the 'superego'. The mind-matter dualism became an obstacle to progress in psychology because it placed mental phenomena of consciousness - moral consciousness or 'conscience' - outside of ordinary physical reality and thus outside of the domain of the natural sciences. 

The soul was believed to be free and immortal, not governed by mechanical laws and not able to be described by science. This notion was useful at the time because it allowed for scientific investigation which was free from the authority of the church.

Misunderstanding of importance of human needs as human motives or 'values' in mature growth or 'self-actualisation': implications for education The lack of respect for human values has prevented progress in the human sciences including the science of education. In the present shift of scientific paradigm from reductionism to holistic science  dualistic concepts such as 'unconscious matter' and 'conscious spirit' are being replaced by holistic concepts such as 'consciousness'. A parallel shift in the paradigm of education is replacing traditional education with holistic education.

 We need to abandon the dualistic concept of unconscious matter and conscious spirit, and to adopt holistic concepts of the holistic worldview.

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  "Descartes has taught those who came after him how to discover his own errors." (Montesqieu)

 References: Capra The Turning Point

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MECHANISTIC AND ORGANIC WORLDVIEWS

The Organic worldview is an entirely new set of values, one that is in many ways the opposite of the old thinking. As in the shift from the Medieval to the mechanistic worldview, the new paradigm brings in a whole set of shocking ideas, a change in the very fundamentals of thought and values. A Values Gap that cannot stand drives the new worldview to reinvent society from top to bottom.

From its fundamental rejection of the anthropocentric universe to its respect for ecology, from new sciences and renewable energy technology—and on to cultural changes such as the Suffrage Movement, the Union Movement and the Civil Rights Movement—the Organic Worldview has a broader and more inclusive paradigm, and a broader and more inclusive set of values.

The Organic Worldview also transcends the view of present-day nationalism, believing the state of our small planet and the world to be as important as the state of our own country—that ultra-nationalism is in fact a main cause of war. Here again, the new thinking is very far apart from the old. New paradigm thinking also sees the Earth as a living being, as proved by the Gaia Hypothesis. Here again we see a nearly opposite view from the anthropocentric Mechanists. If the Earth and it's atmosphere and oceans are themselves living things, then pollution is not acceptable, nor is total exploitation of resources. This is a huge change in fundamental values.

Discussion: On the values chart, the old paradigm believes war to be an inescapable part of human nature. The new paradigm believes war can be transcended. How do you think war can finally be overcome?

Discussion: Compare the Values Gap of the Medievals and the Mechanists and the current gap between the Mechanists and the Organic thinkers. What strikes you about the differences?

AMSTERDAM DECLARATION

...in addition to the threat of significant climate change, there is growing concern over the ever-increasing human modification of other aspects of the global environment and the consequent implications for human well-being.

Basic goods and services supplied by the planetary life support system, such as food, water, clean air and an environment conducive to human health, are being affected increasingly...

The Earth System behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components. ...The understanding of the natural dynamics of the Earth System has advanced greatly in recent years and provides a sound basis for eval‎uating the effects and consequences of human-driven change. ...

Earth System dynamics are characterised by critical thresholds and abrupt changes. Human activities could inadvertently trigger such changes with severe consequences for Earth's environment and inhabitants. ...

In terms of some key environmental parameters,... the nature of changes now occurring simultaneously in the Earth System, their magnitudes and rates of change are unprecedented. ...

On this basis, the international [programmes] urge governments, public and private institutions and people of the world to agree that:

An ethical framework for global stewardship and strategies for Earth System management are urgently needed. The accelerating human transformation of the Earth's environment is not sustainable. Therefore, the business-as-usual way of dealing with the Earth System is not an option...

A new system of global environmental science is required.

...It will draw strongly on the existing and expanding disciplinary base of global change science; integrate across disciplines, environment and development issues and the natural and social sciences...to build an efficient international system of global environmental science.

...

The common goal must be to develop the essential knowledge base needed to respond effectively and quickly to the great challenge...

AMSTERDAM DECLARATION

Links:

University for Peace

"Global Regeneration", by Michael Schacker

Worldviews : The mechanistic vs organic Worldview

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D. with Diane Olson, Ph.D.

A worldview is a philosophy of life. A worldview is not a paradigm; a worldview is a forest of paradigms. Everyone has a worldview that is mostly unconscious.

The holistic worldview of the ancients changed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the philosophical and scientific revolution that changed radically the way people looked at themselves and their relationship with the world. The idea of an organic, living, and spiritual universe was replaced by that of the world as a machine, and the machine became the primary metaphor of the modern era.

Who led this radical transformation in worldview? Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, and Isaac Newton were the leaders of this new worldview. The Newtonian universe was a mechanical system put in motion by God and operated by exact mathematical laws. This universe was deterministic: If the scientist knew the laws and the initial conditions of the system, the scientist could predict accurately what the system would do and where it would go.

The universe of the scientific revolution was a vast, cold, clockwork machine with mathematical and mechanical laws governing every movement and aspect of matter including people, plants, and animals. God created the material particles, the forces between them, and the laws of motion.

After that, the machine ran on its own - purposeless, meaningless, and soulless - and, in the scientific view, God disappeared eventually - replaced by mathematics. The earth was no longer the nurturing mother of the ancients. She was dead, and the atoms that made up matter were inert, independent, predictable, and predetermined.

Humans could detach themselves from the workings of the universe and observe and gain knowledge of its workings. The only things real in this universe were the quantifiable, and the knowledge of science was certain and absolute. Scientific knowledge was used to carry out the purpose of science: to dominate and control nature. This was an emotionless world of rule books and impermeable boundaries - a black and white world - an either/or world with human beings - the pinnacle of evolution - dominating the natural world.

People designed organizations and leadership models from this science and we live with the results daily. But the science has changed dramatically. If we are going to model organizations after science, we need to understand the new learnings that have been emerging for much of this century from the discoveries of quantum physics and from the learnings from the study of living systems. A new worldview is evolving - an ecological or organic worldview.

The universe of the emerging worldview is an alive and undivided whole created as one entity with its elements interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent. All betterment flows from the totality as the diverse parts interact and organize together in patterns that balance and sustain the essence of the whole. The potential for change is unlimited and uncommitted. This is a universe of spirit, purpose, meaning, and mystery.

The earth is once again the nurturing mother of the ancients. Humans are a presence in nature just as all other species of plants and animals are. People are part of the unbroken whole - not separate, detached, and superior. Meaning flows naturally from people's connection with everything else in the universe. This is an alive, creative, and emotional world of choices - a world of gray - a both/and world where little is certain.

This world was never so self-evident as the day I (Tom) sat in a small skiff in the Baja of California bobbing in light waves. I watched as a 40 foot long and 40-ton great gray whale surfaced slowly beneath the boat and gently introduced her new child to the boat's elated occupants. I peered into the large, serene eye of the mother and wondered what her world was like? Her gentle and knowing return of my excited stare linked us in a mystical moment. I realized that in one slight movement she could destroy the boat and kill its occupants.

Instead, she chose to form a relationship with us. Mother and child floated with the boat for a few minutes. They allowed the exhilarated humans to touch them and to lean over and kiss the barnacle covered parent before mother and child submerged slowly and disappeared. For a few short moments the sky, the ocean, the people, the bobbing skiff, and the whale and her child were one.

An ecological worldview does not eliminate failure, suffering, and death. On the African plain, death is as common and natural as life. Indigenous people had an organic worldview. Their lives were not easy or glamorous, but they probably lived more creatively than people do today.

Events that human beings define as "bad" happened to the ancients, and they happen to people today. We know this. No one understands why. This is the mystery of life. Scientific discoveries have not changed the dynamics of life. Instead, a more encompassing worldview will provide a greater understanding of life's processes. People can use this understanding to take advantage of some of the dynamics and better comprehend and thereby accept others. Can we begin to imagine how this change in worldview might change how we think about leadership, followership, change, and work?

About the Author:

See Dr. Heuerman's author page in Selfhelp Magazine here.

Originally published 06/07/98
Revised 1/12/09 by Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D.

THE NEW PARADIGM

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

The World is Undergoing A Paradigm Shift
From "Mechanistic" to "Organic" Science and Thinking

The Global Curriculum is based on the new scientific paradigm, the “organic” worldview. We have all heard about organic food—but what is the “Organic Worldview”? Worldviews, or paradigms, are the underlying analogies through which we understand the universe, scientifically and/or spiritually. Our society is currently undergoing a shift from the Mechanistic Worldview, based on the analogy of the machine, to an organic science and culture that thinks through biological models. The biological analogy allows science to create theories that can explain what mechanism cannot: evolution, ecology, human nature, economics--anything having to do with living beings and life.

There are many ways this “Organic Shift” is affecting science and technology. There has literally been a "second Copernican Revolution" in science as thought has shifted from mechanistic to biological, organismic models. Ecology, for example, is based on a non-mechanistic, organismic analogy, where the ecosystem is seen as acting like a single living thing. The New Physics is part of the Organic Shift as well, going beyond rigid Newtonian thinking in order to be able to understand the realm of sub-atomic particles. Holistic alternative medicine, as well as Organic Agriculture and the Health Food Movement are all part of the Organic Shift.

Even culture and politics have been transformed by the change in worldviews, yet the press covers only the surface and never probes very deeply into the obvious new trends. Paradigms go unnoticed, much as the fish in the ocean are not aware of the water around them—it is just always there. The underlying analogy is so fundamental to our consciousness we simply never think about it. So the mass media is not aware of the paradigm shift, as it is still left to scientists and philosophers to speak about. To laypeople and the young, it may seem as though the shift doesn’t exist at all.

Our world, however, has already changed in many ways. The beginning of a transformation to a new way of thinking cannot be denied. Awareness of the environment and ecology, for example, has already entered the public mind and is proving to be a powerful driver of change. Indeed, many thinkers predict environmental awareness will eventually turn out to be the biggest revolution of all, more significant than the Farming Revolution or the Industrial Revolution. They may well prove correct.

The first step in learning about the organic paradigm is to deconstruct the present-day. Going beyond the well-known liberal-conservative struggle in politics, the world of today initially appears as an ongoing battle between two scientific/cultural worldviews, or paradigms. Modern science and the Medieval fundamentalist worldview are seen as the main competing mindsets of today. Today, whether a conservative, liberal or even communist party runs a government, all are based on the paradigm of modern science and technology (though not always democracy).

Yet the term “modern” is misleading, merely meaning contemporary—the latest, the most recent. Modern also implies that it is the best thinking available. Yet what is usually called “modern science”, “modern medicine” and “modern technology” are in the eyes of the organic paradigm old school thinking that must be replaced by new models and theories. It would be more accurate to call the scientific worldview the “mechanistic” paradigm, for the models used to create its theories are all based on the concept of the machine.

Newton’s “Clockwork Universe” neatly conveys the underlying analogy of the mechanistic worldview: the universe with its planetary orbits and revolving galaxies are like the gears and machinery inside a clock. Clocks and mechanisms are adequate analogies for inanimate objects, but machine models are too limited to explain human beings, the mind, evolution, ecology and most branches of biology. Since machines cannot reproduce, think or evolve of their own accord, a broader model naturally emerged as these areas came under study.

In fact, there are not just two major paradigms in the world today—there are three. All co-exist and have their own timelines of development: the Medieval, fundamentalist worldview of many religious sects, the ruling mechanistic science and culture and now a new paradigm, the organic worldview. With the new thinking, biological or organic models supersede the old machine models of the universe, creating not only a different science but also a whole new way to look at science itself.



The Organic Shift

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - Margaret Mead

Changing the underlying analogy that all scientific theories rest on, directly leads to a re-invention of nearly all science and then society itself. It is thus a second Copernican Revolution: the “Organic Shift”. In his 1982 book The Turning Point, Fritjof Capra agrees that the new paradigm is a true scientific revolution on the scale of the Copernican.

Capra, moreover, says the old science and power structure will never be able to solve the crises of the modern day. Only the radical change of the new worldview—applied to all the endeavors of humanity—could succeed in that great task.

Just as the mechanists exposed the contradictions of the astronomy and science of the Middle Ages, now the new Organic Worldview emerges in its turn, based on a devastating critique of the Mechanistic Worldview. In his book Person/Planet, Theodore Roszak showed how ecology is more than just another new science, that it changes the very relationship humanity has with nature. Ecology, moreover, wakes a person up to a new awareness.

Roszak showed how the illusion of technique and institutional priesthoods in science and economics are similar to cults. Cults maintain their power by "mystifiying" the population, making them believe in a fantasy world rather than reality. The fantasy world of course is structured so that the cult leaders are at the top, wielding absolute power over all members and all thought.

The Mechanists of today have television commercials to aid them in the mystification of the population, an attempt to persuade us that nuclear power, coal, oil, and fast cars are good for you, that endless combinations of prescription drugs are fine, never mind the side-effects are worse than the disease. Or that war is necessary to have peace and abject global poverty is insoluble. None of these things are true.

Ecology, said Roszak, has the power to break this spell, because it immediately leads to a different way of thinking. It immediately leads to the new paradigm and the rejection of the old machine-model of the universe.

Person/Planet by Theodor Roszak Stated That the
Anthropocentrism of the Old Paradigm is
Being Replaced by a New Worldview

Rather than the Mechanists' anthropocentric universe, which places humanity at the center of reality--giving it the right of full exploitation over nature--there is a new way to view reality. Ecology, in fact, reveals to us a non-anthropocentric center, a "biocentric" view. The center if the universe is one thing, but for the safe operation of our Spaceship Earth, we must put aside the notion that humanity has the right to exploit nature to the breaking point, and adopt a new ethic based on seeing the health of the biosphere and all the ecosystems within it as our Earthly center.

Instead of the typical materialism and rugged individualism of the Mechanistic Worldview, Roszak said the very concept of the Person changes in the new paradigm, becoming “Person/Planet”. One is still an individual, but everyone is now also part of the greater whole, of the biosphere and the planet itself—-and that must guide our actions going forward into the future.

The new paradigm is not merely philosophy or progressive political rhetoric. The new paradigm is, in part, a set of powerful new discoveries in science and technology, discoveries that change all the social and economic equations we operate with today. These recent inventions and breakthroughs make it possible to not only avoid the worst of global warming, collectively they are a leap to a new civilization, one that lives in harmony with nature--rather than one that uses nature up.

Discussion: Machines are not alive. They cannot evolve, love, love or think for themselves. What advantages would a science based on biological models have over machine-model science?

Discussion: Where in today's world do you see evidence of the Organic Shift?

Discussion: Compare the concept of ecological ethics and respect for wildlife and nature with the typical anthropocentric view that condones exploitation. What are the differences in values and behavior?

Links: Theodor Roszak

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Cartesian belief ,Cartesian method -릴리
Cartesian doctrine Cartesian dogma -수잔
Western science...-케이티
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MECHANISTIC AND ORGANIC WORLDVIEWS -테리
Worldviews : The mechanistic vs organic Worldview-에드윈
THE NEW PARADIGM-베로니카