How an Obsession with Empiricism Tanked the Spiritual Economy - Dr. Joshua Mitchell, Georgetown University

Empiricism as the dominant way of knowing the world
optimized technological progress, but also alienated humans
because it often avoids the spiritual, motivational realm of
biology beyond atoms crashing into one another.


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When it comes to Human science these days, all
explanations eventually come back to physics. And while the
mathematical convolutions of quantum theory and fluid dynamics
can make humans better engineers, physics alone can’t address the
emergent properties of biology: Why do you want what you want?
Where does the human capacity for transcendent experience come
from? What is religion, and why has it been so central to all of
human history?


One possible explanation is that many phenomena cannot be
reduced to pure physical mechanics. Birth, death, will, meaning,
and love can’t be totally encompassed by a volumetric description
of atoms drifting between synapses… which suggests that
physicalist science can’t possibly yield answers to all of life’s
questions. This doesn’t discount the contribution of a
materialist worldview to humans’ technological development, but
it does suggest a more integrated perspective is
necessary.


Problem is, even with your ability to smash atoms
together and your impressive technological advancements, you
humans are no closer to answering the question of how to get
along, or how to avoid cyclic social unrest… and perhaps it’s
time to consider that the kind of science that will actually be
able to deal with these questions will have to integrate the deep
history of spirituality throughout your species’ Earthly
history.

All of us animals live in a world that is impure and imperfect,
and each of us must rise above that stain on a daily basis in
order to keep from descending into an impenetrable darkness.
Finding a language to scientifically address the transcendent
might be the only way to find your way back to forgiving
yourselves.


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