Essay on the relation between Science and Culture

Introduction:

Science does not help us in defining “human development”, though it is capable of helping us a great deal in achieving it Science deals with “cause”. Human development is “purpose”, probably beyond the realm of science. There is in the modern society, a general understanding of what constitutes human development.

It is the development of mind, body and culture. Development of mind in turn contributes to progress of science. What contributes to the development of mind also contributes to the development of culture, largely.

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Development of Thought:

Science has contributed a great deal too human welfare. It has produced miraculous cures for diseases, which for a long time, were regarded incurable. It has brought the marvels on industrialism, technology and space exploration. But science has created as many problems as it has helped to solve.

It has led to an undue stress on materialism and economic barbarism in the absence of controlling mental and moral ideas. The knowledge and power of science need to be harnessed to the service of man through the culture -the finer sense and sensitivity of man.

There are many aspects of life which the science of reason cannot possibly perceive. The dialectic of the heart, the field of intuitive perception are areas beyond the realm of science. Unless science is guided and regulated by the finer sensitivity and culture of man, there can hardly be any hope for peace and delight in this world.

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Conclusion:

Science has contributed a lot to the development of human mind and for the comfort and welfare of the society. However, the impact of science on a society or for large sections of the people in the society could be good or bad depending upon the social relations and the cultural Patterns between the various constituent units of society.

Science is important for determining the cultural pattern of an age or country. The scientist is busy making a bid for conquering space and solving the riddles Posed by time.

Science has relegated ancient pantheons to the anthropomorphic lumber-room and has been unable to perceive the mystical and psychological significance of these pantheons. Science has functioned-like a minor Jesus, Producing miraculous cures for disease which, for a long time, were regarded incurable.

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But applied science, which ushered in eras of industrialism and technology and all the marvels of space exploration, has also confronted humanity with numerous other diseases.

It has created as many problems as it has helped to solve. It is true that all higher life will be crippled if it is not supported by material well-being. But an undue stress on materialism may bring about economic barbarism in the absence of controlling mental and moral ideas.

Another significance of science consists in its insistence on the cultivation of reason and experimental observation. This is a vital factor in any cultural patterns and individuals will turn obscurantisms if reason is not given its proper place in the cultivation of a balanced personality.

But there are other aspects of life which reason cannot possibly perceive. The dialectic of the heart, of which Goethe spoke, and the field of intuitive perception are areas which reason can well define vividly, but not perceive in its own right. An undue stress on reason may bring about a resurgence of barbarism under cover of a utilitarian civilization.

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It is worth remembering that scientific generalizations are short-lived though the fads of science themselves may be reliable.

In the field of generalizations, Galileo cancelled Copernicus and Einstein cancelled Newton. What we need is integral knowledge. Life, mind, and spirit are other realities and we need to know them if we are interested in a total comprehension.

It has been held that the analytical methods of science are the only methods by which reality can be perceived as it is. These methods are, no doubt, effective. But we must avoid the initial analytical error if we have to grasp the nature of reality. It is true that the tree evolves out of the seed and vice versa.

But this law explains the process, a continuation of genes in particular modes, and not the mystery its elf of the tree. The formula H2O explains the process by which water comes into- being. But the mystery of water itself is not explained.

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There is a creative power which organizes various levels of reality.

Science has yet to tackle these various levels of reality in the total range of existence. Sociology works today on the basis of certain new tendencies created in the west: vitalistic egoism and collectivism. These tendencies were responsible for Nietzsche’s philosophy and for some forms of imperialism that prevailed during the last few centuries.

One of the basic principles of modern collectivism is the idea that the individual should sacrifice himself for the progress and welfare of the race.

It is assumed that nature seeks to preserve the type: the pack, the herd or the hive and not the individual. Kaiser’s as well as Hitler’s Germany sought to apply this basis of collectivism within Germany and flaunt the idea of race superiority outside her borders.

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But there cannot any true culture unless we think of the individual, not as an egoistic unit but as a soul: and of society, not as a mere aggregation of human beings for certain economic, social, and political purposes, but as the larger soul of which the individual is a part.

True unity can only spring out of a reception born of love. It will then be clear to us that the separate growth of individual is as important as the equal and parallel development of society.

We may therefore say that science, which is master in the knowledge of process and of apt machinery, cannot by itself contribute to the perfection of our being because it is ignorant of the foundation of our being and of world being.

Science has contributed a great deal to human welfare. Through the gospel of reason and experimental observation, by which it works, it has enabled man to acquire intellectual integrity and even purity of mind by canceling vulgar and tawdry emotions.

It has brought about a mechanized unity of material life. But it has also been responsible for ushering in a system of civilization which is too big for our limited mental capacity.

It has multiplied our wants by creating new ones and it has facilitated aggressive domination by the collective ego. We have almost come to believe that the cult of the average man with his freedom and self-sufficiency and a perfected economy are the summum bonum of life.

If our passion for perfection is to be satisfied, we have to learn to communicate with the soul of the individual and not his ego. Psychology has to explore the higher mental planes in order to be fully itself. Art has to probe further into the world of infinite beauty hidden in man’s consciousness.

Ethics has to discover that the law of good is nothing other than the law of God. The historians have not merely to study the mass movements and the economic and political events and vicissitudes that affect humanity. They have to discover in the panorama of events the underlying soul pattern.

The vital issue that faces man today is whether his progress has to be governed by the modern materialistic mind or by a nobler pragmatism, guided by spiritual culture and knowledge. Equilibrium has to be established between man’s internal and external worlds.

Scientists have helped to establish mastery of man over his environment. An Atomic blast can destroy the whole world. Atomic energy is, therefore, absolute power. Scientifically speaking, we live in the Atomic Age. Culturally, we still belong to the Stone Age.

The same old passion for domination and self- aggrandizement is ceaselessly at work in our midst. Our intellects have grown in Himalayan proportions but our hearts are still like unsplit atoms.

Providence seems to have determined to teach wisdom even if we are unwilling to learn it. Because atomic energy is absolute power, it can easily annihilate the human race.

Nations will have to behave with other nations out of this fear of annihilation, if not through love, We therefore pay at least our lip homage to peace and hope, as President Eisenhower did, so that man’s inventiveness shall not be “dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his life.”

If culture is to prevail, atomic power has to be harnessed to uses beneficial to man. It may be used for increasing agricultural production by introducing radio-active tracers in fertilizers. It can bring about a revolution in food-handling methods.

In the field of medicine, radio isotopes have been used for locating and curing brain tumors. Atomic power has made possible, in the field of industry better textile and metal working plants.

The shortage of coal and oil is said to be ma de up by atomic fuels. It is in this direction that knowledge and power have to be harnessed to the services of man in a cultured society.

If science has freed man from the horror of numerous diseases, it is now subjecting him to many more diseases hitherto unknown. Applied science has in a large measure, banished as much joy from life as the human misery it has alleviated. It has turned man into a machine for making more machines. It takes an Aldus Huxley or a Charles Chaplin to depict the great harm that applied science has done to mankind an invisible capitalist can now control the world market from his mansion or a Hitler or Stalin drive the world to rack and from his office room.

Science has brought about a directionless and rudderless world in which life becomes a nightmare and man a physical and mental wreck, a prey to unknown psychological disease and a victim of hysteria and mass hypnosis. Applied science threatens to be a Frankenstein strangling its own creator.

An infinite longing to unravel the mystery of the world has been the basis of science. This has led to certain great results. But curiosity can take an unhealthy turn when it is allied to evil or ignorance it is human nature that has to change if science is to be put to better use.

Unless science is guided and regulated by the majestic voices of culture that have been heard through the ages, there can hardly be any hope for peace and delight in this world. Nor can there be any future for the diffusion of culture among the larger masses of mankind.