A Twentieth Century Image of Man

Abstract

The author points out that we live in a democracy of knowledge that began after 1450 with the spread of the printed book. The central principle that moves our society is the demand that the basis of action shall be verifiable knowledge. This is a public knowledge that is open to the scrutiny of every member of society and has come to be called science. To test impersonally what is conjectured requires mechanical laboratory apparatus but mechanical watchdogs against bias have nothing to do with the content of knowledge. By the end of the 19th century a scientist had come to be regarded as a living extension of his own apparatus and it was expected that in time he would prove that man is a machine also. The author believes that this image has had the catastrophic consequence of provoking irrational crusades against all technology. In order to overcome this situation, intellectuals, artists above all, must shape a new imagery of science as understood in the 20th century-science cannot have the inhuman, mechanical kind of exactness ascribed to it in the 19th century and he gives reasons why this is so. The preoccupations of science have been moving from physics to biology, a historical subject. Man's evolution has been culture-driven and a central component in the ascent of man has been the manipulation of mental imagery and its expression in language and other symbolisms. Art is a powerful mover of the mind, for it helps to project thoughts forward, to form plans and to enlarge knowledge. For problems of conduct, general plans or grand strategies are devised that are called human values. Thus values are now seen as an integral part of the biological nature of man, of which the search for knowledge is a biological necessity.