The Cybernetic Dream of the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Over the last few decades, several critics of modern science have been able to demonstrate that science is not a value-free instrument for ascertaining truth, as many believe, but is rather a mode of cognition whose very "neutrality" constitutes its bias. That is to say, science is ultimately zweckrational (purposive-rational); it projects a world of pure form that can be bent to any purpose. In the last analysis, "value-free" really means "possessing scientific values." As the awareness of the ideological and culture-bound character of science began to grow over the past twenty years, Europe and North America experienced a twin development that reflected the need for a new epistemology. One aspect of this was a revival of magic and occult practice. The magical world view was attractive because it is strongly value-laden, biased toward an ecological or sacred view of nature; and unlike its scientific counterpart, it is embodied-sensuous and concrete rather than formal and abstract. The second aspect of th...