Science, Ideology and World View by Greene

by John C. Greene

Science, Ideology, and World Essays in the History of Evolutionary Ideas

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greene, who is probably one of the most famous intellectual historians on evolutionary thinking, shows how ideologies and the metaphysical views in society, influence and permeate evolutionary thinking. I think Greene makes his case pretty convincingly. Contrary to what some scientific positivist say, scientific theories (or any idea for that matter), aren’t formed in a sealed vacuum without influence from external sources or ideas floating around society at large.

All one has to do is crack open Darwin’s Origin to see his book is full of theological ideas that were becoming popular in the seventeenth century about what God would or wouldn’t do, or about how it would be much more elegant for God to use laws to create species. But how would Darwin know what God or wouldn’t do ? The hubris of most evolutionary thought is astonishing and you can still find these ideas embedded in “science” today. Humans are fallible creatures with limited knowledge. It’s not to say we shouldn’t continue to pursue research on our origins and the universe, it’s just that we must recognize our biases, weaknesses, and finiteness, I believe, in order to make progress.