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| Francis Bacon |
The phrase was first used by Sir Francis Bacon in
1597, who, along with René Descartes
and others propelled the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th
centuries in Europe.
Bacon, Descartes et al were born into a culture that
was infused with a centuries old concept of a split between nature and
humanity. In this worldview nature is simply a conglomerate of matter and hence
of little value. Descartes for instance, held that the rational mind was the
true source of human meaning, and that our bodies were mere matter. From this
presupposition he was able to deduce that nature too was simply matter as
humans were the only entities able to use reason and rationality.
With such a viewpoint Descartes was able to say, ‘I
do not recognise any difference between the machines made by craftsmen and the
various bodies that nature alone composes.’
It is hardly surprising then that the early promoters
and explorers in the new scientific methods considered nature as needing to be
tamed, subdued, and brought into the service of humans.
The writings of these early scientists are revealing:
‘Let the human race recover the right over
Nature which belongs to it by divine bequest.’ -
Francis Bacon.
‘Unite forces against the nature of
things, to storm and occupy her castles and strongholds and extend the bounds
of human empire.’ -
Francis Bacon.
(We are)‘…putting it (nature) on the rack…’ –
Gottfried Leibniz.
‘(We can) render ourselves the masters and
possessors of nature.’ - René
Descartes.
‘(I approve) the desire to command her
(nature).’ – Robert Boyle
(Nature must) ‘be put in constraint.’ – Francis
Bacon.
Nature's and Human Suffering
Notwithstanding many of the scientific breakthroughs
and re-interpretations of the 20th and 21st centuries
(e.g. ecology, systems theory, quantum physics), nature has been suffering the
consequences of the Scientific Revolution ever since.
We have continued to plunder, exploit, damage, and
pollute nature.
Not only nature, but our relationships with each other
have also suffered because of the notions of the Scientific Revolution –
primarily because of the metaphors of conquest and exploitation.
Although the Scientific Revolution is considered
historically to have taken place during the 16th and 17th
centuries, the scientific quest, and its implications, has remained a
significant keystone of our present-day westernised view of the world.
Conquest and exploitation of other cultures by
European nations had been taking place since the late 15th century,
largely self-justified by a religious sensibility that viewed non-Christians as
ungodly savages needing to be shown the right ways. The Scientific Revolution
shifted this sense of European superiority from a religious basis to a
biological one.
When Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently
published their theories of evolution in the mid 19th century, one
of the first to take up the seemingly social implications was Herbert Spencer.
It was Spencer (not Darwin as many assume) who coined the term survival of
the fittest and went on to apply this to sociology, ethics, and morals.
Spencer’s interpretation of Darwin became known as social Darwinism and
provided the pseudo-scientific basis for European superiority. So much so that
this “biological” superiority became a moral duty of Europeans to dominate the
rest of the world.
Yes, knowledge – scientia – is power, and when
infused with notions and metaphors of conquest, exploitation, and human
superiority, becomes destructive.
We are living now in the fires wrought by these metaphors
and the machinery constructed by the knowledge we have gained from the
Scientific Revolution and its descendants.
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