The Works of The Mind

The Works of The Mind
What do architects or engineers do? They plan and direct manual work. That means that by their special knowledge they control physical activities which result in a building, a canal, or a machine.

They are thus involved in an intellectual relation which because of its direction may be called for short, “Man and Nature.”

Ever since the time of Renaissance, there has been a tendency to identify science with the rational process aimed at the shaping of nature according to man’s purposes.

We find this inclination in Leonardo da Vinci, in Francis Bacon and in Descartes whom proposed a science that would make men “les mattres et possesseurs de la nature.”

By the time of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, this reductionists view of science had become so prevalent that it finally caused a reaction.

Among those who rejected the view that the only science was the science of nature was Auguste Comte. He believed that he had discovered a science for the control and transformation of society which was superior to the science of nature.

Speaking in general, scientific knowledge is useful to man in his social life as well as in his relation to nature, and the possession of this knowledge is usually quite rewarding to the scientist, personally.

But science, strictly speaking, must also be seen as aiming toward the final purpose of discursive rational process as such, which we shall call contemplation of truth or simply contemplation.
The Works of The Mind