John Milbank in iai:
The view of reality created by scientism is that of “bits of stuff pushing each other around in a void”. Such a worldview not only flies in the face of contemporary physics, chemistry and biology, and is therefore wholly unscientific, it is also a worldview that is actually based on religion, argues philosopher and Žižek collaborator, John Milbank. To overcome the disenchantment and lack of meaning this worldview creates, Milbank argues we must rediscover the natural magic of the universe and see science as part of a poetic project.
In the world of today, only science is held to be sacred. It is regarded as the holy guardian of “fact” and all legitimate public imperatives are increasingly supposed to be derived from “fact,” with everything else belonging to a domain of private freedom in which we are free to range within a playground of private and ungrounded preferences.
Of course, the boundary between these two domains is endlessly contested, and increasingly it is also blurred. What we are allowed to do on our own should also refer to established “fact,” as with dieting and exercise and so forth; increasingly, we are being compelled even to live and sleep our individual lives according to “scientific” measure. Conversely, the same measure is vastly expanding the sphere of private choice, providing we stick to the prescribed procedures. This includes an increasing ability and encouragement to alter and enhance our own bodies.
More here.
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