A Reviewer's Comment on "Biology and the New Age: An Evolutionary and Ethical Assessment"

A REVIEWER'S COMMENT ON "BIOLOGY AND THE NEW AGE: AN EVOLUTIONARY AND ETHICAL ASSESSMENT" CLIFFORD W. GURNEY* If Catherine Roberts's essay [1] falls within the purview ofPerspectives in Biology andMedicine, it is not, from this reviewer's perspective, because it conveys any new ideas. Religion, in some form or other, is a virtually universal feature of all societies. Since men and women began to appreciate the power and clarity of the methods of thought and analysis characterized as "scientific," many individuals have wrestled with the problem of reconciling the religious way of thinking, so dependent on faith, absolutes, mystery, and mysticism, with the scientific way of thinking , so dependent on skepticism, relativity, causality, and evidence. I find this article to be yet another attempt to present such a synthesis, in a manner that appears to have deep meaning and profound implications for the future to Roberts but which does not strike me as affording any way ofaltering my own cosmology. This is not to deny the possibility that other readers—perhaps, in these troubled times, many other readers, in a more perceptive and receptive state—may be proselytized and will forever after pay homage toPerspectives for initiating or facilitating their salvation. IfI am tojustify publication ofthis article byPerspectives, it must rather be because it offers promise to stimulate "original thought in biological and medical sciences." The possibility that such original thought will be triggered in the minds of readers who would not have engaged in such mental activities had they not pondered "Biology and the New Age: An Evolutionary and Ethical Assessment" is a hope cherished by Roberts and me, though assuredly for different reasons. This presentation is, I believe, an example of a genre by which we are destined to be bombarded with increasing frequency and vigor in the future. Many of the features of the analysis presented by Roberts and many of the consequences of the adoption of the philosophy it espouses ?Department of Medicine and Division of Biological Sciences, Pritzker School of Medicine and University of Chicago.© 1982 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved 003 1-5982/82/2502-028510 1 .00 194 I Clifford W. Gurney ¦ A Reviewer's Comment are at least threatening; more likely, they border on the dangerous. Recognizing the alarmist tenor of such a statement, I cite as evidence the following: "Evidence to censor books in the nation's public schools are growing and becoming increasingly effective, a study said. About onefifth of the educators surveyed reported recent challenges to books or films used in classes or available in school libraries. The censorship efforts were successful in halfthe cases, said the study . . ." [2]. Perhaps this is just democracy in action, but John Philpot Curran reminded us in 1790 that "the condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance." I have therefore recommended publication because some of those scientists who do not find a guide to personal salvation in this presentation might recognize in it the early warnings of the threats to freedoms—freedoms the loss of which would be inimical to the scientific mode of inquiry. Furthermore, publication of Roberts's philosophy gives us cause to rejoice as we reiterate our commitment to open expression and freedom of inquiry. That commitment has little meaning when applied to ideas and concepts with which we agree. It assumes significance only when it guides our decisions and recommendations on issues where we stand in opposition. The issues raised here are not trivial. The exploits of men and women using the methods and tools of science and the achievements flowing from the application of the scientific method in the last 2 or 3 centuries have changed our earth irrevocably, and this process of change will go on unless or until irrational behavior triumphs and irrational acts destroy us all. The power that scientific knowledge and the techniques of science have given nations, corporations, families, and other clusters of people to exploit, brutalize, desecrate, terrorize, and subjugate Nature and their fellow man have been disturbing to witness and frightening to contemplate. What positions do individual scientists take, and how do they think about matters which sometimes are directly related...