Is Scientific Humanism Tenable?

Dr. V.C. Narayan Das
Man’s concern for a peaceful life and harmonious coexistence with his fellow-beings seems to have been never so explicit before the modern age. The widespread recognition that man’s peace, security and happiness should be the goal of all thought and activities has given rise to the development of a number of different forms of humanistic ideologies. Ever since the period of European Renaissance we find the development of different forms of humanism, such as, the Evolutionary Humanism, Religion and Humanity, Utilitarianism, Pragmatism, Socialism, Marxism and Religious Humanism. The purpose of this paper is to have a brief look at one of its most influential and popular forms, the Scientific Humanism, which claims to bring about an age of peace and happiness through the use of Science and Technology.

Humanistic trends can be seen throughout the history of human thought both in the West and in the East. Perhaps the ancient Greeks were responsible for developing it as a philosophical outlook and a way of life in the West. The ideal development of human personality through the maximum realization of all human possibilities was the aim of Greek Humanism. With the rise of the Sophists a radical development of Humanistic outlook took place in Greek thought. Placing man above everything else and making him the sole focus of all thought and action, the Sophists asserted the relativity of all moral, intellectual and aesthetic values. Truth came to be determined purely on the basis of the usefulness of ideas for the individual’s own advantage. Their philosophy is epitomised in the famous Protogorean dictum, “Man is the measure of all things”. The modern humanists, especially the advocates of Scientific Humanism, claim themselves as the inheritors and interpreters of the Protogorean doctrine.

The salient features of scientific Humanism may be summarised as follows: It is based upon the materialistic-naturalistic world-view and rejects all forms of idealism and spiritualism. Matter/energy is the fundamental stuff of the universe. The world is a product of natural evolution in accordance with the laws inherent in it. It does not require any supernatural agency. Matter is self-existing, self-evolving and self-enduring, and, therefore, there is no need for a First Cause or Creator. Scientific Humanism stands against all forms of determinisim, fatalism and the hope of any kind of survival of man after his death. It has full confidence in the power of reason and science in solving all kinds of hum an problems and in ushering in an area of peace and prosperity. According to Corlis Lamont, the task of scientific humanism is “to organize into a coexistent and intelligible whole the chief elements of philosophical truth and to make that synthesis a powerful force and reality in the minds and actions of living men”.

Scientific humanism claims itself to be an ethical philosophy, and aims at the realisation of maximum peace and happiness in the world. All values are to be found in space and time. Happiness in this world is the supreme good for the individual as well as society. It affirms the dignity of man and the rights of the individual to the maximum possible development compatible with the dignity and rights      of others. Scientific Humanists, advocate democracy, secularism, economic growth and civil liberties including freedom of expression in all areas of political, social and cultural life for all men everywhere. They insist that scientific and technological development should be motivated by human happiness and world peace. As one of its advocates claims, “By utilising its context, and for the purpose of peace, the new power which science has given us, humanists have great confidence that the present crisis can be surmounted. Liberated from fear, the energies of man will be available for a self-realization for which it is impossible to foresee the limits”.

It must be admitted that the Scientific Humanism has many excellent points. No one can ignore its emphasis upon the anthropocentric outlook, democratic way of life, and above all, its enthusiasm for peace and happiness of man on earth. No wonder, large number of intellectuals, social reformers and philanthropists consider it to be the religion for modern man. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has thus described Humanism as the God of this age.

But, has scientific Humanism been able to realize the kind of peace and happiness promised by its advocates? The Humanist Manifesto II proudly proclaims, “We have virtually conquered the planet, explored the moon, overcame the natural limits of travel and communication. We stand at the dawn of a new age ready to move further into space and perhaps inhabit other planets. Using technology wisely we can control our environment, conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our life-span, significantly modify our behaviour, alter the courses of evolution and cultural developments, unlock vast new powers and provide humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life”. However, the exclusive emphasis upon science and technology has been able to produce only a materialistic civilisation and consumer culture in which the higher values of mankind are ignored. It has led to the present crises of humanity with the threat of nuclear war, exhaustion of earth’s natural resources, environmental pollution and widespread moral degeneration.

The draw-of scientific Humanism seems to have resulted from its total denial of the spiritual and religious dimensions of human being. What we fail to understand is the reason why the scientific humanists are so bitterly opposed to every form of belief in a transendental reality. This tendency is not peculiar to scientific humanists who are also known as Secular Humanists or Atheistic Humanists. August Comte thought that theology and metaphysics had become obsolete and that they should be replaced by what he called the Religion of Humanity. Sir Julian Huxley felt that traditional religion has no meaning for the modern man and that what we need today is a religion without revelation. These and similar other humanists hold that science had rendered all the belief in the supernatural as baseless. A self-­existent universe evolved by its own laws has no place for a God. Man has no privileged position in the scheme of things, nor there is any pre-ordained purpose for either man or universe. He is simply a stage in the progress of evolution. Consequently, all values are creations of man in accordance with his own circumstances and needs. There is no absolute value. All values which religion presents are explained away as the illusions of a pre-scientific age.

Revolt against religious ideals has become a fashion in the modern times. Those thinkers who stand against the belief in a transcendental reality seem to think that the scientific knowledge they possess is absolute and that science has spoken its last word against religion. Needless to say that the truth is far from this. On the one hand, science is an ongoing quest for the knowledge of reality as much as it is accessible to reason and experience. On the other hand, it has no means to enquire into the trans-empirical realities. Science as such, therefore, has been always honest enough to be silent about a realm which is beyond its scope. Hence the rejection of trans-empirical reality on the basis of scientific knowledge is an unscientific attitude. Denial of the supernatural and the non-empirical realm of reality on the basis of our partial knowledge of natural empirical world has no justification either in science or in human experience. A philosophy which does not take into account all the facts of experience whether physical, psychological or spiritual will always be proved inadequate to lead mankind to a life of happiness and peaceful existence. For, basically, it is a clear distortion of the very being of man. To deprive man of his essential transcendental dimension which finds its expressions in his religious and spiritual experiences, is to reduce him to something less than what he really is. These anti-religious thinkers lay great importance to the achievements of science and technology while they totally disregard the genuine religious and spiritual experiences of saints and religious men of all ages.

Scientific humanism could not realize the horrible consequences of the rejection of spiritual values which have been the fountainhead of all human culture and civilization. In fact, they were the real sources of inspiration behind the whole humanistic outlook itself. Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Judaism and such other religions through their religious ideals and experiences have brought man to the clear awareness of the fact that the genuine human values are rooted and grounded in a transcendent reality and not on the scientific fact of being an insignificant product of blind evolution. Man discovers his true identity through the experience of Reality as such, and through the spiritual and moral ideals embodied in religion, and not just through a partial knowledge of his natural surroundings.

Scientific humanism claims itself to be ethical. It has ethics supposed to be based upon a materialistic metaphysics and natural evolution. Formulation of moral principles on the basis of materialism and physical sciences is a difficult task. Natural evolution which allows the survival of the fittest can vindicate only a philosophy which regards might as right and not an ideology which insists upon principles like democracy and human equality. An insignificant species evolved in an insignificant planet has no ground to substantiate its claim for dignity and worth. Further, when the evolution itself is seen as based upon the laws inherent in the material universe, we do not have any legitimate right to speak of human freedom and equality. We cannot, therefore, see any ground to justify the ethics of human dignity, equality, liberty and world ­peace as advocated by scientific Humanism.

The failure of Scientific Humanism in the context of man’s quest for peace is due to its antagonism to religion and spiritual ideals. The scientific humanists refuse to take into account the supernatural and extra-­empirical facts of reality in their interpretation of man and the world. A partial view of existence based upon the findings of science alone can yield only a distorted picture of human reality. Such a philosophy would fail to fulfil its promise of bringing about a world of happiness and peace. Hence it appears that Scientific Humanism can be justified and its ideal of world peace can be realized only if it admits the fact that the universe has a divine origin and that man has a trans-empirical dimension in which he is ultimately one which human experience has never disproved. On the other hand, time and again the saints of all ages have demonstrated their validity. Scientific Humanism, therefore, car be transformed, into a complete philosophy of life capable of bringing about genuine happiness and universal peace and harmony only through a recognition of the spiritual and transcendental dimension of reality.