88
E. Solovyov
KNOWLEDGE, FAITH AND MORALITY
 
[introduction.]
 

p The question "what does science give to man?" is likely to draw the response: "It arms him with knowledge and with new means for mastery over the world, at the same time augmenting his confidence in his own powers.” This assertion would seem to be incontrovertible but, as is the case with any elementary truth, it expresses the substance of the matter in a crude and therefore inadequate manner.

Science’s influence over man is two-fold. Before presenting him with the true facts it mows down rows of fictive conceptions which for a long time paraded as true knowledge. Before bringing to life new means of practical mastery over the world, it mercilessly discredits instruments maintaining a fictive influence over reality, the reliability of which for a given period of time provoked no doubts. Science crushes false and naive confidence while it often itself is in no position to offer an immediate substitute marked by the same stability, breadth and subjective certainty. A discussion of the relationship between science and morality should begin, in our opinion, with the establishment of just this fact.

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Notes

< SCIENCE AS THE DESTROYER OF IMAGINARY OMNISCIENCE AND FICTIVE CONFIDENCE >
 
<< V. Loginov SCIENTIFIC POLITICS AND MORALITY A. Arsenyev THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND MORALITY (Philosophical Aspects) >>
 
<<< I -- [Natural Scientists: mathematicians, physicists, chemists, geologists, etc.] III -- [The third section of this book is concerned with the question of the moral responsibility of the scientist for the social consequences of the application of scientific discoveries and achievements, the significance of the moral qualities of figures in the world of science and of the atmosphere within this world itself for the fulfilment of its social and humanist function.] >>>