UCADIA | SELF Journey | Belief systems and Self | Philosophy 1900 CE to 2000 CE: the scientific mind



Home	Self Index	Chapter Index	< Previous	Next >

you are here: > Self > 3. Belief systems and ME

3.15

Philosophy 1900CE to 2000 CE: The scientific mind

Now with God and metaphysical concepts able to be rationally excluded from both the external world as well as the internal world, humanity could be perfectly scientific in mind, its own god.

Eliminating god of the mind-the birth of psychology

While scientific thought had successfully vanquished metaphysical concepts from the landscape of the external world, the internal world- the human mind still represented a challenge.

Over a hundred years ago people did (and still do) believe there is more going on with our minds than simple “ghosts in the machine”, an anomaly, a fraud. Back then people still strongly believed in powers of the mind and the 19th century saw an enormous boom in all things paranormal and metaphysic.

A key assumption of this model was and is the belief in a pre-existing web of knowledge, a web of awareness, prior to the birth of language or thought in a unique human mind. To defeat any kind of metaphysic required that the proof of thought existing prior to language needed to be defeated.

Key concept: Modern mathematical logic-exclusion of the paradox

Architect	Gottlob Frege (1848-1925)
Main influence
Idea	The principles of deductive reasoning are purely formal principles, which means that their correct application does not depend on an ability to understand the sentences involved, so long as they have been put into the correct logical form. Accuracy of deductive reason can simply be proven by the existence of contradiction (paradox). It is the architecture that gives meaning, not the components (judgment, language, words). Russell paradox– contradiction exists in Frege’s own logic

Key concept: Empirical proof the only truth of existence

Architect	Empirical proof the only truth of existence
Main influence	Moritz Schlick (1882-1936)
Idea	That all significant propositions are either those of logic or mathematics on the one hand or those of science on the other. Since the utterances of traditional philosophy (especially metaphysics) fall into neither of these groups, they are unverifiable in principle and accordingly can be rejected as nonsense. The only legitimate function for philosophy is conceptual analysis, i.e., the clarification of various notions, such as “probability” or “causality.”

Key concept: Psychoanalysis

Architect	Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Main influence	Max Planck
Idea	The mind is as law-governed as is the natural world; nothing that a person does or says is haphazard or accidental, for everything can in principle be traced to causes that are somehow in the person's mind, although many of these are not accessible to consciousness. The mind a tripartite structure: the id, which contains all the instinctual drives seeking immediate satisfaction; the ego, which deals with the world outside the person, mediating between it and the id; and the superego, a special part of the ego that contains the conscience, the social norms acquired in childhood. Whatever can become conscious is in the ego, although even in it there may be things that remain unconscious, whereas everything in the id is permanently unconscious. The instincts or drives contained in the id are the motivating forces in the mental apparatus, and all of the energy of the mind comes from them.

3.15.1

Eliminating the mind

There was (and is) no room for a soul in any scientific model of mind. There is no god, only the impressions we create in our own minds. There is no mystical, only the delusions of a sick mind that refuses to apply logic to its thinking of the correct image of the world.

3.15.2

An animal without a soul

In eliminating god, modern scientific philosophy also eliminated the concept of the soul and with it the concept of life after death.

The belief of life after death and the soul became an irrational belief to a rational fear of death. An inaccurate thought but with a justifiable explanation. An error.

Such thinking at the turn of the century assisted in great advances in the understanding of the mechanics of the human mind, but also opened up an ability for rational people to effectively rationalize terrible behaviour and thinking. Using the concept of killing of a soulless animal is always much easier to justify than the killing of something that is more.

As a result of such thinking, the 20th century saw the two greatest wars of humanity in terms of loss of human life and growth of evil. In World War II, under the tyranny of the Nazis, Millions of people were systematically butchered like diseased livestock and converted into soap and mattress filling.

The revival of religion– rebellion against the soulless machine

Against such terrible events and against such pure cold logic, a revival of religion steadily grew through the second half of the 20th century.

In rebellion to the soulless machine world view of the western scientific mind, entertainers and revolutionaries emerged. New-age cults and new-age religions began to emerge as well as a new radicalism within traditional religions such as islam.

Under-represented minorities now had a justification to fight the west– as the west had now become a denial of god, of soul.

<<Back Continue>>