SCIENCE AND BEYOND

An assessment focuses on the limitations of science and the need for a worldview that transcends it.

Sattler acknowledges that science has become “the dominant force in most parts of the world” and has for many assumed a monopoly on the market of what counts as reason. But he argues that science is shrouded in “widespread misconceptions,” and despite the prevailing view that it is nearly infinite in its explanatory and technological power, it is in fact saddled with “profound limitations.” The author contends that not only is science incapable of the rational comprehensiveness often attributed to it, but he also casts a skeptical pall of suspicion over its fundamental ideas, including experimental replication and empiricism and even objectivity and language itself. The idolatry of science leads to a kind of “delusion” or even “insanity” and has terrible consequences since the field has become an indelible part of the way people interact with nearly every province of human life: “Despite the best intentions, scientists often may not be aware of the consequences of their research for society and the planet. What appears beneficial at first may later turn out to be detrimental or even disastrous.” As an alternative, Sattler proposes a more holistic and spiritual view of the universe that transcends not only the categories of science, but also duality as well as the experience of space and time. In this ambitious and timely book, the author furnishes thoughtful objections to the current hegemony of the scientific worldview, offering many rich and captivating details. Problematically, the alternative he provides remains a bit vague and seems like a rehash of the now familiar core of New Age philosophy, a mystical oneness with the world. It’s never clear what he means precisely by the transcendence of language and thought and space and time, a key concept that could use more explanation. Still, this cerebral work will likely appeal to New Age adherents.

An intriguing but uneven spiritual critique of science.