Single Idea 5334

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / G. Scientific Philosophy / 1. Aims of Science]

Full Idea

The inability of science to provide ethical wisdom is partly responsible for our resistance to the scientific image.

Gist of Idea

We resist science partly because it can't provide ethical wisdom

Source

Owen Flanagan (The Problem of the Soul [2002], p. 14)

Book Reference

Flanagan,Owen: 'The Problem of the Soul' [Basic Books 2003], p.14


A Reaction

This seems right. A.J. Ayer, for example, declared "I believe in science", and his account of ethics was vacuously nihilistic. A description of the mechanisms of moral life is not the same as ethical wisdom.