ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1952
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Max Otto - Science and the Moral Life
Mentor, 1952
192 str.
meki povez
stanje: vrlo dobro

Preface by Eduard C Lindeman.

Although Science and the Moral Life includes essays chosen by Mr. Otto`s former colleagues from his writings and lectures, the volume is far more than a random anthology: its `chapters` are well integrated for the progressive development of a consistent theme. Scientific method, Otto tells us, has brought great physical power, but the fruits of that power have been abandoned to the direction of an outworn morality. Only a scientific revolution in the arena of social values can save us from imminent destruction. `At the threshold of unfolding knowledge and power science relinquished the realm of ideals into the hands of church religion, and from that surrender crooked consequences have followed down to the present day` (p. 71). Otto calls upon intelligent men to retrieve that realm, else the human enterprise is lost.

Occasional dissonances appear in Chapters 5 and 6 in the form of diatribes against scientists who have abused their growing power. Surely, in a democracy it is not the job of scientists to decide (as Otto seems to think they should) what knowledge to make public and what knowledge to withhold. Nor is it seemly to project our social guilt onto a scapegoat class of scientists, who make not atom bombs and wars, but who make everything we ask them to make. However, Mr. Otto answers his own inconsistencies throughout his book (e.g., p. 174). To review this collection is a gratuitous project, for Mr. Otto`s writings have been read by all who are likely to see this article-and then some! I can record only that in these pages are not only wit and wisdom, but passages of vivid beauty, passages warm with faith in humanity, yet painted on a backdrop of cosmic tragedy for man. Even though `progressive spirited men and women are increasingly disposed to translate ideas and ideals into terms of conduct, into programs of action` (p. 22), even though intelligent men will no longer have truck with the warmed-over pap that professional moralists offer, Otto is occasionally overwhelmed with the conviction that this progress is meaningless. `So far as can be made out,` he says, `the earth was not created with the happiness and dignity of mankind in view` (p. 19).

ROBERT ROTHMAN
Wayne University