November 2001

SCIENCE AS A FORM OF MYTHOLOGY

Even civilization is rooted in a mythology. I am using the term "mythology" not to signify a fable or a fiction but rather a set of assumptions and beliefs which form the basis of our comprehension of the world. The ancient Greeks had their colourful mythology. Medieval Europe had its religious mythology. All so-called primitive societies had their respective mythologies.

For all its claims to the contrary, science is a form of mythology. It has its unwritten and unproven dogmas, which are otherwise called the presuppositions on which science is based. It accepts uncritically and unapologetically a form of voodoo, which is otherwise called scientific method. It worships certain kinds of deities, which are otherwise known as objective facts. It deifies certain modes of behavior otherwise known as the pursuit of objectivity. It gives sanction to a certain moral order otherwise known as neutrality.

As in classical mythologies, all these parts are connected together and dependent on each other. Neutrality is a necessary moral ingredient to make the pursuit of objectivity a privileged, preferred, superior mode of behavior. Objectivity is, in turn, necessary for making 'objective facts' our deities. Making objective facts our deities, in turn, justifies scientific method, which is so conceived as to enable us to explore and enshrine those very kinds of facts. Objective facts and scientific method are, in turn, necessary to 'justify' the presuppositions of sience, for these presuppositions are so conceived that they reveal to us only that which scientific method allows for: what is contained in the notion of physical facts. The structure of the scientific mythology is neither less complex nor less question-begging than the structure of traditional mythologies.

I am neither deriding nor trying to diminish the importance of science. Mythologies are terribly important in the life of societies and civilizations. Our mythology is not less important than other mythologies. but (let us firmly bear this in mind) is not less mythological than other mythologies. We cannot readily perceive that science is a form of mythology because science is an integral part of the perspective through which we view the world. Tampering with science and its mythology is tampering with the whole reality science constructed for us. We are reluctant to tamper with our basis view of ‘reality’ for this would create too great a challenge to our identity which is rooted in a certain conception of reality, which happens to be the scientific concept of reality.

For this very reason we tenaciously cling to the mythology of science. We cannot successfully challenge it or liberate ourselves from it until we develop an alternative mythology. The creation of an alternative world view or an alternative mythology is the imperative of our times. We cannot live either by bread alone or physical facts alone. We must have symbolic structures which are sustaining to our whole being.

Henryk Skolimowski