“Think about science,” and do so from the mysterious drift | papilla

The sea of ​​\u200b\u200bsigns incomprehensible to the layman that make up the great story of science is usually taken up by so-called popular books, in which sometimes scientists, sometimes science lovers, try to make the mysteries of the universe understandable. A language that is not properly scientific, and is, in fact, literary. It is Kastrup’s book think science How-to guide? Despite the title, which may suggest that we are dealing with p …

The sea of ​​\u200b\u200bsigns incomprehensible to the layman that make up the great story of science is usually taken up by so-called popular books, in which sometimes scientists, sometimes science lovers, try to make the mysteries of the universe understandable. A language that is not properly scientific, and is, in fact, literary. It is Kastrup’s book think science How-to guide? Despite the title, which might suggest that we are dealing with an epistemological project aimed at making science thinkable, Kastrup’s book follows faithfully on the heels of his previous article, Why is materialism a hoax?And And he carries out an obsessive critique of scientific materialism.

Speaking of romanticism, we can say that Kastrup accuses science of focusing only on matter, as a quantitative mass rather than a qualitative mass, forgetting the essence of the self, the essence of the world, the essence of the universe; The essence, which for Kastrup is the origin and matrix of consciousness. He defends the thesis that human consciousness arose, at a certain moment in evolution, as an emanation of the already existing cosmic consciousness. Although Kastrup wants to present his thinking as innovative, it is easy to see that in his critique of science he uses the same elements that religions use when confronting empiricism. It is also surprising that Kastrup’s idea of ​​the intervention of cosmic consciousness in the human being is very similar to Teilhard de Chardin’s theory when he posited divine action on human nature at a particular moment in development. It is a theory that, in turn, recalls that of the ancient alien ideologists, who assume that we are what we are because at some point in the history of our species there was external interference. And we must not forget that the idea of ​​omniscience which hovers over Kastrup’s entire essay could very well be linked to the aforementioned Vernadsky and Chardin’s noosphere.

The approach of this book is that of a mystic with much theological calling and much prophetic fervor.

Bernardo Castrop admits to being a student of Kingsley, who sometimes quotes Heidegger for his approach to the Pre-Socratics. On the other hand, Castrop ignores the thinker who is the basis of both deconstruction and its consequences as well as bambesiology. new era, From which Kastrup does not escape even if he criticizes her. We are facing another book that laments and denounces the forgetting of Being, albeit in other words, and all books that deal with forgetting Being are basically, whether their authors know it or not, Heidegger. It happens, however, that this Heideggerian background and residuals are spoiled when they are perplexing, as they do in Kastrup’s Essays, giving rise to the alleged revival of “metaphysical idealism”: a somewhat redundant expression that can mislead the reader, since, in my opinion. Humble understanding, the approach of this book and others by Kastrup is distinctly mystical and by no means metaphysical, indicating, moreover, that it is a mysticism with great theological vocation and much prophetic fervor.

Not surprisingly, Kastrup defined his text as a “scorching” appeal against the sterile materialism of our day. With messianic power, Castrop assures us on the final page that “we have a destiny to fulfill” and commands us to move forward. The book should never end with a command, and even less so “seek to bring us closer to the truth,” but we must not forget that the prophetic texts often include invocations that have a lot to do with commands and which are certainly superfluous. Reflection on science and its methods.

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