Prometheus Bound and Rational Thought

As we read through Prometheus Bound, we see a clear path of progression and optimism in society. This path of progression is based on the people themselves and their actions. In other words their fate is not decided by the Gods but by their ability to use their minds and their critical thinking to understand and control the physical world. In no place and time is this trust in controlling the physical world and furthering the progression of society greater than the America of the 19^th and the 20^th century.

Should we assume that the progression of society based on science and technology is “one way street?” Should we assume that humanity is well aware that its current state is the result of reason and the scientific method?

“How did we get here?” you might ask.  We started on this path the moment we started asking questions in a deliberate manner. Most of the questions are the same questions that people have been asking since “Prometheus gave them intelligent calculation.”

What is the nature of the physical world? What is truth? What is reality? What is knowable and what is not? Can humans control their lives or are at the mercy of their God? Is there Free Will?

While the questions are really important, the critical issue here is the process. The process of rational thought in questioning and learning and developing knowledge as opposed to using superstition and belief. It is necessary that the process of rational thought expands to all strata of society as it strengthens the world’s democratic ideas, tendencies, and institutions. One of the biggest risks this world faces is that the division between science and the rest of the society grows wider. As science and technology grows and becomes more abstract, it becomes more difficult for the general public to follow and understand the new scientific developments. It doesn’t help that scientists have become equally detached and arrogant in their dealings with “laymen.”

It is only natural for people to grow skeptical, even negative, of big science that absorbs huge amounts of limited public funds. It is to be expected that the public is afraid of “controversial” research such as Stem Cell, efforts to “read and write” Human DNA, selective breeding, and genetically modified food, to name just a few. These are complex issues and require a conscious effort by the scientific community to educate the public so the public can understand and debate the issues in a critical manner. But if the scientific community of all persuasions do not rise to the occasion and engage the public, then others will fill the gap. We see that the main issues, from going to war, framing the agenda to security issues of terrorism, civil liberties and energy, dealing with the global warming, reforming the major institutions of the state, are being debated by people who try to appeal to people’s emotion and not their reason.

Who will win in the fight between superstition and rationality if only a small group of the society engages in rational thought? Science and critical thinking stand absolutely no chance. “It can’t happen you say!” It happened in the past.

Prometheus set the human race (the one in the West) on a path of progress and enlightenment. It reached its apogee in 5^th century B.C. Somewhere between the 3^rd and 4^th century A.D., knowledge and critical thinking were banned and humanity (the Western part) went into a period of dark ages. Some have called this era “the closing of the Western Mind.” It took the West more than a thousand years to start asking questions again. It was only in the 17^th/18^th century that they reached the same level of sophistication and reasoning that they had in 500 B.C.

Are we entering an era of the closing of the American Mind?