Scientific Advancement in the 20th Century Essay

Scientific Advancement in the 20th Century - Essay Example Instead of analyzing the problem on scientific basis, they have adhered to their timeworn ideologies with a practical surrender to the materialistic values in vogue. Even the torchbearers, the so-called intellectuals and modern scholars of any religion pretend to be abreast with the modern scientific thought have given in to the onslaught of modern sciences and in secret depths of their hearts feel nervous how to defend their position. They are doing more harms than good by defending their post with archaic weapons. Like the case of William James in his "Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature" wrote: Failure, then, failure! So the world stamps us at every turn. We strew it with our blunders, our misdeeds, our lost opportunities, with all the memorials of our inadequacy to our vocation. And with what a damning emphasis does it then blot us out! No easy fine, no mere apology or formal expiation, will satisfy the world's demands, but every pound of flesh exacted is soaked with all its blood. The subtlest forms of suffering known to man are connected with the poisonous humiliations incidental to these results. And they are pivotal human experiences. A process so ubiquitous and everlasting is evidently an integral part of life. 'There is indeed one element in human destiny,' Robert Louis Stevenson writes, 'that not blindness itself can controvert. Whatever else we are intended to do, we are not intended to succeed; failure is the fate allotted.' And our nature being thus rooted in failure, is it any wonder that theologians should have held it to be essential, and thought that only th rough the personal experience of humiliation which it engenders the deeper sense of life's significance is reached (Varieties, p. 138) The main reason of this fall to dishonor and disdain, is the writer's indifference towards scientific disciplines. It has put among the tail-enders in the world. An in-depth inquiry of human history reveals that our forefathers disseminated thought and philosophy to the whole world and founded numerous scientific disciplines. Had our forefathers not accomplished their pioneer work in the field of empirical sciences, the contemporary scientific disciplines could never have developed into their present status. They dawned in the words of William James and others1 with wisdom on the Western thoughts and drowned in murk and darkness of ignorance. This philosophy amply fled on our illuminating heredity. And we spared everything witlessly. The science is advancing by leaps and bounds. As shown in the William work, he was rightly proud of his superior evolutionary status among the comity of nations. As he keep the poor and the deprived dependent and subdued, he also intended to see the other religions under their subjugating authority. His philosophical thought and civilization is eating up geographical distances and the world spread over millions of miles has been reduced to Global village. Owing to scientific progress, deserts are being transformed into meadows and fertile fields. The mineral wealth is drawn to one feet. Scientific knowledge has enabled to bring all the natural sources under human control and consumption. This is, however, tragic to note that his scientific approaches are adamantly bent upon keeping the backward nations dependent and subdued. In this regards, the minorities are well-defined target. Like