2.

          A retrospect concerning science

          Plato's convictions with regard to the status of science can to some extend be associated with Tolstoy's. Both connect 'true science' with premises of guidance and inspiration by some transcendent reality. However Plato's convictions are based on some quite elaborate metaphysical, ontological and epistemological theories that are absent with Tolstoy. According to Plato's anamnese-theory all knowledge we can discover and possess is caused by an actual remembrance from knowledge that we perceived during our preëmpirical existence, which we latently carry inside our rational consciousness. By means of logical reasoning in for example a dialectic discussion or analysis our potential for rational insight can recognize and remember the transcendental forms in our material reality. The best part of the 'scientific knowledge' is concerned with our insight in socially relevant 'moral ideals' such as wisdom and justice. Plato mentions in Symposium (206) that knowledge about the wise and just ordaining of a society are ranked with "the most beautiful insights". It should be emphasized that 'knowledge' in the sense of understanding the numerical and logical relations in the material reality with regard to its practical use or in order to increase the amount of material goods we can obtain, was not considered to be 'science' by Plato. He considered knowledge solely inspired and motivated by our insatiable need for constantly larger quantities of material goods inferior and definitely not scientific. The scientific knowledge of the numerical and logical relations of the material reality in the Cosmos Plato sought for, had to give us insight in for instance the 'natural and proportional' order of the psychological desires in ourselves and in the society we live in that cause our actions. The logical knowledge had to represent the transcendent order in the material reality of the Cosmos. Plato used his dialectic method of logical rational reasoning in for example geometry not for its practical use but ultimately just a springboard to get insight in the highest transcendent ideals themselves (Politeia VI 511b). In any case his numerical and rational science of the Cosmos was basically and ultimately aiming at transcendent knowledge of a moral and social nature.
          Tolstoy associated knowledge in connection with our religious perception exclusively with social philosophy. This religious perception inspires people to commit themselves to a rational and reasonable articulation of 'the meaning of life'. His antipathy against modern scientific and technological knowledge is caused by its corrupted motives. Its obsessive urge for material profit without any link with moral values only causes knowledge that are or superfluous, or outright harmful for mankind. This technological 'science' for example is used by military organizations to become even more efficient in being more destructive and has eventually made the existence of all our modern nuclear weapons possible.
          If we take a look at the environmental problems that have caught the attention of the general public during the last decades of this century we have to realize that this is primarily caused by the so-called benefits of our technological sciences. Because of the nature of our modern social economical systems and its drive and necessity for a constant growth it has, with the help of our technological science, laid the base for ecological disasters, the extend of which we are only starting to understand. The greatest concerns modern environmental scientists perceive is that with the aid of the technological 'industry' the flaws of our social economical system get amplified. The constant and insatiable need for a greater abundance of material goods promised by our modern democratic social economical structures is made possible by and goes hand in hand with our modern scientific technological knowledge. All of the present environmental catastrophes are caused by the fact that both the modern social economical structures and the technological sciences, combined with each other do not have any internal break regarding the extend of their growth, and therefore on the claim they lay on the natural recourses of our planet that has changed the last century in a common 'global village' (!). On the contrary without a perpetual growth this modern social economical and technological 'machinery' can not exist the way it is, all it wants and needs to survive is more and more and more... In this context both Plato's and Tolstoy's considerations and convictions about science and the role it ought to play are still valid.
 

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