The Marriage of Sense and Thought

Reductionism is a powerful force in the development of science. In The Marriage of Sense and Thought: Imaginitive Participation in Science the authors claim that it is driving science in the wrong direction, and what is more that it is leading to a lack of meaning in our lives. For instance the claim in the first chapter is that smiles are being robbed of their meaning by scientists describing them in reductionist terms. So how do the authors justify this claim. Well, I have to say: not very well - they seem to take it as read in their discussions, whereas I would see it as something which requires a lot of supporting argument in order to be taken seriously.

That's not to say that none of the discussion in the book is of value. In the second chapter looks at how we use our senses to make sense of the world. This leads on to a look at the development of scientific thinking, and at the difference between how we see a situation and its description in terms of reductionist science. In particular the authors look at light and the way we describe colours and reflections, as distinct from trying to describe the light itself in scientific terms. The final chapter argues that science shouldn't be so tied to reductionist models - that each discipline should be able to describe things in its own terms. I thought that there were some interesting points made in this book, but that in the end there was too much that was claimed but not justified.

Note: I read the first edition entitled Matter and Mind