Would it be possible to apply the political wisdom of Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech—“If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it”—to understanding the role of modern science and technology in our lives, and the course it is likely to take in years to come?
Despite its subtitle, Mastery of Nature: Promises and Prospects, edited by Svetozar Y. Minkov and Bernhardt L. Trout, does not for the most part concern itself with the questions of “whither we are tending.” Nevertheless, on that question there seems to be an interesting divergence of opinion among those few of the book’s contributors who express an opinion.
Robert C. Bartlett, at the conclusion of his discussion of contemplation in Plato and Aristotle, comments that, “Among some today, I am told, the desire to conquer nature has as its ultimate aim the wish to conquer death . . . There appears to be today a new-fangled version of assimilation to God, which takes the form of our seeking God-like powers.” Bartlett adopts the tone of someone taking a skeptical stance toward some remarkable traveler’s tale, wishing not to appear to be credulous. Could such goals, he wonders, really be intended seriously?
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