Limitations of Science
科学的局限性:
Often one hears so much about science and what it can do, and so little about what it cannot do. Scientific knowledge is limited to the data received through the sense organs. It does not recognize reality which transcends sense-data. Scientific truth is built upon logical observations of sense-data which are continually changing. Scientific truth is, therefore, relative truth not intended to stand the test of time. And a scientist, being aware of this fact, is always willing to discard a theory if it can be replaced by a better one.
Science attempts to understand the outer world and has barely scratched the surface of man's inner world. Even the science of psychology has not really fathomed the underlying cause of man's mental unrest. When a man is frustrated and disgusted with life, and his inner world is filled with disturbances and unrest, science today is very much unequipped to help him.. The social sciences which cater for man's environment may bring him a certain degree of happiness. But unlike an animal man requires more than mere physical comfort and needs help to cope with his frustrations and miseries arising from his daily experiences.
Today so many people are plagued with fear, restlessness, and insecurity. Yet science fails to succor them. Science is unable to teach the common man to control his mind when he is driven by the animal nature that burns within him.
Can science make man better? If it can, why do violent acts and immoral practices abound in countries which are so advanced in science? Isn't it fair to say that despite all the scientific progress achieved and the advantages conferred on man, science leaves the inner man basically unchanged: it has only heightened man's feelings of dependence and insufficiency? In addition to its failure to bring security to mankind, science has also made everyone feel even more insecure by threatening the world with the possibility of wholesale destruction.
Science is unable to provide a meaningful purpose of life. It cannot provide man clear reasons for living. In fact, science is thoroughly secular in nature and unconcerned with man's spiritual goal. The materialism inherent in scientific thought denies the psyche goals higher than material satisfaction. By its selective theorizing and relative truths, science disregards some of the most essential issues and leaves many questions unanswered. For instance, when asked why great inequalities exist among men, no scientific explanation can be given to such questions which are beyond its narrow confines.
科学常被人们所夸大。科学受限制于通过感官得来的知识,科学无法理解超越感官知识的存在。科学是建立于来自感官观察的知识和逻辑理论。因此,科学是相对性的真理,无法在时间永久不变。科学所求证出来的「真理」经常被新的理论所推翻。
科学包含了心智以外的所有学问。即使是心理学家也承认无法真正了解人类的心识。当一个人内心受到外来的干扰而无法平静时,科学家也束手无策。社会学家也只能改善某些社会环境,为人类带来的幸福是有限的。与动物不同的是,人类不仅满足于物质需求和舒适的生活,同时还需要有人为他们解决日常生活中所面对的种种烦恼。
今天很多人受恐惧、忧虑和不安所困扰,这是科学无法平息的。当人类内心充满兽性时,科学没有能力教导它们如何调伏和控制自己的心识。
科学能改善人类吗?如果可以的话,那么为何在科学发达的国度里,还有那么多的动乱和不道德的行为发生。虽然科学获得了很大的成就,同时也利益了人类。可是科学基本无法改变人类的心识,反而加强了人类的依赖性和不满足。
科学的发展不但不能给人类带来安全感,反而使世界充满了危机,导致了人类对科学的毁灭性充满了恐惧感。科学无法给人类带来有意义的生活,也无法让人类看清楚生活的真正目的。科学不关心人类心灵的开展。科学只注重理性的物质,忽略了感性的心灵,因此,很多问题都无法解决。科学的范围太狭隘了,无法解决人类各种不平等的问题。