A Guide for the Perplexed

A Guide for the Perplexed is a short book by E.F. Schumacher, published in 1977. While better known for his 1974 environmental economics bestseller Small is Beautiful, which made him a leading figure within the ecology movement, Schumacher himself considered A Guide for the Perplexed to be his most important achievement. His daughter wrote that her father handed her the book on his deathbed, five days before he died and he told her "this is what my life has been leading to"'.{{Ref|Pearce}} As the Chicago Tribune wrote "A Guide for the Perplexed is really a statement of the philosophical underpinnings that inform Small is Beautiful."

Adequateness

For Schumacher, the great truth of adequateness is that nothing can be known without an appropriate instrument in the make up of the knower. Everything around us must be matched with some faculty within us, otherwise we remain unaware of its existence. He quotes Plotinus "Knowing demands the organ fitted to the object."{{Ref|AGFTPp49}}

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Schumacher explains that the bodily senses are adequate for perceiving inanimate matter; but we need 'intellectual' senses for other levels. Schumacher observes that science has shown that we perceive not only with the senses, but also with the mind. He illustrates this with the example of a complex scientific book; it means quite different things to an animal, illiterate man, educated man and scientist. Each person possesses different internal 'senses' which means they 'understand' the book in quite different manners.

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Schumacher argues that the common view that '..the facts should speak for themselves' is a problematic; because the it is not a simple matter to distinguish fact and theory or perception and interpretation. He quotes R. L. Gregory in Eye and Brain, "Perception is not determined simply by the stimulus pattern, rather it is a dynamic searching for the best interpretation of data."{{Ref|AGFTPp52a}} Schumacher argues that we 'see' not just with our eyes; but our mental equipment and "since this mental equipment varies greatly from person to person, there are inevitably many things which some people can 'see' while others cannot, or, to put it differently, for which some people are adequate while others are not."{{Ref|AGFTPp52b}}

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For Schumacher, higher and more significant perceptive abilities are based on the ability to be critically aware of one's presuppositions. Schumacher writes "There is nothing more difficult than to be aware of one's thought. Everything can be seen directly except the eye through which we see. Every thought can be scrutinised directly except the thought by which we scrutinise. A special effort, an effort of self-awareness is needed - that almost impossible feat of thought recoiling upon itself: almost impossible but not quite. In fact, this is the power that makes man human and also capable of transcending his humanity."{{Ref|AGFTPp54}}

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Schumacher notes that anyone who views the world through materialistic scientism this talk of higher perception is meaningless. For a scientist who believes in materialistic scientism, higher levels of being "simply do not exist, because his faith excludes the possibility of their existence." {{Ref|AGFTPp55}}

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Schumacher points out that materialistic science is principally based on the sense of sight and looks only at the external manifestation of things. Necessarily according to the principle of adequateness, materialistic science cannot know more than a limited part of nature. Schumacher argues that by restricting the modes of observation, a limited 'objectivity' can be attained; but this is attained at the expense of knowledge of the object as a whole. Only the 'lowest' and most superficial aspects are accessible to objective scientific instruments.

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Schumacher notes that science became 'science for manipulation' following Descartes. Descartes promised men would become 'masters and possessors of nature', a point of view first popularised by Francis Bacon. For Schumacher this was something of a wrong turn, because it meant the devaluation of 'science for understanding' or wisdom. One of Schumacher criticisms is that 'science for manipulation' almost inevitably leads from the manipulation of nature to he manipulation of people. Schumacher argues that 'science for manipulation' is a valuable tool when subordinated for 'science for understanding' or wisdom; but until then 'science for manipulation' has become a danger to humanity.

Related Topics:
Descartes - Francis Bacon - Wisdom

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Schumacher argues that if materialistic scientism grows to dominate science even further then there will be three negative consequences:

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• Quality of life will fall, because solutions of quantity are incapable of solving problems of quality.
• 'Science for understanding' will not develop, because the dominant paradigm will prevent it being treated as a serious subject.
• Problems will become insoluble, because the higher powers of man will atrophy through lack of use.

Schumacher argues that the ideal science would have a proper hierarchy of knowledge from pure knowledge for understanding at the top of the hierarchy to knowledge for manipulation at the bottom. At the level of knowledge for manipulation, the aims of prediction and control are appropriate. But as we deal with higher levels they become increasingly absurd. As Schumacher says "Human beings are highly predictable as physico-chemical systems, less predictable as living bodies, much less so as conscious beings and hardly at all as self aware persons."{{Ref|AGFTPp68}}

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The result of materialistic scientism is that man has become rich in means and poor in ends. Lacking a sense of higher values Western societies are left with pluralism, moral relativism and utilitarianism, and for Schumacher the inevitable result is chaos.

Related Topics:
Pluralism - Moral relativism - Utilitarianism

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