Morris Berman - The reenchantment of the world

"What will serve to stabilize things today is fairly obscure; but it is amajor premise of this book that because disenchantment is intrinsic to thescientific world view, the modern epoch contained, from its inception, aninherent instability that severely limited its ability to sustain itselffor more than a few centuries. For more than 99 percent of human history,the world was enchanted and man saw himself as an integral part of it. Thecomplete reversal of this perception in a mere four hundred years or sohas destroyed the continuity of the human experience and the integrityof the human psyche. It has very nearly wrecked the planet as well. Theonly hope, or so it seems to me, lies in a reenchantment of the world."--Morris Berman, in the Introduction________________________________________________________________________"Morris Berman's book addresses what I consider to be the most importanttopic at our present moment in history. He is searching for theunderpinnings of a new world view that can give rise to a culture capableof relating gently and self-sustainingly to the earth."--Frederick FerrCharles A. Dana, Professor of Philosophy,Dickinson CollegeBANTAM NEW AGE BOOKSThis important imprint includes books in a variety of fieldsand disciplines and deals with the search for meaning, growth andchange. They are books that circumscribe our times and our future.Ask your bookseller for the books you have missed.ANIMAL DREAMING by Jim NollmanTHE ART OF BREATHING by Nancy ZiBEYOND EINSTEIN: THE COSMIC QUEST FOR THE THEORYOF THE UNIVERSE by Dr. Michio Kaku and Jennifer TrainerBEYOND THE QUANTUM by Michael TalbotBEYOND SUPERNATURE by Lyall WatsonTHE CASE FOR REINCARNATION by Joe FisherTHE COMPLETE CRYSTAL GUIDEBOOK by Uma SilbeyTHE COSMIC CODE by Heinz R. PagelsCREATIVE VISUALIZATION by Shakti GawainTHE DANCING WU LI MASTERS by Gary ZukavDON'T SHOOT THE DOG: HOW TO IMPROVE YOURSELFAND OTHERS THROUGH BEHAVIORAL TRAINING by Karen PryorECOTOPIA by Ernest CallenbachEMMANUEL'S BOOK by Pat Rodegast and Judith StarttonAN END TO INNOCENCE by Sheldon KoppENTROPY by Jeremy Rifkin with Ted HowardFOCUSING by Dr. Eugene T. GendlinHANDS OF LIGHT by Barbara Ann BrennanTHE HEART OF HEALING by Brace Davis and Genny Wright DavisTHE HOLE IN THE SKY by John GribbinI CHING: A NEW INTERPRETATION FOR MODERN TIMES by Sam ReiflerIF YOU MEET THE BUDDHA ON THE ROAD, KILL HIM! by Sheldon KoppIN SEARCH OF SCHRODINGER'S CAT by John GribbinIN SEARCH OF THE BIG BANG: QUANTUM PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGYby John GribbinIN SEARCH OF THE DOUBLE HELIX: QUANTUM PHYSICS AND LIFE by John GribbinINFINITY AND THE MIND by Rudy RuckerKUNDALINI FOR THE NEW AGE / Editor Gene KeifferTHE LIVES OF A CELL by Lewis ThomasMAGICAL CHILD by Joseph Chilton PearceMAGICAL CHILD MATURES by Joseph Chilton PearoeTHE MEDUSA AND THE SNAIL by Lewis ThomasMETAMAGICAL THEMAS: QUESTING FOR THE ESSENCEOF MIND AND PATFERN by Douglas R. HofstadterMIND AND NATURE by Gregory BatesonTHE MIND'S I by Douglas R. Hofstadter and Daniel C. DennettNATURAL ESP: THE ESP CORE AND ITS RAW CHARACTERISTICS by Ingo SwannORDER OUT OF CHAOS by Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle StengersORIGINS: A SKEPTIC'S GUIDE TO THE CREATION OF LIFE ON EARTHby Robert Shapiro PERFECT SYMMETRY by Heinz R. PagelsPROSPERING WOMAN by Ruth RossTHE REENCHANTMENT OF THE WORLD by Morris BermanSCIENCE, ORDER AND CREATIVITY by David Bohm and F. David PeatSHAMBHALA: THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR by Chogyam TrungpaSPACE-TIME AND BEYOND (THE NEW EDITION) by Bob Toben and Fred Alan WolfSTAYING SUPPLE by John JeromeSYMPATHETIC VIBRATIONS: REFLECTIONS ON PHYSICS AS A WAY OF LIFEby K.C. ColeSYNCHRONICITY: THE BRIDGE BETWEEN MATTER AND MIND by F. David PeatTHE TAO OF LEADERSHIP by John HeiderTHE TAO OF PHYSICS, Revised Edition, by Fritjof CapraTO HAVE OR TO BE? by Erich FrommTHE TURNING POINT by Fritjof CapraTHE WAY OF THE SHAMAN: A GUIDE TO POWER AND HEALING by Michael HarnerZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE by Robert M. PirsigThe Reenchantmentof the WorldMORRIS BERMANBANTAM BOOKSTORONTO * NEW YORK * LONDON * SYDNEY * AUCKLANDCornell University Press gratefully acknowledges a grant from the Andrew W.Mellon Foundation that aided in bringing this book to publication.This edition contains the complete textof the original hardcover edition.NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTEDTHE REENCHANTMENT OF THE WORLDA Bantam Book / published by arrangement withCornell University PressPRINTING HISTORYCornell University Press edition published November 1981Bantam edition / May 19842nd printing... July 1988Acknowledgment is made to:The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., for excerpts from Ren Descartes,Discourse on Method, translated by Laurence I. Lafleur; copyright 1950, 1956, by the Liberal Arts Press, Inc.; reprinted by permission ofthe Liberal Arts Press Division of the Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.Doubleday & Company, Inc., for permission to quote excerpts from ThePoetry and Prose of William Blake, edited by David V. Erdman; copyright 1965 by David V. Erdman and Harold Bloom; and an excerpt from The Birthof Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche, translatedby Francis Golffing; copyright 1956 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., for permission to quote specifiedbrief excerpts from Steps to an Ecology of Mind by Gregory Bateson(T.Y. Crowell); copyright 1972 by Harper & Row, Publishers Inc.Charles Scribner's Sons for permission to use an illustration by Fonsvan Woerkom from The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game by PaulShepard illustrated by Fons van Woerkom; text copyright 1973 by PaulShepard, illustrations copyright 1973 by Fons van Woerkom.New Age and the accompanying figure design as well as the statement "thesearch for meaning, growth and change" are trademarks of Bantam Books.All rights reserved.Copyright by Morris BermanCover art copyright 1984 by Leo and Diane Dillon.No part of this book may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopying, recording, or by any informationstorage and retrieval system without permission inwriting from the publisher.For information address: Cornell University Press,124 Roberts Place, Ithaca, New York 14850.ISBN 0-553-24171-0Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada__________________________________________________________________________Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam DoubledayDell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark consisting of the words "BantamBooks" and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent andTrademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books,666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10103.__________________________________________________________________________PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA0 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
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God and philosophy could not live together peacefully; can philosophysurvive without God? Once its adversary has disappeared, metaphysicsceases to be the science of sciences and becomes logic, psychology,anthropology, history, economics, linguistics. What was once the greatrealm of philosophy has today become the ever-shrinking territory not yetexplored by the experimental sciences. If we are to believe the logicians,all that remains of metaphysics is no more than the nonscientific residuumof thought -- a few errors of language. Perhaps tomorrows metaphysics,should man feel a need to think metaphysically, will begin as a critiqueof science, just as in classical antiquity it began as a critique of thegods. This metaphysics would ask itself the same questions as in classicalphilosophy, but the starting point of the interrogation would not bethe traditional one