SENTINEL WATCH July 9, 2007 Issue

DO THE SCIENCES HAVE A MONOPOLY ON TRUTH?

MARK SWINNEY

QUANTUM PHYSICISTS ARE ATTEMPTING to provide precise descriptions of phenomena at the atomic and subatomic level, and these developments are doing much to move thought beyond what classical scientific theories simply cannot explain. Developments such as quantum mechanics and relativity wouldn't have occurred if scientists weren't looking beyond surface appearances to discern how the world works.

But are the views of the world that the natural sciences generally give always accurate? Many scientists would answer, "We try to give out as truthful information as possible, but total accuracy is unattainable."

Although they're progressing toward identifying what's real and what isn't, many researchers will admit they still have a long way to go. Could the main barrier to progress lie in the fact that physical scientists are attempting to study material phenomena from within the context of materialism? A researcher attempting to explain the phenomenon called matter, while integrated into the phenomenon itself, is like a person who's asleep and dreaming, and attempts to explain and resolve the events of the dream. The dream state is itself the issue, although that fact goes unseen by the dreamer/researcher. Regardless of how accurately the dreamer describes the dream, there's significantly more to existence than anyone can perceive in such a state of consciousness.

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