Natural science’s drive to dominate nature rests on a universally valid epistemic attitude

Evidence

Modern Western science has certainly implemented in a particularly radical and unscrupulous way this ethos of violent or treacherous examination of nature in order to dominate it step by step. But, on the other hand, this historical form of thought in the natural sciences, which is familiar to us and which we of course take for granted, is based on a generally valid epistemic attitude that is required by the matter itself. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2437

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Adorno/Horkheimer’s instrumental reason critique in Dialectic of Enlightenment — the idea that scientific domination of nature is both historically specific and rooted in a general epistemic stance. — connects to: Popper equated natural-science method with scientific rationality itself — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2410; Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63; Domination over nature is a systematic attitude, not isolated events — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 173 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Scheler held Western metaphysics rests on an a priori drive to dominate nature #responds-to (0.90) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 180
• Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity #corroborates (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63
• Universal quantifiability is a prerequisite for the domination of nature. #expands (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 608
• Positivism’s calculative thought is itself built on a nature-control interest #corroborates (0.85)
• Domination over nature is a systematic attitude, not isolated events #expands (0.80) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 173
• Scientific rationalism becomes an instrument of social domination #expands (0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 141