Science’s objectivity rationalizes endless growth as the only good life.

Evidence

Science contributes moral as well as material blessings to the world. Its great moral contribution is objectivity, or the scientific point of view. This means doubting everything except facts; it means hewing to the facts, let the chips fall where they may. One of the facts hewn to by science is that every river needs more people, and all people need more inventions, and hence more science; the good life depends on the indefinite extension of this chain of logic. That the good life on any river may likewise depend on the perception of its music, and the preservation of some music to perceive, is a form of doubt not yet entertained by science. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 543

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The objectivity that scientists pride themselves on secretly endorses the growth chain — a genuinely unsettling epistemic critique worth long reflection.
• XREF: connects to: Established science rationalizes the prevailing world without altering its existential structure. — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 611; Natural science’s drive to dominate nature rests on a universally valid epistemic attitude — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2437; Knowledge and objectivity are only knowable in relation to humanity (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Established science rationalizes the prevailing world without altering its existential structure. #complicates (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 611
• Knowledge and objectivity are only knowable in relation to humanity #complicates (0.82)
• Natural science’s drive to dominate nature rests on a universally valid epistemic attitude #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2437
• Science’s claim to exclusive truth paradoxically enabled its own destructiveness #expands (0.78)