ABSTRACT
Since the time of Descartes, Western intellectual endeavor has focused on the twin pillars of reason and empiricism—logic combined with fact or experience. In a world committed to scientism, such an approach to “knowing” and developing knowledge is to be expected. We humans are the only animals capable of the high levels of abstract reasoning that allow us to bend the environment and to use or change raw materials to dramatically alter our existence. Science allows us, within limits, to control our destiny.
