Carl Sagan

Ann Druyan

Reveals the dangers associated with widespread scientific ignorance, and explains how scientific thought has served to overcome prejudice and hysteria.

Science as a Candle in the Dark

The Demon-Haunted World

Aske Dørge

Laura Mei

Whose interest does ignorance serve, if we humans bear hereditary propensities toward the hatred of strangers? Isn't self-knowledge the only antidote? If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits? In 

, Friedrich Nietzsche, as so many before and after, decries the unbroken progress in the self-belittling of man, brought about by the scientific revolution. Nietzsche mourns the loss of man's belief in his dignity, his uniqueness, his irreplaceability in the scheme of existence. To me, it is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Which attitude is better geared for our long term survival? Which gives us more leverage on our future? And if our naïve self-confidence is a little undermined in the process, is that altogether such a loss? Is there not cause to welcome it as a maturing and character building experience?

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.

The Demon-Haunted World quotes

Join the club