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Science: The False Messiah and Holier Than Thou
AYRES, C, E,: THE FALSE MESSIAH [1927] & HOLIER THAN THOU, THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS [1929] IN ONE VOLUME WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION PROLEGOMENO TO INSTITUTIONALISM , INDIANAPOLIS, IN, 1973, xiv 535 p, Encuadernacion original, Nuevo,
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1973
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July 17, 2025
You may know your era by your cranks. For the cranks distill the era's lurking anxieties and hopes into a wild concoction of pronouncements, epithets, warnings, prophecies and cures. C.E. Ayres does not think he is a crank - in fact (according to Wikipedia) "he was the principal thinker in the Texas school of institutional economics during the middle of the 20th century." On second thought, unpacking that quote in the most uncharitable way, I think that quote may just qualify him as a crank.
In any case, this book attacks what he perceives as the unexamined and pervasive role of science in culture. In his view, the rush to adopt the scientific view in all things has abandoned all the previous "good things" our traditions have provided us. These good things can be found in authority and religion from what I can gather. Yes, it was published in 1927, but it is still cringe-worthy for the author to plainly state, without irony, of the fact of religious truths. As for the good things of authority and religion - the counterexamples flood the endzone -> Catholicism before Luther, Ireland before very recently (the Magdalen laundries for example?), Iran and Syria, oh ... and Texas.
He does make good points and some novel arguments that made me think. Science does lead into some strange and perhaps regrettable paths. That science is made by scientists and that scientists are human is one. Lysenko, at some level, is always around in the hierarchy of science making. But, the saving dice throw of science is that it is self correcting in the long run. Religion and authority? Not self correcting in the long run. Only revolution (which Ayres only alludes to in the terms of Scientific Revolutions(!)) dismantle religion and authority in the long run. And nobody wishes revolution on anybody.
I think it is the elevation of the demos by meritocracy and democracy which saddens Ayres the most. No longer are traditions, dogmas and ceremonies in the hands of kings and popes, but in the facts and words of science and democracy. Ayres sees tremendous value in the "truths" of these things in arranging human affairs - but, in 1927, he might not have been in a position to recognize the horrors that unchecked traditions, dogmas and ceremonies inflict on those who are not traditional, believers or anointed. The kings and the bishops have one goal above all else - to remain kings and bishops. The traditions, dogmas and ceremonies are a smokescreen.
Ayre's kinda wants to eat his cake and to have it too. One of his chapters deplores the ceremonial and/or tradition of science making as if it is a bad thing. Well, dude, keeping women away from any positions of power in religious or aristocratic hierarchies is also a tradition - which Ayres, from his 1927 viewpoint, is as it should be.
And then there is the title - "Science, the False Messiah". Well, if ever there is a straw Messiah, it is this. Science is a tool where every little bit of investigation, deduction, inference and consolidation is used to make better and/or simpler predictions of how the world behaves. It is also a distillation of what humans have been doing for eons. A "messiah" is an anointed one, preferably of a prophecy. Science is not anointed or subject to prophecy. Some humans, being irrational humans, may fall into miracle cures and systems of thought that are science-adjacent. But - it is the self-correcting aspect that Ayres refuses to acknowledge. Messiahs are not self-correcting, instead all discrepancies are the fault of the unwashed not believing enough, or that there was "one more turtle" in all the turtles all the way down to explain it.
Finally - Ayres concludes with a chapter called "Theses to be Nailed to the Laboratory Door" as if he is a modern day Luther, rather than a modern day Savonarola. Since, so far as I am the only reviewer, and this book is out of copyright, here they are for the reader to help their reading choices:
1. That the truth of science is established only by belief, after the manner of folk-lores.
2.That scientific formulas, however charmingly mysterious they may be, do not touch the central problems of living.
3. That the credit of science rests wholly upon its connection with machine technology, of which it is a part.
4. That machine technology was not derived from science, but crept upon us after a fashion of its own.
5. That there can be such as a thing as too much machinery.
6. That our industrial revolution is located not in the past but mostly in the future.
7. That the vaunted freedom of modern civilization is in fact the loosening bonds of order and belief by industrial revolution.
8. That the dissolution of our institutions has gone farther than most of us suspect.
9. That the wane of ancient culture is due not to the influence of scientific ideas upon our minds but to the effect of machinery upon our lives.
10. That scientists have always deprecated the supposed effects of their discoveries--fruitlessly, since other and still more disturbing (!) discoveries have always followed.
11. That by trying to make our beliefs scientific we have succeeded only in making them absurd.
12. That we can keep science and belief separate by relegating our religion to the Sabbath Day.
13. That although the highest truths of religion can be proved (!!), they lose in the process all meaning and value to humanity.
14. That creeds and churches are reformed only at the expense of losing all their power.
15. That the scientists who proclaim that science bolsters up religion are deceiving us and possibly themselves.
16. That the laws of science are not statutes; they are definitions.
17. That the divine order, which we must "let alone," was discovered not only by science but by special interest.
18. That if we examine our lives and our civilization in the light of science, we see only that they are a natural growth.
19. That the facts of science can be translated into the guidance of human destiny only by astrologers. (wait. what?)
20. That inventions are provided not to suit the needs of civilization but according to the development of science and invention.
21. That the perfection of science is a perfection of form, and our glory in it the pride of all peoples in their great works.
22. That the minds of a few men can be sublimely elevated by the study of science only if the minds of most men are regulated by tradition to humbler but more necessary ends.
23. That when science has become supreme any attempt to rectify its formulas will be persecuted as heresy.
This book was chosen from the many books collected in the Neglected Books website.
In any case, this book attacks what he perceives as the unexamined and pervasive role of science in culture. In his view, the rush to adopt the scientific view in all things has abandoned all the previous "good things" our traditions have provided us. These good things can be found in authority and religion from what I can gather. Yes, it was published in 1927, but it is still cringe-worthy for the author to plainly state, without irony, of the fact of religious truths. As for the good things of authority and religion - the counterexamples flood the endzone -> Catholicism before Luther, Ireland before very recently (the Magdalen laundries for example?), Iran and Syria, oh ... and Texas.
He does make good points and some novel arguments that made me think. Science does lead into some strange and perhaps regrettable paths. That science is made by scientists and that scientists are human is one. Lysenko, at some level, is always around in the hierarchy of science making. But, the saving dice throw of science is that it is self correcting in the long run. Religion and authority? Not self correcting in the long run. Only revolution (which Ayres only alludes to in the terms of Scientific Revolutions(!)) dismantle religion and authority in the long run. And nobody wishes revolution on anybody.
I think it is the elevation of the demos by meritocracy and democracy which saddens Ayres the most. No longer are traditions, dogmas and ceremonies in the hands of kings and popes, but in the facts and words of science and democracy. Ayres sees tremendous value in the "truths" of these things in arranging human affairs - but, in 1927, he might not have been in a position to recognize the horrors that unchecked traditions, dogmas and ceremonies inflict on those who are not traditional, believers or anointed. The kings and the bishops have one goal above all else - to remain kings and bishops. The traditions, dogmas and ceremonies are a smokescreen.
Ayre's kinda wants to eat his cake and to have it too. One of his chapters deplores the ceremonial and/or tradition of science making as if it is a bad thing. Well, dude, keeping women away from any positions of power in religious or aristocratic hierarchies is also a tradition - which Ayres, from his 1927 viewpoint, is as it should be.
And then there is the title - "Science, the False Messiah". Well, if ever there is a straw Messiah, it is this. Science is a tool where every little bit of investigation, deduction, inference and consolidation is used to make better and/or simpler predictions of how the world behaves. It is also a distillation of what humans have been doing for eons. A "messiah" is an anointed one, preferably of a prophecy. Science is not anointed or subject to prophecy. Some humans, being irrational humans, may fall into miracle cures and systems of thought that are science-adjacent. But - it is the self-correcting aspect that Ayres refuses to acknowledge. Messiahs are not self-correcting, instead all discrepancies are the fault of the unwashed not believing enough, or that there was "one more turtle" in all the turtles all the way down to explain it.
Finally - Ayres concludes with a chapter called "Theses to be Nailed to the Laboratory Door" as if he is a modern day Luther, rather than a modern day Savonarola. Since, so far as I am the only reviewer, and this book is out of copyright, here they are for the reader to help their reading choices:
1. That the truth of science is established only by belief, after the manner of folk-lores.
2.That scientific formulas, however charmingly mysterious they may be, do not touch the central problems of living.
3. That the credit of science rests wholly upon its connection with machine technology, of which it is a part.
4. That machine technology was not derived from science, but crept upon us after a fashion of its own.
5. That there can be such as a thing as too much machinery.
6. That our industrial revolution is located not in the past but mostly in the future.
7. That the vaunted freedom of modern civilization is in fact the loosening bonds of order and belief by industrial revolution.
8. That the dissolution of our institutions has gone farther than most of us suspect.
9. That the wane of ancient culture is due not to the influence of scientific ideas upon our minds but to the effect of machinery upon our lives.
10. That scientists have always deprecated the supposed effects of their discoveries--fruitlessly, since other and still more disturbing (!) discoveries have always followed.
11. That by trying to make our beliefs scientific we have succeeded only in making them absurd.
12. That we can keep science and belief separate by relegating our religion to the Sabbath Day.
13. That although the highest truths of religion can be proved (!!), they lose in the process all meaning and value to humanity.
14. That creeds and churches are reformed only at the expense of losing all their power.
15. That the scientists who proclaim that science bolsters up religion are deceiving us and possibly themselves.
16. That the laws of science are not statutes; they are definitions.
17. That the divine order, which we must "let alone," was discovered not only by science but by special interest.
18. That if we examine our lives and our civilization in the light of science, we see only that they are a natural growth.
19. That the facts of science can be translated into the guidance of human destiny only by astrologers. (wait. what?)
20. That inventions are provided not to suit the needs of civilization but according to the development of science and invention.
21. That the perfection of science is a perfection of form, and our glory in it the pride of all peoples in their great works.
22. That the minds of a few men can be sublimely elevated by the study of science only if the minds of most men are regulated by tradition to humbler but more necessary ends.
23. That when science has become supreme any attempt to rectify its formulas will be persecuted as heresy.
This book was chosen from the many books collected in the Neglected Books website.
Displaying 1 of 1 review