¶8 In this respect also, the same thing occurs in the scientific order: it is research for its own sake, much more so than for the partial and fragmentary results at which it arrives;1 it is the increasingly rapid succession of theories and hypotheses without foundation, which, scarcely constructed, crumble to be replaced by others that will last even less, a veritable chaos in the midst of which it would be vain to seek any definitively acquired elements, except for a monstrous accumulation of facts and details that can prove nothing nor signify anything.2 We speak here, of course, of what concerns the speculative point of view, insofar as it still subsists; as for practical applications, there are on the contrary incontestable results, and this is easy to understand, since these applications relate immediately to the material domain, and that this domain is precisely the only one in which modern man can boast of a real superiority.3 One must therefore expect that discoveries or rather mechanical and industrial inventions will continue to develop and multiply, ever more quickly as well, until the end of the present age; and who knows if, with the dangers of destruction that they carry within themselves, they will not be one of the principal agents of the ultimate catastrophe, if things reach such a point that it cannot be avoided?4
Summary
Guénon observes that in the scientific order, research is pursued for its own sake rather than for its partial and fragmentary results, leading to a rapid succession of groundless theories that quickly crumble and are replaced by even shorter-lived ones. He notes that beyond a monstrous accumulation of meaningless facts and details, there are no definitively acquired elements from a speculative point of view. However, he acknowledges that practical applications produce incontestable results in the material domain, which is the only area where modern man can claim real superiority. Guénon expects mechanical and industrial inventions to continue developing and multiplying at an accelerating pace until the end of the present age. He raises the question of whether, with their inherent dangers of destruction, these inventions might become one of the principal agents of the ultimate catastrophe, should it become unavoidable.
General notes
- recherche pour la recherche — Rendered as ‘research for its own sake’. Guénon here transposes to science what he has just said of movement and change: modern scientific activity has become autotelic. Science is no longer ordered to the knowledge of truth (a transcendent end), but pursues itself for its own sake, in an indefinite and directionless progress. This ‘for its own sake’ is another symptom of the substitution of means for ends. Guénon here opposes the modern ideal of ‘pure science’ (Théophile Gautier: ‘art for art’s sake’) which, by cutting itself off from any higher end, falls into absurdity. ↩︎
- hypothèses sans fondement — Rendered as ‘hypotheses without foundation’. Guénon criticises the conjectural and provisional character of modern science, which contrasts with the certainty of traditional metaphysical knowledge. A ‘hypothesis without foundation’ means a proposition that rests on no certain metaphysical principle, only on changing epistemological conventions. The rapid succession of theories (Newtonian physics, then relativity, then quantum mechanics, etc.) shows for Guénon that modern science does not produce stable knowledge but a flux of provisional models. This epistemological chaos is the reflection of social and psychic chaos. ↩︎
- supériorité matérielle — Rendered as ‘material superiority’. Guénon concedes that modern man is indeed superior to his predecessors in the technical and material domain. But this superiority is, in the traditional hierarchy of values, that of the lowest degree (matter, the body). It is as if a dwarf boasted of having nimbler fingers than a giant: true, but of no spiritual importance. Modern ‘superiority’ is a disguised inferiority, for it has been acquired at the cost of the loss of spiritual knowledge. ↩︎
- ultime catastrophe — Rendered as ‘ultimate catastrophe’. Guénon alludes to the cyclical end of the Kali Yuga, which according to Hindu tradition ends in a partial or total dissolution (pralaya). This ‘catastrophe’ is not an accidental event but a cosmic necessity: when the traditional equilibrium has been too greatly altered, order must be re-established by a destruction. Guénon envisages the possibility that human inventions (weapons, destructive technologies) will be the instruments of this catastrophe — a prophetic intuition written long before the atomic bomb, biological weapons, or ecological collapse. The alternative (that the catastrophe be avoided) supposes a return to the traditional order, of which Guénon grows increasingly doubtful. ↩︎