Q&A: Criticism of the Scientific Approach Today – Rupert Sheldrake
Criticism of the Scientific Approach Today – Rupert Sheldrake
Question
Good evening, Rabbi Michi,
I recently came across a few lectures by Rupert Sheldrake about the rigidity of the scientific outlook among most scientists in the world today, and their lack of ability to be open-minded. I’d be interested to hear: what is the Rabbi’s opinion of this claim in general? (Based on the Rabbi’s familiarity with the scientific world…)
In addition, I’m specifically interested in the Rabbi’s opinion about the theory of “morphic resonance,” as well as the studies he claims to have conducted that point to non-tangible / non-materialistic human communication. (For example, a study about four people who randomly call an acquaintance of theirs who is in a closed room, and before answering the phone he has to guess who is calling; and according to Sheldrake, in a number of such experiments he succeeded about 40 percent of the time rather than 25 percent, as would be expected according to a simple materialist understanding.)
How does the Rabbi relate to these claims? Does he accept them or doubt their reliability? Or does the Rabbi think there are other explanations for these phenomena?
Thank you very much,
Eden.
Answer
Sheldrake’s basic claim is correct. There is conservatism in the scientific world, though many have already pointed out that it is important. Not every finding is supposed to change our theory, as Popper thought. Thomas Kuhn discussed this at length (mainly from a sociological angle). What he claims about a change in the values of the gravitational constant sounds doubtful to me, but I haven’t examined it in depth.
I’m not familiar with this theory or with the studies.