The relation to Descartes

Nowadays, this first method of observation — the process of obtaining truthful insights about the world, by standing outside the world as an observer — dominates modern science. It has become, in effect, the only way in which we obtain objective information about the world.

I believe that what I have described in this chapter may be thought of as a second method of observation. If I am right about its power, it might one day seem comparable in value to the first method — and complementary to it.

The first method has helped us to find out how the world works in the machine-like sense. With it we have accomplished miracles, nearly, in the breadth of our scientific understanding. The second method of observation may bring us further miracles. It may perhaps bring us to the doorstep of another kind of world, in which we see, feel, become aware of a second layer of existence, beyond the mechanistic view of science and technology: a layer which is the underpinning of architecture and which is, also, the basis of our emotional and spiritual relation to the world.

#book/The Nature of Order/1 The Phenomenon of Life/9 Beyond Descartes: A new form of scientific observation#