Thursday, November 24, 2011

Natural law of Man

In the previous post, I noted that the expulsion of Dr Schectman from the scientific community, for the crime of offering novel ideas, reveals a tension in man. On the one hand, our minds demand constant revision of our models. On the other hand, our need for dignity and security demands a stability in these very same models. The history of science is characterized by the steady victory of innovation over stability, as in the case of Dr Schectman. Problems in the sciences exist, to be sure, but mankind is committed to seeking formulations of natural law to solve these. Because of this commitment to research, progress in the math and the natural sciences seems to be steadily increasing since the renaissance, with old models giving way to new ones, almost as a matter of course.

In stark contrast to math and natural sciences, the science of living life, lags far behind. We do not find a corresponding commitment to seeking natural law in the domain of living life, in this sphere, the dark ages persist.

In the T’fila of the zmanim, we focus attention upon this issue. We yearn, to bring to the study of everyday living, the same framework of dynamic research into natural law found in the sciences. This yearning to bring dynamism into research of the laws of life itself, is the mission we were chosen for and what characterizes us a Jewish nation. His “Name” the sense of the Wisdom and natural law which underlies His Creation generally, is associated with the Jewish nation.
מו  ברכה אמצעית של ראש השנה, בערבית ושחרית ומנחה:
אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים ורצית בנו מכל הלשונות, וקידשתנו במצוותיך וקירבתנו מלכנו לעבודתך; ושמך הגדול והקדוש, עלינו קראת.
But why is this commitment to research in natural law in the domain of life, so unique? This is the topic of the next post.

5 comments:

moonlight1021 said...

When is stability preferable to innovation? Can there be cases when we move in the direction of innovation without us actually seeing that stability may be more beneficial than innovation? For example we may have advanced technology nowadays that allows us to communicate instantenously, but can it be that back in the days the way we used to communicate with each other by word of mouth would've tightened our social relations more than nowadays when people may end up living private lives to the exclusion of certain social interactions that would not occur anymore?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said...

Moonlight

The educational leadership should be cautious in shaking up accepted notions, to be sure. This requires a deep knowledge of human psychology and a nurturing approach to human development, a process that Rambam compares to nursing a baby on milk. This requires a deep concern for teaching the fundamentals of our Torah.

On the other hand, we should not get lost in an overly sentimental attachment to "the good old days" either. Technology affords as many opportunities to connect as to isolate oneself. If the community is well schooled in fundamentals, they will be more open to growth in knowledge.

On the other hand, if one associates Judaism with a narrow ethnic culture of eating bagels and cholent or wearing clothing of a certain style, one will be very vulnerable.

moonlight1021 said...

What is the proof to this:

Technology affords as many opportunities to connect as to isolate oneself.

that is how can it be 50-50%?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said...

Moonlight

All you have to do is look at all the social networks and communication tools technology provides.

There is no intrinsic reason to use technology for isolation, it depends totally on the philosophy of the user.

moonlight1021 said...

Yet, you pretty much said though that it's 50-50%? What's the other 50% stand for--misguided philosophy?