S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 9 3 7 Michal Kutáš We currently still do not have the theory of everything: we do not know even the basic laws which operate in the universe in their complete form. Even if we had such knowledge, it could be, and very probably would be impossible to make exact and reliable deductions from it about more complex phenomena in our universe, like are, for example, many aspects of and processes in human mind, human beings and human society. Because of that, all extrapolations from even our best scientific theories which would want to say something about phenomena which do not belong to the domains which are exactly described by their respective theories, are at high risk of being wrong; and many of them therefore probably are wrong. Because of this it may be wise not to accept any such extrapolations, which may pretend to be consequences of scientific theories, at least until we indeed have a final theory of everything and are able to logically and exactly deduce propositions in question from it. Even then it will be questionable whether we should accept them, for other reasons, but until this prerequisite is met, we have even more reasons to not accept them – or their negations – on the basis of scientific theories alone [1]. I want to illustrate this with one example. In the era of Newtonian physics, it seemed to many that since according to this theory the phenomena which it describes are fully determined by initial state and physical laws, all phenomena of the universe are fully deterministic. This was an extrapolation. From the fact that the Newtonian laws of motion predict with great precision the movement of heavenly bodies and other objects and thus seem to show their behavior as deterministic it was derived that everything is deterministic, including all that comprises us, humans; so our behavior seemed to these thinkers also to be fully deterministic [2]. But later, quantum physics was formulated, which shows material phenomena in a different light. Now I am not claiming that quantum physics, for example, implies or even suggests that we have free will in the sense which would defy both determinism and randomness, but this theory certainly states that phenomena of small scale it describes are not fully deterministic. Thus we can see that many have come to a wrong conclusions in the past, both in this case as in many others, when they made extrapolations from the domain of the theory (a sphere in which it is proved to describe phenomena with great precision) to the space outside of its domain. Therefore, it would be wise to be careful, because we know that today we still do not have the complete theory of the universe. We should be cautious in all our extrapolations from any scientific research, be it physics, biology (including evolutionary theory), psychology, cognitive sciences, and othAbout the author Mgr. Ing. Michal Kutáš, PhD., is philosopher interested in spirituality, both current and traditional. His published works include articles on the issues of free will, identity, logic, science, evolution and spirituality, as well as translations of philosophical texts from English to Slovak. His email address is michal.kutas@gmail.com. ers. Perhaps it would be best to just not accept any such extrapolations or take them as inspiration only, an inspiration for the thinking, which is tailored primarily for a given sphere of experience; that is, thinking – and possibly perceiving, feeling and experiencing – that has as its main subject given sphere of experience. Because of this, I will try not to do such extrapolations, or at least admit their hypothetical nature. To say something about the domain of spirituality and mysticism on the basis of the knowledge or experience originating in these spheres themselves is another matter: although I think our human inner intuition, experience and “seeing” is subject to errors and illusions, the inner path of wisdom is not made impossible by this fact; just as science is possible, although it cannot exist without the senses, which are subject to errors and illusions, so also inner wisdom, that is, the knowledge of ourselves, is possible, I believe, although our intuition, inner sense and “seeing” of that, which we ultimately are is likewise subject to errors and illusions. My state-
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