Our modern way of life is shaped by modern science and its promise of progress and the control of nature through technology. This way of life generates side effects like the destruction of natural...Show moreOur modern way of life is shaped by modern science and its promise of progress and the control of nature through technology. This way of life generates side effects like the destruction of natural resources and of cultural and biodiversity provoking further progression of science and technology to solve these problems and keep the illusion of progress and the control of nature alive. But every technological intervention generates new side effects leading to a vicious circle in which we are held captive. This leads to the emergence of a paradox in our conception of human identity as the master and possessor of nature and as such it is philosophically relevant. Our way of life became fully fledged due to the Scientific Revolution, which philosophical focal point is Descartes as the one who explicitly conceives of the method, nature and human identity. This MA-thesis offers an interpretation of Descartes’ thought as originating from his uncanny experience of nature as an infinite micro and macrocosmos leading to an epistemic gap which Descartes tries to bridge by his method which is interpreted as an algebraisation of thought and the concomitant mechanisation of nature which he conceives of as a cultivation of the divine seeds of knowledge in the inborn natural constitution of the human being (ingenium). This cultivation is interpreted as a philosophical Neolithic Revolution. This MA-thesis demonstrates this to be an instance of nature dictating what human identity is, demonstrating the human being to be already a part of the semantic whole that nature is and already being borne by this whole, thus rendering the promise of the control of nature a mirage. This has far reaching consequences for our way of life and our conception of our own identity, though it is the question whether we can experience it as such. It seems to call for a radical new way of thinking.Show less
